I liked it but I didn't love it. It is kind of hard to put into words what kept me from falling in love with this book. It had two cute leads, supportive side characters and whatnot but it didn't knock it out of the park for me.
I think my main gripe is that the relationship depended a lot on the falling in love when they were teenagers thing. I get it, first loves are eternal, you never forget them. I speak from experience, I've been with mine since I was fifteen (don't ask how old I am, suffice to say we've had decades together). BUT, if the present day romance was going to call back like it did to make the whole "second chance romance" trope work, I think readers needed to see those scenes in present tense. Dani told the reader about what she remembered about Wouter first time around and I just wanted to see all of that for myself. Having Dani remember different things just kept it at a distance which left me feeling a little eh about their love story.
I also feel like readers don't have a chance to really get to know Wouter outside of his relationship with Dani. He's close to his family, he loves his home? What else? Every moment with him was focused on his relation to Dani, whereas Dani interacted with Iulia, her parents, her sister, and countless other people. So we know alot about Dani, but only know Wouter as an extension of her almost, which doesn't help sell the love story.
Another thing is that at some points it felt a little like we were stuck in neutral, waiting for more to happen. Dani is trying to find a job, doesn't want to admit she's in love with the man she married, is tired of lying to people, tired of how she doesn't feel like she measures up to some ideal miracle story, lather, rinse, repeat. By the time everything blows up, because that's always the way it goes in these stories, I was just a little *shrugs shoulders* about it all.
I will say I was happy to see our previous happy couple, Chandler and Finn, still going strong on a vacation in Amsterdam. Theirs was the romance I was waiting to see in a different form between Dani and Wouter.
The story was sweet. I appreciated the focus on Dani's mental health and how that was shaped and what it meant for her to get the balance she needed. It just wasn't enough to make me love her character. It bums me out, when all is said and done.
Rating: 7.5 Stars
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