My review: Just when I thought that Colleen Hoover might not be an author for me, she captured my heart with Reminders of Him. This story was a tear-jerker for me.
Kenna is a young mother who’s struggling to get back on her feet after a tragic accident. Five years in prison, the loss of her baby daughter, and without much support—she’s practically broken. She’s barely forgiven herself and can only hope that the people from her past will forgive her for the wrongs she’s committed. Kenna finds it nearly impossible to move on and wonders if she can ever love again. What happened that night of the accident? Why did she have such a lack of regard for the others involved? Was it a mistake?
The story begins with Lily, a young college graduate who’s just moved to Boston. She’s excited to begin her life, but her father has just passed away, and she’s dealing with some rough emotions. One evening, she meets a man named Ryle on a rooftop. Lily is drawn to him right away, and they quickly fall for one another. Once they get involved in a relationship, Lily realizes that Ryle has some issues from his past, and by now, she’s deeply involved with him. Lily is all too familiar with some of Ryle’s behaviors because she too has an ugly past.
I’m just going to start by saying that I’m glad I was able to get past the first part of this book. There were issues with the characters from the get-go. I didn’t like any of them, especially Ryle. There were red flags with his character from the beginning. He’s too straightforward and aggressive, and because of this, I was not feeling the emotion or romance in the story. The love they were supposed to have was unconvincing to me. As the story moved on, it seemed odd that some of the characters made it seem like Ryle’s past was a validation for his behavior. Bad decisions were made one after another. Perhaps my biggest problem with the story was the end, which was way too ‘happy’ and came to a close without much explanation.
After a time of heartache and loss, Simone Winthrop discovers a tantalizing letter from her French great-grandmother, which seems to suggest that she is heir to a family treasure. Ever practical, Simone assumes the claim is baseless, but her best friend encourages her to find out for sure. Despite her deep-rooted fear of flying, Simone boards a jet to travel to Paris at Christmastime to uncover the truth.
During the long flight, Simone meets the charming Kyle Larsson, who’s on his way to France to become an apprentice clockmaker. Though they abruptly part ways, an unexpected rendezvous in the French Alps at Simone’s family’s clock factory may lead to the discovery of the family treasure . . . and so much more.
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