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� 3.75

"I love you and I know I don't always…I've been trying to show you. I thought it was more important to show you, first, and I promise I'm going to keep doing that. But I also wanted to say it first." I feel raw when the words hang between us. Raw, and a little sick.

"I know you do," she says simply, smiling shyly. "You've been showing me. With your patience and your trying. Your partnership." She catches her breath and inches up to my face, kissing me sweetly. "And I love you. I plan to keep showing you, too."

Synopsis:

LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds were teenage lovers until it all came to an abrupt, heartbreaking end.

A decade later, their grandmothers left them a share ownership of their building, forcing LaRynn and Deacon to face each other. Unfortunately, they have bigger problems than to bicker with each other: Deacon has construction expertise but lacks the funds whilst LaRynn has the money but has to be married to access it.

To rebuild the decaying building and moving on with their lives, they agree to marry until the property is fixed, collect the profit and part ways like before. However, being thrust into an apartment with no doors or walls proves to be harder to hide themselves behind.

Review:

First of all: what the fuck of a name is LaRynn?

I just know her French grandmother is turning in her grave.

The plot was good and I must remind they’re both 26 y.o.. Of course you can say late 20s we should have enough maturity to not have this kind of miscommunication and be able to speak of our feelings. I’m right there with you � however, any self-aware late 20s y.o. knows what we have in maturity is balanced by equal amount of immaturity/inability to communicate our feelings/emotions.

Thus, unlike many people who gave low stars to this book, I understand the miscommunication trope in this book. Do I like it? No. But I understand it. Especially due to the past traumas both LaRynn and Deacon suffered at the hands of their parents (one of them can even be qualified as child emotional abuse).

Mind you, the miscommunication trope and the inability of them sitting down and actually discuss what happened a decade earlier is the reason I did not gave 4 stars. Regardless of how incapable of expressing emotions they might be at the beginning, they do eventually managed to express their feelings several times. It’s only logical that a discussion of what happened between them should arise.

I don’t particularly think any of them would have been able to actually trust each other again without having that conversation.

(view spoiler)[ In the epilogue, several years later, the author mentions how the fmc and mmc went through rough times without specifying it. In my mind, the discussion they should’ve had in the beginning of their relationship about what happened when they were teenagers eventually came up. (hide spoiler)]

Another thing was how the audience has glimpses of what happened a decade earlier but, since the main characters never address it, the audience never really understands what happened nor what led to it. You might guess it, but still. It’s a timeline that it’s constantly brought up in the beginning and then just dropped.

Because they never really addressed their past, the “let’s bury the hatchet� feels incomplete.

However, I did enjoy reading it � it was fast-paced and easy.

The characters were incredibly flawed, yet made it more realistic and understanding to the reader. Was LaRynn a bit of a brat? Yes. However, she was born into privilege and, though she had a rough childhood regarding her parents, she still was born into money and never really learned how to appreciate it.

Once they started to get along, it was really great � almost perfect. Deacon’s crash out when he thought he might never have her was *chef’s kiss* and, from then on, they had almost the perfect relationship.