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Review
“I’ll be here waiting for you,” he says, his eyes never leaving mine. “You just have to come find me.”
OMG, what an incredible, incredible story!
From the moment I read the synopsis of this book, I was instantly intrigued. The promise of a heart-clenching love story combined with something that is a little bit outside of normal with a touch of fantasy about it, and all of it beautifully told. I was hooked from the very beginning, and completely lost myself in Evie and Ben’s story.
Evie’s birthday is 29th February. When that date arrives every leap year, Evie wakes up somewhere completely different with a different identity. Always known as Evie, she has a new family, a new house, and no memory of who she was previously. When she is five years old, she meets Ben. The two quickly become best friends, and when Evie starts a new life at age 8, it is with a strange feeling that she just can’t shake.
It feels like there is something out there, something important, that I’m supposed to find.
Although she has no knowledge of who she was before she woke up on her birthday, she is content with her life until she unexpectedly sees Ben again. Seeing him unleashes all of her memories of her previous life, and the two of them fall right back into their friendship. This is the pattern that continues through Evie’s life. Every four years she wakes up as somebody new, but Ben is her trigger. As soon as she sees him, or somehow remembers him, her full memory returns. In the meantime, Ben continues his life as normal, either with Evie in it, or waiting for her to return to him.
“Hey, baby,” he says, his voice a whisper. “Miss me?”
That’s pretty much all I’m going to say about the storyline. It’s best to not think about it too much, because there’s no explanation or reason behind it, just dive in to it, embrace the romance and watch it all unfold.
I love the set up of this book! It’s something so very different, and it ties in so beautifully with Evie and Ben’s absolutely incredible love story. Spanning their childhood, their teen years, and into adulthood, we get to see every little moment of their lives together. Their YA romance had me grinning like a fool, and the intensity of their relationship as it heats up when they get older had my heart pounding and left me a swoony mess! And all of it is absolute perfection.
Ben is the only one to share Evie’s secret, and the uniqueness of her condition complicates their lives incredibly. Each time they lost each other, found each other, lost each other and found each other again had my heart pounding. And their reconnection is not always a guarantee. Evie’s differing family life, a lack of trigger and the complexity of her secret all impact upon how things play out, and you never know what is going to happen next.
And the feels, OMG, the feeeeeeels!!! My heart broke for them so many times. I was screaming out loud at the unfairness of it all and the moments where they had to say goodbye killed me. I was in tears more than once, it honestly made my heart hurt! But they also had moments of incredible happiness, and the love between them is so incredibly special so all of the trauma and heartache that they go through is worth it for the love that they have, and the life that they are able to share when they are together.
“How do we do this, Ben?” I whisper, wishing we could find a way to stop it all, to just stop time. “How do we…”
Ben leans in to kiss me, silencing my words before he gently rubs his nose against mine. “We do what we always do, baby. We make the most of every day we have together, and we forget about all the rest.”
And through it all, their relationship is incredibly functional. They’re open, they talk, they are fully accepting of each other and the heartbreaking situation that they are in.
“I’d wait forever for you, you know.”
I really liked Evie as a heroine. She doesn’t wallow over her condition, she accepts it as her life and deals with it as best she can. And she holds tight to the one constant in her life – Ben.
I need to gush for a moment about the wonder that is Ben. Ben is probably one of the most amazingly perfect book heroes EVER! He is loving, affectionate, kind, funny and protective, but he’s tough when he needs to be. He’s also incredibly hot, and the love scenes are smoking! But best of all, the man is incredibly devoted to Evie, and his love for her is amazing!
“Evie,” Ben murmurs before brushing his lips softly against mine. “You won’t lose me, baby.”
…“But I will,” I whisper against his lips. “I’ll wake up tomorrow and I won’t remember you and I will have lost you.”
Ben pulls back and I open my eyes, watch as he tucks my hair behind my ears. “I’ll be here waiting for you,” he says, his eyes never leaving mine. “You just have to come find me, Evie.”
I absolutely loved him! I was swooning madly over him when he was 14 years old, and he just gets better with age.
“I have been in love with you since I was six years old, Evie. You are my best friend, the love of my life, and the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
I loved this book! It’s original, it’s unexpected, it’s pure escapism and it took me on a wildly emotional ride. I loved every minute of it – even when I hated it, I still loved it. Evie and Ben’s story will stay with me for a long time to come.
4.5 stars.