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Review

He knows the value of life.
She’s still learning.
What would you do if you had one last moment? 

This is a beautiful little story very loosely linking with the Reed Brothers series and featuring two new characters – Nick and Carrie.

Nick and Carrie fell for each other during a summer when they were 15 and 14, they haven’t seen each other since and are now both 19 and about to be reunited once again when Carrie returns with her family to the seaside town where Nick lives. And when their reunion does take place, it takes Nick no time at all to let Carrie know how it’s going to be.

“You and me, we’re going to spend some time together, because I want to get to know you all over again. That okay with you?” he asks.
I brush water back from my face. “Why?”
“Because I like you. I’ve always liked you. And you broke my heart when you left and didn’t come back.”
…
“You and summer go hand in hand. Like ice cream and chocolate syrup. Like popcorn and salt. Like… me and you – a summer boy and a vacation girl. There’s no summer without you. It’s just endless seasons without the perfect.”

It’s a sweet little romance with no angst or stupid and lots of beautiful little moments and it’s intermingled beautifully with family issues that Carrie has going on. She is facing a heartbreaking tragedy, and Nick is there for her all the way. I really like the way this storyline was handled, and found myself tearing up on more than one occasion.

Moving next door to Carrie for the summer are the fabulous Reed brothers along with partners and children. They are all present and fabulous as usual (and there’s even a little bit of a surprise thrown in there), and they also become a huge support for Carrie.

There are a number of other characters introduced, with backstory and some new story threads beginning, and it feels like there may be more books featuring these characters in the future. If so, I’d be all over that!

There’s a lot of feeling squished into a short novel, and I think this would have made a really amazing novel if all of those little threads had been expanded out, but Tammy Falkner does a great job of putting a lot of feels and story into such a short book.

I loved it – 4 stars.

For full series info, see our Reed Brothers series page.