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Review

3.5 stars!

I am a big fan of Ana Huang’s work, and am trying to make my way through her back-catalogue, so I was so excited to dive into this series, bringing us emotional romance in exotic locations, and this is a strong series opener – a dramatic, swoony and emotional NA friends-to-lovers romance that sucked me right in.

Blake and Farrah are part of a group of college students spending a year studying abroad in Shanghai. For Farrah, it’s the chance to explore her family’s culture more, and for Blake, it’s an escape from his life which he’s just thrown into disarray by quitting the football team when he was expected to go pro.

On the surface, these two could not be more different. She’s a virgin, he’s a player. She’s a romantic, while he doesn’t believe in love. Her career is planned out, he has no idea what he’s doing. But they end up in the same friend group, and though Farrah initially wants nothing to do with Blake, they soon develop a close connection. There’s something more between them, and after a long, slow-burning lead-up, they finally act on that attraction and fall into deep, life-changing love.

It’s natural, and so easy between them, and they find something truly special together. It’s sweet, playful, sexy and romantic, and I loved Blake and Farrah together so much. They dive in to what they’re feeling, opening up to each other and sharing about their lives, and embracing all of the blissful highs of first love.

But their time in Shanghai is limited, and it’s a world away from their real lives. We know from the gutwrenching prologue that there is drama coming for these two, so while I was enjoying the romance, I was also waiting for the bomb to drop. And drop it did. Damn. It’s frustrating and painful to read, and God, I wanted to give them a shake!

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but this is the first in a duet, and Blake and Farrah’s story continues in the next book of the series, which I am diving in to right away.

I really enjoyed this one – 3.5 stars.

If Love