Review of When You Loved Me

Synopsis

'Unconditional Love' is a very rare thing, but the few who live it, know what 'true love' is.

Songwriter Brooke Davenport’s fiancé has left her for another woman. She’s devastated, but this is not the first time a man she’s loved has broken her heart.

Tristan Jameson, her brother’s best friend, crushed her dreams on the seventeenth summer of her life when he disappeared without so much as a phone call or note to her, or her brother. What could’ve happened that he left in such haste—especially after finally winning him over to confess his love for her?

Now he’s back in town and Brooke wants an explanation. Will she be able to forgive him? After having been jilted twice by the two men she trusted her heart to, will she ever give her trust and love to a man ever again—much less to one who hurt her once before?

As Brooke and Tristan record her duet song together, memories flood her mind and sensual desires surge through her body for the man who she had a crush on since he was a boy—her first love—the one no girl ever forgets.

Get ready for a roller coaster ride with curve balls and twists and turns as mystery and suspense come into play in this endearing story of true love and romance. No cliffhanger; HEA ending! =)

Review

Let me preface this review by emphasizing that my review is a personal opinion only.  This is a book that evoked a strong reaction and, unfortunately, it was a negative one.  I can see where others would appreciate this book but I am someone who leans towards books that have blissfully happy endings and this one was definitely bittersweet.

 

There are things I enjoyed about this book and the writing itself was structurally sound.  The dialogue and banter were excellent.  You could certainly feel the strong friendship between the three main characters.  I liked the idea of reconnecting with a lost first love but didn't particularly enjoy the manner in which this plot point was executed.

 

This is a book with lots of twists and turns.  Unfortunately, while my brain was willing the accept the first twist or so, it was not receptive to the following ones.  I can appreciate twists and turns but they seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't make much sense in retrospect.

 

My biggest issue with this book is that I feel, wholeheartedly, that the heroine got screwed over in some aspects of her life.  This isn't particularly abnormal for the genre, but I can't connect to someone who gets screwed over AND responds in a completely selfless manner.  This is probably because I would never be able to characterize myself as selfless...but, then again, I doubt many people could.  Anyways, while I can see that there are people whom enjoy reading about characters who make great sacrifices in the name of love, I am simply not one of them.

*A copy of this book was received in exchange for an HONEST review. This has not influenced the rating or review in any way*

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK

 

Katie