I am a massive fan of Leeanne Slade, so I was very excited to see that she had released another book. But honestly, I wasn’t really feeling the characters in this novel. 

I was so disappointed by Henry’s character! I really wanted to love him, I really did, and for a while, he did have my heart. Slide writes the BEST book boyfriends, so when I got to the end of the book and found out what he did with Ally, I was so disappointed, because the other book boyfriends would never have done that. And having Henry ‘try to move on’ and get with a girl as soon as Grace says she’s not interested is despicable. At least let wounds heal, mate. And Grace wasn’t much better… ‘professionally flirting’? Are you having me on? Just talk to him! All of these books would be so much better if the characters just spoke to each other, like a healthy relationship would. 

I did think, especially in their younger days, that their relationship was quite cute. How they would still have their career, but make time for each other. And when Grace was talking about the best sex of her life, and she came up with a different name for him, but Henry already knew because he was five years younger… OMG, I ate that up! That is so sweet! I also really liked Grace’s and Sasha’s relationship, and the fact that Grace helped guide her to have a child when she knew down the line Sasha would have fertility problems. Grace’s character arc is immense! Apart from with Henry  - for some reason, she seems to digress with him. They’re both better off alone, honestly. 

Minor nitpicks, I think the story went on for ages. Could have done with being a teeny tiny bit shorter. I wouldn’t have minded, but some of it felt a bit repetitive. Like what do you mean Grace is going to say she wants him, act like she does and then tell him they can’t, and this happens multiple times over the chapters? Please, girl, make up your mind. Also, this isn’t even a negative, but I think Ally should have ended up with Henry’s colleague the second time. I thought that was such a sweet storyline, and that would have settled my aching heart. Although, we did get Dottie and Althea together (called it, btw), so I suppose that will have to do! 

Sweet story, a little bit of a supernatural or otherworldly plot, slow-burn romance between ex-lovers - sort of. Definitely give it a read! 

 

We follow Grace as she is living her life at 30. It’s her birthday, and her restaurant, The Lucky One, is, unfortunately, not making enough money to stay open. Her beloved workers made her a red velvet cake to celebrate her birthday, but now she has to tell them they have no job. Some of them have families. She didn’t give them any time to find a new job, so they are, rightfully, angry. They leave her to work the shift by herself. She then finds out her best friend, Sasha, has plans with her husband and her fertility doctor (don’t be cheeky) and won’t make it to their annual birthday celebrations. The last straw is her mum messaging her to tell her that her grandmother, Dottie, is in hospital. She has a difficult relationship with her parents, in that they were always too busy with their jobs for her. Her mum doesn’t tell her anything other than that, so she is left wondering what’s going on. The last straw is when she is on the escalator heading to her train, and her old love, Henry, is there on the other side. She could talk to him, and wants to, but he goes straight past her, and then gets on her train (after smashing her cake on the floor). 

When she gets home, she gets incredibly drunk. She wants her life to go back to the way it was before it was messed up. Dottie is a very big believer in other-worldly experiences, so she has crystals that were gifted from her. She places them around her, and the next thing she knows, she’s passed out. 

And when she wakes up, she is in the past, five years earlier. 

As she comes to terms with the idea that she is actually 30 in a 25 year old’s body, she can’t forget anything that happened to her, and although tries to keep the timeline how it is, she makes a few necessary adjustments along the way. For example, she convinces Dottie to not fall out with her best friend, Althea - and, it turns out, they’re lovers all along! She also convinces her to get her chest checked out, which put her into the hospital in the first place. She also helps Sasha and her partner Roman to see a fertility doctor quicker, which meant that they were able to just about conceive their own child. However, she desperately wanted things to be different between her and Henry. 

She can’t be hurt by him again. 

Despite trying to avoid him, she keeps getting thrown into his life. He makes his interest known, but she keeps rebuffing him. She says she just got out a relationship (technically she had, although it was for the first 25th birthday she had) and was cheated on, so she doesn’t want another relationship. She meets Reese, who seems to hang around with her, and he takes things fast. Until he cheats on her in the club. Her and Henry dance to try and make him jealous, and they end up going their separate ways. 

Grace and Henry eventually do get together, as Grace stops fighting them getting together and allows them to be happy, but she is scarred by her relationship all those years ago. Five years ago, Henry promised Grace, when she was on a catering job, that he wouldn’t break her heart. They moved quickly, and Henry had never loved someone so much. They both worked long shifts, with Grace opening up her own restaurant (a dream of hers) and Henry being a nurse. Henry does everything he can to support her, even giving her the money for his house deposit so she can keep her business. However, Grace, having been cheated on before, struggles to trust him. They start spending less and less time together. He tries to surprise her, but she tells him she won’t be home. He goes to see her, and she’s ‘professionally’ flirting with a customer. She assures Henry it was nothing, that the man was just rich and she was struggling financially. She promised to give Henry his money back, which is why she didn’t come to him. He was in a contract for another house, because she promised she would get him his money. 

He was so hurt. Despite never drinking (his past made him not want to be that person) he went out and got drunk, so hurt that she had lied to him. Ally, his roommate and best friend, the only one who ever really understood him when he was in care, had just. Broken up with her douchey boyfriend - he wouldn’t even be her boyfriend, as he didn’t want the labels - she doesn’t want to hurt anymore, and kisses him. She tries to hook up with him, and that’s when Grace enters. 

It’s the last time he sees her. 

Until he’s Dotty’s nurse. She’s dying, having never sorted out her condition like she said she would. She says to him that she’s going to reverse time, go back to five years ago when everything was okay with them. He didn’t believe it. However, when she passed, he woke up five years in the past, and he was shocked. 

He tried everything to get Grace to believe him that he had changed, and Grace tried to change everything so that she could be better for him. But it still wasn’t working. Until they were honest. They spoke to each other. Grace apologised about his money, and Henry apologised for lying about his parents, and for what he did with Ally. They were meant to be with each other. So, with Grace about to go off to New York to own her own restaurant under her favourite chef, she is delighted to find out that he is coming with her. That he wants to find a house with her, not without her. And they are going to be okay.