This book was surprisingly hard-hitting and emotional!

After years of being gone, Everly has returned back to her old town where not only her life blew up, but Hayes' did as well. Many years ago, Everly's family hurt Hayes and his family to the point of unforgiveness. When Hayes realizes that Everly is back in town, his immediate mission is her get her out of it. Everly feels terrible about what happened in the past and all she wants to do is try to make it better and mind her business, IF Hayes can even give her the chance to.

I had zero idea what this book was about going into it. I just know the series and author are so well-loved in the book community, so I gave it a chance and I was not let down! Everly and Hayes are such deep characters with so much trauma. When they finally are able to form a friendship, Hayes realizes that as much as he tried to fight it, something about Everly draws him in. He decides to be friendly, but soon he finds himself seeking her out and always wanting to help her. Everly doesn't want to be a bother, she is just trying to move on and she understands why Hayes was so cold to her when she first arrived. 

The unlikely romance between these two made my heart soar! After going through so much in her life, I was so happy every time Everly realized that she didn't need to be alone anymore and she did have people in her life that she could open up to, love, and rely on. The life she fought so hard to build was slowly taking shape and she deserved it! For all those years Hayes held on to this anger and guilt, seeing him finally be washed clean of it made me so happy for him. He didn't deserve the pain he was putting himself through.

This story was so beautiful and deep with such amazing characters. I loved it, and I cannot wait to read more in the series.