When old friendships feel like no time has passed.

Synopsis

In their secret tree house, nine-year-old Emma and her best friend Chris made a promise: ‘You and me forever’. 

It’s been five years since Emma left her hometown with her soon to be ex-husband and eight years since the tragedy that taught her and Chris that nothing lasts forever.  

Now thirty, Emma is an unemployed nurse living back on her parents’ farm, her life in tatters. Chris, however, is finally healing and making a success of his family’s country estate. 

They step into their old friendship as if it were yesterday, but as Emma sets out to rebuild her life, will their past and Chris’s future throw her further off balance? 

Or will she find the happiness she left behind by returning to the treehouse?

My review

Now that Emma her marriage has ended, she goes back to her hometown, looking for a new job and trying to rebuild her life.
Going back home means also see her old friends again, Chris included.
During their childhood, Emma and Chris were best friends, and spent a lot of time in their treehouse. But of course, as often, growing older meant for them also growing more distant.
Yet seeing each other again, feels so natural and it doesn’t feel like their friendship was on hold for a long time.

While Emma is trying to pick up the pieces of her life back together, Chris is now finally putting the tragedy in his past behind him and is becoming rather successful.
Will coming home mean for Emma that she can find happiness again?

From the fist moment, I found the bond that Emma and Chris had, so sweet to read about! Even as just children, they make a promise to be there for each other, forever. If you don’t find that sweet, well, then it’s your fault and not mine!

Yet even if I had some clue about how this story would end, I had no idea everything that would happen before!

When Emma comes back to her hometown, she is not happy. Who would be happy when your marriage is over? Luckily for her, her old friends are still there for her, even if they lost contact over the years. talking about real friends!

During the story we get to know also about the loss Chris had to endure and how it has defined him. And my heart broke for him, reading how much it had hurt him and how guilty he felt for it… Yet I found him amazing!

I have to say, there were some twists in the story I didn’t like so much. Not because it was badly written, but just because I wanted to happen what I wanted to happen. And when it went the total opposite way, I got a bit frustrated.
But of course the author did this for a good cause, as it all had a purpose and it all turned to be a real eye-opener.

I had conflicting emotions while reading. I felt sympathy for both Emma and Chris. Yet I got angry too when some secrets came out. I got mad at Chris, for keeping something from Emma. I got angry at other people (no spoilers from my side!) for playing with people’s emotions. I also had happy emotions though! I was content when Emma and Chris got closer and found their friendship still intact.
And I was proud how Emma moved on and dared to take a chance for love.

Despite the beautiful story, I found the last chapters a bit hasted. There were things going suddenly so quickly, that I started to feel I missed something. But maybe (keep in mind that I am NOT an author so I have no clue about writing a book myself!) a few extra pages with some more details would have made this even a more perfect story?

But even with the high speed on those chapters, I enjoyed reading this heart – warming story about starting over again, true friendship, forgiving not only others but yourself and love. I found this a great debut novel!