When your first love broke your heart, but reappears 10 years later in your life…

Synopsis

The course of true love never did run smooth, but with Phoebe MacLeod it always gets a chance. Perfect for fans of Jo Watson and Mhairi McFarlane.

Everyone remembers their first love. Jess Thomas definitely does. So, it’s more than a little awkward when Jess’s first love, Jamie Ferguson, turns out to be the best man at the wedding she’s catering for. And more than a little insulting when he doesn’t appear to remember her at all.

Since Jamie broke her heart (via text!), 10 years earlier, Jess has sworn off romance. And with a booming catering business to focus on, she’s doing OK. She has no interest in revisiting the past.

But when Jess’s car breaks down on a country lane, she has no choice but to accept Jamie’s help. Now, Jamie is determined to show Jess he’s a new man. But can guys like Jamie ever really change? And if she gives him another chance, is she setting herself up for a fall?

My review

A younger Jess Thomas had a huge crush on Jamie Ferguson. And just when Jess’ dreams seemed to be coming true, Jamie broke her heart by text.
Now ten years later, Jess is catering a wedding and the best man is no one else but Jamie. To add even more insults, he doesn’t appear to be recognizing her. In fact, no one of her former fellow students appear to recognize her… And that’s fine by her, because Jess doesn’t need a blast from the past, as her focus is on her catering business.
But when after the wedding, Jess’ car breaks down, she has no other option to accept Jamie’s help. And after revealing (or rather blurting out) the truth, Jamie is adamant to show Jess he is not the same young man anymore.
But can Jess give the man that broke her heart a second chance?

Oooh, what a delightful book to read! I truly devoured this from the first page until the very last one!
Was it because it was so relatable? Because haven’t we all been heart – broken by our crush when we were younger? And haven’t we all thought about what would happen if that same crush would reappear back in our lives suddenly?
Or is it the talent of this author, that makes it so easy to give dive into the story and keep on reading?
But it doesn’t matter what the real reason was, because I absolutely enjoyed reading it!

Jess is the kind of character everyone could recognize. She has built her own successful business with the help of her friend. Yet while successful in the business, in matters concerning the heart she has been keeping away from it all.
And while I am a longtime single woman, I could relate to her in many ways, from not having the time or need to awful fates, there were are some moments that didn’t make total sense to me.

Through flashbacks we get to see how young Jess had a huge crush on Jamie, and how that made her act even out of character. Yet even there we see some things we even did, like doodling names together, listening to the band our crush loves etc.
And I was happy for young Jess to see how at a party Jamie finally it all seemed to come together. But I also knew it wouldn’t end well, even if I somehow kept hoping it would?
It’s at that same party that Jess acts typically Jess, even in a sweet way. But she also acts very untypically Jess. I know that for a crush you would go far, but for me it went a tiny bit too far?

So when ten years later, Jess and Jamie meet again, I could understand why Jess didn’t want to reveal who she was and wanted to get away as far as possible.
Making it all more hilarious when she ends up stranded and Jamie appears to be her knight in shining armour.
I actually laughed out loud when Jess tried to get rid of him with fake calls, and when she babbled the whole truth out, even if she didn’t want to! 😊

Yet when the truth came out, I also understood Jamie, how he wanted to show Jess that in fact he has changed. Because haven’t we all grown up, and changed compared to the younger us? We all made mistakes when younger, and as adults we know that what we did was wrong and the ‘now us’ would act completely differently compared to the younger us.

It was sweet in so many ways to see how Jamie keeps on being persistent for a second chance. Not immediately a second chance in a romantic way, but also showing that he has in fact matured and that now he is someone you can count on.

Through several occasions we see Jess and Jamie together, and while things sometimes are getting complicated, it was sweet to see how Jess’ trust slowly is building back.
But trust isn’t built overnight, and we see that moments that Jess perhaps is overreacting or that Jamie seems to be still hiding a few things.
Yet we also see the both of them admitting that perhaps it was a matter of overreaction, and they know that they are not there yet, but the both of them are willing to see where whatever this is between them a chance.

This was once again a wonderful and lovely story from an amazing author, showing us that sometimes when things happen it isn’t the rught time or place, but that with a second chance, it can be the perfect time and place. We just have to open ourselves for the given opportunity!