e-Audio, 11:11:02
Narrated by: Alex Finke
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley)
Read from: March 9-10, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a free e-ALC from Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Grief, Death, Cancer, Death of a Parent, Car Accident, Terminal Illness, Sexual Content, Abandonment, Infidelity
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Contemporary, Most Anticipated, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Stand-aloneGrieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not
Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of… a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.
Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I enjoyed this for the most part, but I did have a few issues. It was cute and I could have sworn I was watching a movie and because of how real it felt. This is textbook realistic fiction and in that way, I LOVED it.
Ok so like I said, the thing that made me love this was the way it felt so real. I don’t know how to explain it, but everything they went through was something that I could see happening in real life too. But the way it was written made me feel like I was watching tv. And because of that, when I tell you I felt every emotion in this book, I mean it. My heart hurt in so many places and it swelled so big in others. I loved this aspect so much.
Now I’m not going to lie tho, I did think this was a little too long. And for it to have been so long and with the slowest burn to only have like 3 scenes of them in a relationship was torture. (Ok maybe I’m exaggerating, but you know what I mean) I know it was cute to see them flirting and pining, but it didn’t even really have that. For the most part he hated her, and then he didn’t want her to think he had taken advantage of him. and then she ran away from him AND THEN they finally got together. It was a lot.
As for the small things, I didn’t care for the fact that we don’t get the entire list. (Or at least the audio doesn’t.) Maybe I should try to find a physical copy. I think it bothered me so much because I knew what it looked and felt like because of how descriptive Bastone was, but I still didn’t know what her handwriting looked like exactly and Idk, it just kept niggling at me. On the flipside I liked that she icluded their flashbacks. They were all so emotional. I was constantly placing my hand over my heart trying to keep it together long enough to finish the book.
This didn’t come without it’s flaws, but I still loved it more than I thought I would. This was my first book by this author and now I don’t plan on it being the last. I need more if this is how they all are. I can’t wait to read more.
Overall, I give this
