I have SO MANY THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK that I cannot express without some (hopefully minor) spoilers, so buckle up and read at your own risk.

First of all, I could tell James was a cheating gaslighter from the get go, when he asked Lucy to apologise for accusing him of cheating when someone sent HER a text from HIS phone about it. But I guess at first she could’ve been excused for wanting it to not be true and not seeing his true personality, but even when she did see this I can’t believe she stuck with him! 

The first part in Sydney was really good, I enjoyed it and I could understand her wondering if developing feelings for Nathan were a result of the text message or if they were true. I liked the characters and the dynamic between them, and Lucy’s inner monologue was bearable in terms of pining over Nathan when she had a boyfriend.

But, oh my god, did it get far more annoying and frustrating once she got back to London. She was constantly angry at James for possibly cheating but she had thoughts and feelings for someone else, too. She kept saying how she didn’t trust James but then would NOT break up with him. I do understand how that situation is hard for someone in it but I think it was drawn out too long in the book and by the end I was just frustrated over being able to empathise with Lucy. I would have liked her take the plunge, leave him earlier in the book and live on her own to figure out what she wants that way, instead of thinking she either HAS to settle for James or go back to Australia with Nathan. 

Lucy was always calling Nathan “my Nathan” even though SHE was the one in a relationship she didn’t want to leave, which was really frustrating, and she didn’t really have the self awareness to realise how annoying that was. She ended up becoming quite entitled, pining over two guys and stringing them both along and expecting them to both just hang around for it. I don’t mind reading characters with flaws and that are imperfect and frustrating, but I think it got too much by the end of the book and it would’ve been nice to see a bit of development in her character to become self-aware about how she was the one who put herself in this situation.

There were quite a few moments that obviously dated the book back to 2007. The subtle fat shaming through the prologue gave me the ick, but I will give Paige Toon the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the fact that it was more normalised in 2007 (unfortunately). Also, the fact that YouTube had to be prefaced with the descriptor “infamous internet site” then called “the YouTube website” in the next line was absolutely hilarious.

The ending was a bit lacklustre for me. I would’ve liked to see what she decided to do, even if it was just a summary paragraph or something at the end, or a longer epilogue. I assume the epilogue suggested they got engaged and moved back to Australia, but it wasn’t all that clear. After the amount of pining I read, I should have at least gotten a clear and epic ending!

The writing style was easy to read but I think parts were over-explained for no reason. It didn’t really impact the reading experience too much but I sometimes found myself wondering what the point of some descriptions were, such as where Mosman is relative to Manly or in-depth descriptions of clothes and make up looks that span multiple sentences. 

In the end, I did enjoy reading the majority of this book. There’s definitely ways it could have been made better but I was intrigued and invested enough that I think it warrants 3 out of 5 stars. 

EDIT: I wrote this review immediately after finishing the book but I honestly thought about this book for DAYS after finishing it, both in frustration and admiration. Therefore, for the sole fact this book stayed with me for days after, I’ve decided to up my rating to 3.5 stars. This book made me feel something and I enjoy those sorts of books, even if half the time that feeling was frustration.