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In the Likely Event
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Romance (2023)10 hours, 30 minutes
From USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros comes a sweeping romance about the sustained power of chance encounters.
When Izzy Astor gets on a plane to go home, she isn’t expecting much. It’s the usual holiday travel experience: busy, crowded, stressful.
Then she spots her seatmate, who is anything but ordinary. Nate Phelan sports dark hair, blue eyes, and a deliciously rugged charm that Izzy can’t resist. Their connection is undeniable. Izzy never believed in destiny before, but she does now.
Just ninety seconds after takeoff, their plane goes down in the Missouri River.
Their lives change. They change. Nate goes on to a career in the military while Izzy finds her way into politics. Despite a few chance encounters over the years, the timing never feels right.
Then comes a high-stakes reunion in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with protecting Izzy’s life.
He’ll do anything to keep her safe. And everything to win her heart.
From USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros comes a sweeping romance about the sustained power of chance encounters.
When Izzy Astor gets on a plane to go home, she isn’t expecting much. It’s the usual holiday travel experience: busy, crowded, stressful.
Then she spots her seatmate, who is anything but ordinary. Nate Phelan sports dark hair, blue eyes, and a deliciously rugged charm that Izzy can’t resist. Their connection is undeniable. Izzy never believed in destiny before, but she does now.
Just ninety seconds after takeoff, their plane goes down in the Missouri River.
Their lives change. They change. Nate goes on to a career in the military while Izzy finds her way into politics. Despite a few chance encounters over the years, the timing never feels right.
Then comes a high-stakes reunion in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with protecting Izzy’s life.
He’ll do anything to keep her safe. And everything to win her heart.
Audible Audio
First published August 1, 2023
About the author
Rebecca Yarros
48 books99.4k followersRebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and coffee addict. She is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing, The Last Letter and The Things We Leave Unfinished. She’s also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years. A mother of six, she is currently surviving the teenage years with all four of her hockey-playing sons.
Want to know about Rebecca’s next release? Check her out online at www.rebeccayarros.com.
Want to know about Rebecca’s next release? Check her out online at www.rebeccayarros.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 9,911 reviews
April 8, 2024
To the white people in my comments insulting my intelligence, gaslighting my horrible experience with this book that I have supplemented with PROOF, and then telling me, a brown woman, to calm down: you are racist, embarrassing, and downright evil. Thanks for proving my point.
EDIT: just realized this came out on July 4th—the brand is ON brand.
*If I could give zero, I would.*
I'm not bothering with a summary, read other people's reviews for that. I do not care to be articulate and well-spoken for your sensitivities and easy comprehension. This is my opinion on a website that asks for my opinion. DO NOT REPORT ME and do not try to CENSOR ME.
I'll be honest. I only know Yarros because of Fourth Wing, (a book that I thought was flawed construction-wise, BUT still fun and has the ability to tackle important concepts in future installments), and I only read this to figure out if this book would be a white saviour complex story and to see how Yarros might tackle war outside of fantasy. And maybe if she hadn't become so popular so suddenly this book would have gone under our radar and she would never need to be held accountable.
But while I'm disappointed to find out that it was exactly that, my disappointment is not nearly as strong as my RAGE. This is my first review ever on this platform and I've only come out of lurking and my very busy life to leave this here. If it was anyone else, I would not bother because these types of stories are not new and never will stop, but since Yarros has become a massive name, for better or for worse b/c of booktok, (much like Colleen Hoover and her fame with IEWU), it is expected that Yarros' future books will also become massively popular, perhaps even this one. I felt someone had to say something before the wave of positive reviews overshadow the problematic aspects of this book.
Thus, I have no choice but to waste my time rereading sentences of this godforsaken book just so there is a review from a non-white American, Muslim woman because I deserve to read this book that has been put out into the world to be read just as much as you do.
Spoilers, beware. I don't know how to use Goodreads so don't come for me, you've been warned.
I can't make this shit up. And these were not even all of the examples.
The afghan girls, the country, and the conflict were used as a PROP and an accessory to highlight their love story. Their suffering was exploited over and over again so that these characters could be placed in the middle of a conflict, with Afghanistan and its people in the background, and confess their undying love for each other. Their grief and their hurt were used as a plot device to create tension and conflict between the characters because they were too mayonnaise to have any other issues separating them in the current timeline. If this does not disgust you, then I don't think anything I say will make a difference.
Listen, I enjoyed Fourth Wing, flaws and all, for what it had to offer as a nostalgic romantic fantasy. I'm sure Yarros is a fine person and has a kind heart. This review is NOT targeting Yarros, but the product she has chosen to write in this day and age.
Having read this, and the fact that Fourth Wing is a war academy novel delving into "who can tell stories in war", I just cannot separate the two books and the sheer propaganda I've learned from my mind. Some of the problems I had with Fourth Wing were her writing of POC and just the military aspects of the story. Now, I don't know how to continue reading a fantasy war novel when your thoughts on real-life war and political landscapes are like this. This is exactly why we say books are not written in a vacuum. Your beliefs will implicitly or explicitly bleed through the pages and your words.
If this story focused on war PTSD or even their plane crash PTSD, it would have been far more effective. There is value in that, not in whatever this was.
I urge you to think, what was the point of this story? What did it add to the literature on Afghanistan and war in 2023 (a country that is still reeling from American invasion)??
Why this country for these two wonder bread characters when it could have been Nebraska for all the effect this choice had on their story? Why must we continue these types of media and for whose sake and pleasure must Afghans be exploited?
I'm utterly devastated and just so, so tired. I can't in good conscience support Yarros any further. Not when it's at the cost of brown people for the sake of poorly written white characters.
And yet. I will not be surprised if this book becomes a Netflix movie starring Channing Tatum and Dakota Johnson. I will not be surprised if it's nominated for an Oscar in special effects or some shit because the sound of Afghans dying in bomb explosions is still acclaimed and deemed award-worthy today.
EDIT: just realized this came out on July 4th—the brand is ON brand.
*If I could give zero, I would.*
I'm not bothering with a summary, read other people's reviews for that. I do not care to be articulate and well-spoken for your sensitivities and easy comprehension. This is my opinion on a website that asks for my opinion. DO NOT REPORT ME and do not try to CENSOR ME.
I'll be honest. I only know Yarros because of Fourth Wing, (a book that I thought was flawed construction-wise, BUT still fun and has the ability to tackle important concepts in future installments), and I only read this to figure out if this book would be a white saviour complex story and to see how Yarros might tackle war outside of fantasy. And maybe if she hadn't become so popular so suddenly this book would have gone under our radar and she would never need to be held accountable.
But while I'm disappointed to find out that it was exactly that, my disappointment is not nearly as strong as my RAGE. This is my first review ever on this platform and I've only come out of lurking and my very busy life to leave this here. If it was anyone else, I would not bother because these types of stories are not new and never will stop, but since Yarros has become a massive name, for better or for worse b/c of booktok, (much like Colleen Hoover and her fame with IEWU), it is expected that Yarros' future books will also become massively popular, perhaps even this one. I felt someone had to say something before the wave of positive reviews overshadow the problematic aspects of this book.
Thus, I have no choice but to waste my time rereading sentences of this godforsaken book just so there is a review from a non-white American, Muslim woman because I deserve to read this book that has been put out into the world to be read just as much as you do.
Spoilers, beware. I don't know how to use Goodreads so don't come for me, you've been warned.
I can't make this shit up. And these were not even all of the examples.
The afghan girls, the country, and the conflict were used as a PROP and an accessory to highlight their love story. Their suffering was exploited over and over again so that these characters could be placed in the middle of a conflict, with Afghanistan and its people in the background, and confess their undying love for each other. Their grief and their hurt were used as a plot device to create tension and conflict between the characters because they were too mayonnaise to have any other issues separating them in the current timeline. If this does not disgust you, then I don't think anything I say will make a difference.
Listen, I enjoyed Fourth Wing, flaws and all, for what it had to offer as a nostalgic romantic fantasy. I'm sure Yarros is a fine person and has a kind heart. This review is NOT targeting Yarros, but the product she has chosen to write in this day and age.
Having read this, and the fact that Fourth Wing is a war academy novel delving into "who can tell stories in war", I just cannot separate the two books and the sheer propaganda I've learned from my mind. Some of the problems I had with Fourth Wing were her writing of POC and just the military aspects of the story. Now, I don't know how to continue reading a fantasy war novel when your thoughts on real-life war and political landscapes are like this. This is exactly why we say books are not written in a vacuum. Your beliefs will implicitly or explicitly bleed through the pages and your words.
If this story focused on war PTSD or even their plane crash PTSD, it would have been far more effective. There is value in that, not in whatever this was.
I urge you to think, what was the point of this story? What did it add to the literature on Afghanistan and war in 2023 (a country that is still reeling from American invasion)??
Why this country for these two wonder bread characters when it could have been Nebraska for all the effect this choice had on their story? Why must we continue these types of media and for whose sake and pleasure must Afghans be exploited?
I'm utterly devastated and just so, so tired. I can't in good conscience support Yarros any further. Not when it's at the cost of brown people for the sake of poorly written white characters.
And yet. I will not be surprised if this book becomes a Netflix movie starring Channing Tatum and Dakota Johnson. I will not be surprised if it's nominated for an Oscar in special effects or some shit because the sound of Afghans dying in bomb explosions is still acclaimed and deemed award-worthy today.
February 13, 2024
i see rebecca yarros attended the sjm school of war camp sex scenes
December 10, 2023
hi rebecca yarros, i just wanted to say i’ve read a number of your war books, the ones you brought up in response to this war right now, and in books like this one i found nothing but ignorance. if you really do write these to fight against censorship and to spread ideas, clearly you know what the american military that you love has done and is doing? clearly you would know where the strength of the american military stands in this conflict? food for thought.
i don’t claim to know your personal political beliefs, but it seems to me that you’re anti-war until you can write a romance book about it. but that’s just my two cents on it.
anyways, on to the book review.
———
a shoutout to my wireless headphones which had to put up with more than one screaming tantrum and other overly dramatic performances from me while listening to this.
(also, there are some spoilers here, so if you care, it's not the review for you!)
let me preface all my sarcasm with this: i didn't actually hate all of this. i'd say maybe 7% of the time i was listening to it and going "oh, i'm not actively hating this right now," or, "oh, that's fine, i guess," or even, "oh, that's kind of cute!"
and, ironically enough, this had an epilogue i actually liked.
just know, i didn't go in preparing to critique the shit out of it.
but sometimes i couldn't help it.
now, the primary source of my actual verbal UGH's, and why i think this stands out from other mildly annoying contemporary romances, is the setting.
from what i've researched, the setting in afghanistan and specifically kabul and mazar-i-sharif seems pretty accurate in terms of events, but so so so tone deaf.
let me set the scene for you: in 2021, the taliban once again took afghanistan after a 20 year war. the taliban is known for its culture of terror and the actions of the militaries on both sides of the war in this area has devastated generations and hundreds of thousands of people. and in the last two years, there has been a lot of discussion around civil rights in afghanistan under the new government. all to say, this is a serious topic.
(thanks you to lilyya for being my history teacher/proof reader.)
it is in this setting that rebecca yarros chooses to set her angsty second chance enemies to lovers. you'd have to be careful with how you interacted with that setting—you are talking about thousands of real people's real lives and livelihoods—but okay, that's fine.
until, (you saw this coming) you send your female main character into said war zone, why? absolutely no reason at all.
well, to be fair, technically it was to "save" her sister. her sister who chose to take an assignment as a journalist in afghanistan, fully aware of the risks. her sister who didn't want the main character, izzy, to be there at all.
this is sigh™ #1.
putting yourself in a war zone... (pause for dramatics)... puts you and everyone that has to take care of your unknowing civilian ass in a lot of danger (shock and awe!). this is not a new concept, but it is absolutely the most dumb and self-absorbed thing i've read in a main character in a while.
people are dying, struggling, suffering. all around her. constantly. in a war she supposedly cares about. what's she doing? being about as useful as a potato. just one more body for them to evacuate.
i actually kept a quote! context: her fiancé shows up in afghanistan, and she says "'[he's wearing] Hermès. In a freaking war zone.'" SORRY, I MUST HAVE MADE A MISTAKE. YOU SAID THAT AS IF YOU AREN'T THE BIGGEST FUCKING HYPOCRITE HERE?? WHAT IN THE WORLD?
sigh™ #2 comes a bit later, at what i'm pretty sure is meant to be a grand romantic gesture:
izzy reveals that she changed the trajectory of her entire career to politics, something she's mentioned about 18000 times that she hates, so she can help support the effort to pull american troops out of afghanistan. HOWEVER YOU MAY FEEL ABOUT THAT, THAT IS UNDOUBTABLY A BIG DEAL.
but did she do it in opposition of the american presence in the middle east, or literally any political view at all? no.
did she do it because she thought it would be the best thing for everyone involved, like the actual millions of people involved with that issue? no.
she did it because she wanted her boyfriend back.
no, not even "boyfriend."
some guy she sees like once a year, who has no actual commitments to her at all, and chooses to be in, and is happy in, the military.
you know what it never was? that serious.
let’s read that again. she changed her life to pull troops out of afghanistan, an action which changes both global poltics and a lot of people's lives, for her pen pal/one night stand.
see how that makes no fucking sense? see how that's completely tone deaf to the severity of the conflict she's involving herself in? read the room, rebecca.
now, the characters themselves.
izzy—the bane of my existence. she's so dumb. for both reasons outlined above, but also because she DOESN'T REALIZE THAT BOTH OF THEM ARE DUMB.
izzy is also engaged to a guy who treated her like shit when they dated years earlier, which, okay, happens to the best of us, but then he cheats on her! (shock and awe from the audience)
and he's an asshole, of course. but it's not like she hasn't been cheating on him too?
since the beginning of their relationship (take two, that is), she's been wildly and incredibly obviously in love with our male main character, nate. who is not her fiancé.
EMOTIONAL CHEATING IS STILL CHEATING. sigh™ #3.
of course our bad guy shouldn't have cheated on her, but there were hardly only two people in that relationship before. he even deadass says this when they confront each other, and she still is like "OH NO! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, YOUR FIANCÉE, YOU DISGUSTING TROGLODYTE."
and nate—sorry, remind me again why we're talking about him? his personality begins and ends at being stereotypically gruff and male and emotionally inept. except in emergencies, when instead of reacting like literally any other human ever, he's superman!!
oh, and he actually mothers izzy. this is the first time i've seen that roll reversed, and it annoys me just as much as it does when women mother their boyfriends!
i'm not sure who's going to tell him, but if you feel the need to continuously and repeatedly threaten to take away your girlfriend's actual free will, maybe that's not a great position for any of you to be in. she might be dumb, really dumb, but you can't woe-is-me your way out of letting her have rights. sigh™ #4.
oh and izzy isn't the only hypocrite!
nate: i’m the best of the best of the soldiers, blah blah blah
also nate during an emergency evacuation a.k.a. his entire job: “Maybe it made me a callous asshole, but I had exactly one priority, and the hundreds of people left waiting in the stairwell weren’t it.” WELL THEY SHOULD BE. HELLO?! i swear you can't make this shit up.
sigh™ #5 is actually a nate thing too. he basically ghosted izzy on a luxury vacation they had planned, and then showed up at her house a few days later to... propose to her.
yes, you heard me right. they haven't spent more than a week together, ever! i could count the number of times they've seen each other face to face on one hand! he's still in the military full time!
then he gets mad when she says "what the fuck, no?" (maybe her first rational decision), and just runs away.
basically, the story should have ended here with: sometimes people can love (??) each other and still need different things. sucks, but it's true. break up.
i swear i almost dislocated my jaw from gaping like dying fish at least 15 different times. i should get some kind of financial compensation for that.
not only were the characters and their relationship just annoying, and would have been in any other setting, but the war setting in this story felt really gratuitous and just disrespectful. if a raging landscape was needed to make this twisted little love story make sense, there are way to do that that don't involve real conflicts and real people.
i don’t claim to know your personal political beliefs, but it seems to me that you’re anti-war until you can write a romance book about it. but that’s just my two cents on it.
anyways, on to the book review.
———
a shoutout to my wireless headphones which had to put up with more than one screaming tantrum and other overly dramatic performances from me while listening to this.
(also, there are some spoilers here, so if you care, it's not the review for you!)
let me preface all my sarcasm with this: i didn't actually hate all of this. i'd say maybe 7% of the time i was listening to it and going "oh, i'm not actively hating this right now," or, "oh, that's fine, i guess," or even, "oh, that's kind of cute!"
and, ironically enough, this had an epilogue i actually liked.
just know, i didn't go in preparing to critique the shit out of it.
but sometimes i couldn't help it.
now, the primary source of my actual verbal UGH's, and why i think this stands out from other mildly annoying contemporary romances, is the setting.
from what i've researched, the setting in afghanistan and specifically kabul and mazar-i-sharif seems pretty accurate in terms of events, but so so so tone deaf.
let me set the scene for you: in 2021, the taliban once again took afghanistan after a 20 year war. the taliban is known for its culture of terror and the actions of the militaries on both sides of the war in this area has devastated generations and hundreds of thousands of people. and in the last two years, there has been a lot of discussion around civil rights in afghanistan under the new government. all to say, this is a serious topic.
(thanks you to lilyya for being my history teacher/proof reader.)
it is in this setting that rebecca yarros chooses to set her angsty second chance enemies to lovers. you'd have to be careful with how you interacted with that setting—you are talking about thousands of real people's real lives and livelihoods—but okay, that's fine.
until, (you saw this coming) you send your female main character into said war zone, why? absolutely no reason at all.
well, to be fair, technically it was to "save" her sister. her sister who chose to take an assignment as a journalist in afghanistan, fully aware of the risks. her sister who didn't want the main character, izzy, to be there at all.
this is sigh™ #1.
putting yourself in a war zone... (pause for dramatics)... puts you and everyone that has to take care of your unknowing civilian ass in a lot of danger (shock and awe!). this is not a new concept, but it is absolutely the most dumb and self-absorbed thing i've read in a main character in a while.
people are dying, struggling, suffering. all around her. constantly. in a war she supposedly cares about. what's she doing? being about as useful as a potato. just one more body for them to evacuate.
i actually kept a quote! context: her fiancé shows up in afghanistan, and she says "'[he's wearing] Hermès. In a freaking war zone.'" SORRY, I MUST HAVE MADE A MISTAKE. YOU SAID THAT AS IF YOU AREN'T THE BIGGEST FUCKING HYPOCRITE HERE?? WHAT IN THE WORLD?
sigh™ #2 comes a bit later, at what i'm pretty sure is meant to be a grand romantic gesture:
izzy reveals that she changed the trajectory of her entire career to politics, something she's mentioned about 18000 times that she hates, so she can help support the effort to pull american troops out of afghanistan. HOWEVER YOU MAY FEEL ABOUT THAT, THAT IS UNDOUBTABLY A BIG DEAL.
but did she do it in opposition of the american presence in the middle east, or literally any political view at all? no.
did she do it because she thought it would be the best thing for everyone involved, like the actual millions of people involved with that issue? no.
she did it because she wanted her boyfriend back.
no, not even "boyfriend."
some guy she sees like once a year, who has no actual commitments to her at all, and chooses to be in, and is happy in, the military.
you know what it never was? that serious.
let’s read that again. she changed her life to pull troops out of afghanistan, an action which changes both global poltics and a lot of people's lives, for her pen pal/one night stand.
see how that makes no fucking sense? see how that's completely tone deaf to the severity of the conflict she's involving herself in? read the room, rebecca.
now, the characters themselves.
izzy—the bane of my existence. she's so dumb. for both reasons outlined above, but also because she DOESN'T REALIZE THAT BOTH OF THEM ARE DUMB.
izzy is also engaged to a guy who treated her like shit when they dated years earlier, which, okay, happens to the best of us, but then he cheats on her! (shock and awe from the audience)
and he's an asshole, of course. but it's not like she hasn't been cheating on him too?
since the beginning of their relationship (take two, that is), she's been wildly and incredibly obviously in love with our male main character, nate. who is not her fiancé.
EMOTIONAL CHEATING IS STILL CHEATING. sigh™ #3.
of course our bad guy shouldn't have cheated on her, but there were hardly only two people in that relationship before. he even deadass says this when they confront each other, and she still is like "OH NO! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, YOUR FIANCÉE, YOU DISGUSTING TROGLODYTE."
and nate—sorry, remind me again why we're talking about him? his personality begins and ends at being stereotypically gruff and male and emotionally inept. except in emergencies, when instead of reacting like literally any other human ever, he's superman!!
oh, and he actually mothers izzy. this is the first time i've seen that roll reversed, and it annoys me just as much as it does when women mother their boyfriends!
i'm not sure who's going to tell him, but if you feel the need to continuously and repeatedly threaten to take away your girlfriend's actual free will, maybe that's not a great position for any of you to be in. she might be dumb, really dumb, but you can't woe-is-me your way out of letting her have rights. sigh™ #4.
oh and izzy isn't the only hypocrite!
nate: i’m the best of the best of the soldiers, blah blah blah
also nate during an emergency evacuation a.k.a. his entire job: “Maybe it made me a callous asshole, but I had exactly one priority, and the hundreds of people left waiting in the stairwell weren’t it.” WELL THEY SHOULD BE. HELLO?! i swear you can't make this shit up.
sigh™ #5 is actually a nate thing too. he basically ghosted izzy on a luxury vacation they had planned, and then showed up at her house a few days later to... propose to her.
yes, you heard me right. they haven't spent more than a week together, ever! i could count the number of times they've seen each other face to face on one hand! he's still in the military full time!
then he gets mad when she says "what the fuck, no?" (maybe her first rational decision), and just runs away.
basically, the story should have ended here with: sometimes people can love (??) each other and still need different things. sucks, but it's true. break up.
i swear i almost dislocated my jaw from gaping like dying fish at least 15 different times. i should get some kind of financial compensation for that.
not only were the characters and their relationship just annoying, and would have been in any other setting, but the war setting in this story felt really gratuitous and just disrespectful. if a raging landscape was needed to make this twisted little love story make sense, there are way to do that that don't involve real conflicts and real people.
August 8, 2023
dnf. i’ve had enough
this was so boring and bland, i almost forgot to be offended
first i was disappointed by the last letter, then fourth wing and now this ? how could she have fallen so low from TTWLU ?? i’m convinced that’s her best and only good book. unfortunately this is where she and i must part ways. it’s not me, it’s her (particularly her white savior mentality bs that was especially rancid in this book)
- - - -
am I reading this just cause it mentioned Afghanistan 🌝 lets see how much it offends me.
this was so boring and bland, i almost forgot to be offended
first i was disappointed by the last letter, then fourth wing and now this ? how could she have fallen so low from TTWLU ?? i’m convinced that’s her best and only good book. unfortunately this is where she and i must part ways. it’s not me, it’s her (particularly her white savior mentality bs that was especially rancid in this book)
- - - -
am I reading this just cause it mentioned Afghanistan 🌝 lets see how much it offends me.
March 31, 2024
If Rebecca Yarros has 1000 haters, I'm one of them.
If Rebecca Yarros has 100 haters, I'm one of them.
If Rebecca Yarros has 50 haters, I'm one of them.
If Rebecca Yarros has 1 hater, it is me.
If Rebecca Yarros has no haters, it means I am dead.
If the world is with Rebecca Yarros, then I am against the world.
I said what I said
I can hear Bruna dying of laughter all the way in Brazil. 😭😂
If Rebecca Yarros has 100 haters, I'm one of them.
If Rebecca Yarros has 50 haters, I'm one of them.
If Rebecca Yarros has 1 hater, it is me.
If Rebecca Yarros has no haters, it means I am dead.
If the world is with Rebecca Yarros, then I am against the world.
I said what I said
I can hear Bruna dying of laughter all the way in Brazil. 😭😂
Want to read
July 3, 2023so.. i thought we were going to have some Lost remake but sadly no. i just hope she doesn’t paint afghanistan or the supposed "politics" in the most clichéd hollywoodian way with victimizing the oppressor 🙂
July 24, 2023
What the fuck. This book is so disgusting. What was the point of exploiting Afghans to make a conflict between the characters? These two were literally doing it while people are DYING. PEOPLE ARE DYING AROUND YOU. Idk you could’ve made a fake war and it would’ve been fine. I also want to thank god that I didn’t pay for this book I got it from the Amazon First Reads (I believe because it was labeled as contemporary romance). Anyways let’s move on to my favorite quotes of the book!
White savior complex at its finest☺️ So you’re just gonna watch? Through whose gaze? Okok got it.
So he’s just going to save her and fuck the rest of them because he loves her? Because she’s so pretty?
You just can’t make this shit up.
Ok
lol
If there’s anything I said that’s wrong please let me know and educate me!
”I still feel the same way. Me leaving isn’t going to help these people. The least I can do is bear witness.”
White savior complex at its finest☺️ So you’re just gonna watch? Through whose gaze? Okok got it.
“The guy who does the honorable thing,” Nate said, his eyes searching mine. “Not when it comes to you.”
So he’s just going to save her and fuck the rest of them because he loves her? Because she’s so pretty?
“The country is . . .” I shook my head. “Collapsing,” Nate said, striding our way. “The country is collapsing.” “Then it’s my job to cover it,” Serena stated like that was the end of the discussion. “You don’t mean that.” The words rushed out in a whisper.
You just can’t make this shit up.
”If no one’s trying to kill you here, then that means I’m doing my job over there. That’s how I choose to look at it, how I have to look at it.”
Ok
”I took the hint and retrieved my own book out of my purse, flipping to the bookmark in the middle of chapter eleven of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Half-Blood.”
lol
If there’s anything I said that’s wrong please let me know and educate me!
July 9, 2023
It’s official.. Rebecca Yarros is A QUEEN.
This book was remarkable. So freaking beautiful. I felt like I was watching a movie. This will 100% be in my top ten this year.
Such an amazing story. I tabbed and highlighted basically every other page. Nate & Izzy will forever have my heart.
“I’m going to kiss you now” 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
✨military romance
✨fated mates
✨forced proximity
✨ADHD rep
This book was remarkable. So freaking beautiful. I felt like I was watching a movie. This will 100% be in my top ten this year.
Such an amazing story. I tabbed and highlighted basically every other page. Nate & Izzy will forever have my heart.
“I’m going to kiss you now” 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
✨military romance
✨fated mates
✨forced proximity
✨ADHD rep
June 25, 2023
5⭑!!!
Tropes;
- bodyguard
- second chance
- ADHD representation
- past x present chapters
- right person x wrong time(s)
- dual POV
Rebecca Yarros has done it once again. 5 million stars for this book!!!!
This follows Izzy and Nate who met when they were 18 on a plane that was about to crash and who have had multiple encounters over the years since then, but the timing was never quite right for them to be together.
Until now, Izzy is in Afghanistan on a job and Nate is tasked with protecting her life, all the while tension is running between them due not seeing each other in three years after a falling out.
The slow burn relationship development between Izzy and Nate hit the spot for me, it was perfectly done and gave me everything I wanted and more. The chapters set in the past have such much insight into their relationship and I loved all the little moments were they both didn’t realise they were pining for each other!
The romance between Izzy and Nate is just so heartwarming and real and you are rooting for them for the entire duration of the book. There were so many push and pull moments and I just loved that they finally got the HEA that they always wanted.
I mean if you need any more convincing, this man has been annotating books for her😭😭😭😭 are you kidding?? Where do I find a man like this?
Love love loved this book.
Tropes;
- bodyguard
- second chance
- ADHD representation
- past x present chapters
- right person x wrong time(s)
- dual POV
Rebecca Yarros has done it once again. 5 million stars for this book!!!!
This follows Izzy and Nate who met when they were 18 on a plane that was about to crash and who have had multiple encounters over the years since then, but the timing was never quite right for them to be together.
Until now, Izzy is in Afghanistan on a job and Nate is tasked with protecting her life, all the while tension is running between them due not seeing each other in three years after a falling out.
The slow burn relationship development between Izzy and Nate hit the spot for me, it was perfectly done and gave me everything I wanted and more. The chapters set in the past have such much insight into their relationship and I loved all the little moments were they both didn’t realise they were pining for each other!
The romance between Izzy and Nate is just so heartwarming and real and you are rooting for them for the entire duration of the book. There were so many push and pull moments and I just loved that they finally got the HEA that they always wanted.
I mean if you need any more convincing, this man has been annotating books for her😭😭😭😭 are you kidding?? Where do I find a man like this?
Love love loved this book.
October 21, 2023
Edit: I have deleted my first review. After I read this book I knew something felt off but I couldn’t really figure out what. I didn’t know exactly what to feel so I just went “neutral” at first (like what the author is doing in current time) but then I realized it was very arrogant of me. After everything I have now decided to read other’s reviews to see if I was the only one. I wasn’t. So I know I can’t be the only one with this opinion. But anyways, maybe it is having r@cist stereotypes. I am not going to go into much because there is google, but I just felt like it wasn’t her story to tell. She wasn’t in the military. Maybe it’s the ignorance of this white woman author (I am white btw so I feel like I can say this). Or maybe it is having smut when literally outside their door are “enemies”💀. Or maybe it is how the fmc changed her political views randomly so fast in this book just to get her boyfriend back.
I can maybe read a book that is historical romance about war, but I can’t read a book where it’s war now and supporting it. Especially if it has inaccurate information.
I thought this book was supposed to be about a plane crash, but that was barely in it💀instead it was about war😟
I just don’t think I like military romance. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t. It is just not for me. But I suggest reading one that is either completely made up or one that has an accurate description of what the life during that time really is.
Also the white savior complex😬
(pls NO HATE this is MY opinion and MY review cause I see some comment sections where ppl are being really mean😭💀)
I can maybe read a book that is historical romance about war, but I can’t read a book where it’s war now and supporting it. Especially if it has inaccurate information.
I thought this book was supposed to be about a plane crash, but that was barely in it💀instead it was about war😟
I just don’t think I like military romance. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t. It is just not for me. But I suggest reading one that is either completely made up or one that has an accurate description of what the life during that time really is.
Also the white savior complex😬
(pls NO HATE this is MY opinion and MY review cause I see some comment sections where ppl are being really mean😭💀)
October 20, 2023
I loved this book! The chemistry between Izzy and Nate was amazing from the first chapter.
From a plane crash to being in a war zone, Izzy and Nate faced so many challenges. The book is told over 10 years. Nate is in the army and they meet on a plane right before he goes off to basic training. This starts their love story that goes off and on for 10 years.
The twist at the end was shocking. The ending was beautiful. The spicy scenes were spicy, but beautiful too. Highly recommend.
Release date: August 1st, read early for free through Amazon First Reads
From a plane crash to being in a war zone, Izzy and Nate faced so many challenges. The book is told over 10 years. Nate is in the army and they meet on a plane right before he goes off to basic training. This starts their love story that goes off and on for 10 years.
The twist at the end was shocking. The ending was beautiful. The spicy scenes were spicy, but beautiful too. Highly recommend.
Release date: August 1st, read early for free through Amazon First Reads
May 22, 2024
3.75 ⭐️ rounded up
May book club book 💖
If a man suggested we sit & annotate books for each other, I would simply marry him on the spot. That is all.
May book club book 💖
If a man suggested we sit & annotate books for each other, I would simply marry him on the spot. That is all.
September 26, 2023
dnf - I TRIED.. for a month... MAYBE I'll come back to this at some point.. but bleh I was so bored and fmc annoyed me.
July 4, 2023
It was a chore to even finish this book.
July 14, 2023
I’m thinking it’s gonna be a one-and-done for my military romance era 😅
Normally I’d stay far, far away from this genre but you sprinkle in a plane crash and a second chance trope and I’ll come running. Plus, I figured that if anyone could sell me on a military rom it would be Rebecca Yarros.
I was wrong.
I’m not gonna pretend that I’m qualified to give you a rundown of all the problematic takes in the book, feel free to browse the other 1-star reviews for that kind of commentary, but I CAN tell yah that every single character in this story was so supremely self-righteous that it made my eyeballs bleed.
Nate: Our macho military hero. The guy who proudly repeats how good he is at his job of “killing people." The savior of all. Except apparently all those people he kills. And also anyone who isn’t Izzy. Who he treats like shit. For the entirety of the book. But he’s willing to sacrifice the Afghan children that he’s supposed to be helping for her, so *heart eyes*.
Izzy: Our brilliant political dynamo. Who just loves to “help people.” And who thought the best way to help people would be to go to Afghanistan. Not to help many Afghans whose plight she mostly “pays witness to because that is all she can do." But for a selfish personal mission. That puts everyone in unnecessary danger along the way 🥰❤️🔥
And their love story? One for the ages. Two young people who meet on a plane and then hold hands as that plane falls out of the sky. For the next 10 years, they meet up a couple times and come to the same, annoying conclusion: that despite their attraction to each other, their lives are completely incompatible.
Until they find themselves in Afghanistan together. With a romantic backdrop of human suffering to bring them back together once and for all. Despite the fact that nothing has changed and their lives are still going in two entirely different directions.
Hot and sexy stuff, if you ask me.
Normally I’d stay far, far away from this genre but you sprinkle in a plane crash and a second chance trope and I’ll come running. Plus, I figured that if anyone could sell me on a military rom it would be Rebecca Yarros.
I was wrong.
I’m not gonna pretend that I’m qualified to give you a rundown of all the problematic takes in the book, feel free to browse the other 1-star reviews for that kind of commentary, but I CAN tell yah that every single character in this story was so supremely self-righteous that it made my eyeballs bleed.
Nate: Our macho military hero. The guy who proudly repeats how good he is at his job of “killing people." The savior of all. Except apparently all those people he kills. And also anyone who isn’t Izzy. Who he treats like shit. For the entirety of the book. But he’s willing to sacrifice the Afghan children that he’s supposed to be helping for her, so *heart eyes*.
Izzy: Our brilliant political dynamo. Who just loves to “help people.” And who thought the best way to help people would be to go to Afghanistan. Not to help many Afghans whose plight she mostly “pays witness to because that is all she can do." But for a selfish personal mission. That puts everyone in unnecessary danger along the way 🥰❤️🔥
And their love story? One for the ages. Two young people who meet on a plane and then hold hands as that plane falls out of the sky. For the next 10 years, they meet up a couple times and come to the same, annoying conclusion: that despite their attraction to each other, their lives are completely incompatible.
Until they find themselves in Afghanistan together. With a romantic backdrop of human suffering to bring them back together once and for all. Despite the fact that nothing has changed and their lives are still going in two entirely different directions.
Hot and sexy stuff, if you ask me.
August 1, 2023
Me about this book: I will not only throw her under the bus, I will pick up the bus and drop it on her several times then I will get in the bus and drive over her and then back up and drive over her again.
Only the military wife would think that "romance" set Afghanistan doing a war is a slay. Both of the main characters are bland horrible people. In between him killing talibans they have sex, that's romance here.
The whole story is full of military propaganda, stereotypes, and white saviorism.
This is my third book by this author, and give all her books deserve 1 star.
Only the military wife would think that "romance" set Afghanistan doing a war is a slay. Both of the main characters are bland horrible people. In between him killing talibans they have sex, that's romance here.
The whole story is full of military propaganda, stereotypes, and white saviorism.
This is my third book by this author, and give all her books deserve 1 star.
January 5, 2024
the setup…
It’s 2011 and Izzy Astor is a college freshman returning home to New York after the Thanksgiving holiday. She’s afraid of flying and her seat mate, Nate Phelan is on his way to Fort Benning for basic training and though it’s his first flight, makes it his mission to ease her anxiety. That is until the plane goes down in the Missouri River 90 seconds after takeoff. This begins a friendship that literally began after a life changing event.
the heart of the story…
Izzy and Nate’s relationship develops over the next ten years but is told in shifting timelines, beginning in 2021 Kabul, Afghanistan where it’s clear something separated them, and looking backward. Of course, I was beyond curious as to what tore them apart because the heart of their relationship was a very strong friendship with equally strong romantic feelings they mostly held in check. She’s a lawyer, he’s in Special Forces and it’s clear ten years later they’re still hung up on each other.
the narration…
Dual narrators were used for Izzy and Nate’s points of view and I enjoyed both. They were effective at capturing the essences of their characters and I liked their storytelling styles.
the bottom line…
Izzy was an interesting character who wore her heart on her sleeve and made so many life choices for other people, including Nate who kept choosing his career over a commitment to Izzy. Being in Special Forces kept him away and out of communication at a moment’s notice all the time. It took almost the length of the book to learn why they went their separate ways and the answer didn’t live up to the building tension. I liked the story but wasn’t as engaged as I could have been if the reveal had been sooner. However, there was a surprising twist at the end that had my jaw drop. And, this story brilliantly illustrated what’s it’s like for the men who serve in military units like this and their friends and loved ones they leave behind. 3.5 stars
Posted on Blue Mood Café
(Thanks to Brilliance Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
It’s 2011 and Izzy Astor is a college freshman returning home to New York after the Thanksgiving holiday. She’s afraid of flying and her seat mate, Nate Phelan is on his way to Fort Benning for basic training and though it’s his first flight, makes it his mission to ease her anxiety. That is until the plane goes down in the Missouri River 90 seconds after takeoff. This begins a friendship that literally began after a life changing event.
the heart of the story…
Izzy and Nate’s relationship develops over the next ten years but is told in shifting timelines, beginning in 2021 Kabul, Afghanistan where it’s clear something separated them, and looking backward. Of course, I was beyond curious as to what tore them apart because the heart of their relationship was a very strong friendship with equally strong romantic feelings they mostly held in check. She’s a lawyer, he’s in Special Forces and it’s clear ten years later they’re still hung up on each other.
the narration…
Dual narrators were used for Izzy and Nate’s points of view and I enjoyed both. They were effective at capturing the essences of their characters and I liked their storytelling styles.
the bottom line…
Izzy was an interesting character who wore her heart on her sleeve and made so many life choices for other people, including Nate who kept choosing his career over a commitment to Izzy. Being in Special Forces kept him away and out of communication at a moment’s notice all the time. It took almost the length of the book to learn why they went their separate ways and the answer didn’t live up to the building tension. I liked the story but wasn’t as engaged as I could have been if the reveal had been sooner. However, there was a surprising twist at the end that had my jaw drop. And, this story brilliantly illustrated what’s it’s like for the men who serve in military units like this and their friends and loved ones they leave behind. 3.5 stars
Posted on Blue Mood Café
(Thanks to Brilliance Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
December 16, 2023
Nate has raised the bar for every man
January 29, 2024
Ok so I liked Fourth Wing and The Last Letter.
And so I saw this book and had high expectations.
Little did I know that it was a controversial book because of how freaking offensive it is.
I won't write a comprehensive review because honestly, there are multiple reviews that explain the issues amazingly.
I will just summarize:
A US special Forces soldier pumped full of the white savior complex.
A bland heroine who "Does what she wants"
An annoying sister who wants to "BEAR WITNESS" to fall of Afghanistan after all the US soldiers are done leaving. You know...for journalism purposes.
The MMC being "turned on" and ogling the FMC while in dangerous situations.... aka while the Afghans are being killed.
Constantly describing Afghanistan as war-torn, war zone, devastated....
Makes you wonder WHY this country was like this in the first place. *Insert eye roll here*
The exploitation of the country of Afghanistan as a backdrop to the "romance" without gaining anything other than white heroism and the "brown" people who need to be saved by said white heroes.
Give me a fucking break.
How about some of you authors get off your white horse and smell the fucking bread.
Also, if you really want to read about what really happened Afghanistan and what the west really did over there, read Tal Bauer's Whisper because at least he was truthful and INOFFESIVE like all of you SHOULD be.
What a load of bull crap.
Signed:
An Irate Muslim woman.
Thanks! ✌🏻
And so I saw this book and had high expectations.
Little did I know that it was a controversial book because of how freaking offensive it is.
I won't write a comprehensive review because honestly, there are multiple reviews that explain the issues amazingly.
I will just summarize:
A US special Forces soldier pumped full of the white savior complex.
A bland heroine who "Does what she wants"
An annoying sister who wants to "BEAR WITNESS" to fall of Afghanistan after all the US soldiers are done leaving. You know...for journalism purposes.
The MMC being "turned on" and ogling the FMC while in dangerous situations.... aka while the Afghans are being killed.
Constantly describing Afghanistan as war-torn, war zone, devastated....
Makes you wonder WHY this country was like this in the first place. *Insert eye roll here*
The exploitation of the country of Afghanistan as a backdrop to the "romance" without gaining anything other than white heroism and the "brown" people who need to be saved by said white heroes.
Give me a fucking break.
How about some of you authors get off your white horse and smell the fucking bread.
Also, if you really want to read about what really happened Afghanistan and what the west really did over there, read Tal Bauer's Whisper because at least he was truthful and INOFFESIVE like all of you SHOULD be.
What a load of bull crap.
Signed:
An Irate Muslim woman.
Thanks! ✌🏻
August 17, 2023
3.5 stars
I loved Rebecca Yarros's book The Last Letter. It blew me away and had me feeling all kinds of emotions. I was hoping for the same from In the Likely Event. Although this book was enjoyable, it was lacking some of the magic of the other book I have read by her.
Izzy and Nate have a chance meeting that beats most others out there. They met on a plane (her first plane ride) and it went down, they both changed, things changed, etc. They come together then they have to part. They are perfect for each other, but timing and obstacles are tricky things. Nate is in the military serving in Afghanistan and Izzy is a politician who went to Afghanistan to get her sister, a journalist out. Nate just so happens is tasked with protecting Izzy during that time. Things are a tad awkward initially as they have not seen each other in some time but....
I say it every time, romance novels are about the journey and Yarros takes both Nate and Izzy on a will-we-ever-get-the-timing right journey. Their journey is told through both the past and present day and with both characters’ POV. Readers are given glimpses into their chance meetings and feelings. I enjoyed them both and kept my fingers crossed for them.
This is a wartime romance, and it may hit too close to home for some. There may be some triggers, so be advised.
Enjoyable second chance romance. Now I am off to request a copy of Fourth Wing!
Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
I loved Rebecca Yarros's book The Last Letter. It blew me away and had me feeling all kinds of emotions. I was hoping for the same from In the Likely Event. Although this book was enjoyable, it was lacking some of the magic of the other book I have read by her.
Izzy and Nate have a chance meeting that beats most others out there. They met on a plane (her first plane ride) and it went down, they both changed, things changed, etc. They come together then they have to part. They are perfect for each other, but timing and obstacles are tricky things. Nate is in the military serving in Afghanistan and Izzy is a politician who went to Afghanistan to get her sister, a journalist out. Nate just so happens is tasked with protecting Izzy during that time. Things are a tad awkward initially as they have not seen each other in some time but....
I say it every time, romance novels are about the journey and Yarros takes both Nate and Izzy on a will-we-ever-get-the-timing right journey. Their journey is told through both the past and present day and with both characters’ POV. Readers are given glimpses into their chance meetings and feelings. I enjoyed them both and kept my fingers crossed for them.
This is a wartime romance, and it may hit too close to home for some. There may be some triggers, so be advised.
Enjoyable second chance romance. Now I am off to request a copy of Fourth Wing!
Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
October 5, 2023
In The Likely Event ✈️🤍
—second chance
—past & present time
—bodyguard
—dual POV
—right person x wrong time
—förced proximity
This was my very first military romance & it did not disappoint. Izzy and Nate were absolutely incredible together with their chemistry and every single moment of this book had me wanting more & more. This slowburn romance take us on a journey through the years following Izzy & Nate where they not only learn to love one another, but learn about themselves and what it means to risk it all. In The Likely Event was emotional, it had high tension, but most of unforgettable.
Rebecca truly knows what she’s doing when writing a story that pulls you in & doesn’t let you go until even after you turn the last page. If you’re in need of an emotional second chance romance with high stakes, ADHD representation, and a slowburn, In The Likely Event is a must read.
—second chance
—past & present time
—bodyguard
—dual POV
—right person x wrong time
—förced proximity
This was my very first military romance & it did not disappoint. Izzy and Nate were absolutely incredible together with their chemistry and every single moment of this book had me wanting more & more. This slowburn romance take us on a journey through the years following Izzy & Nate where they not only learn to love one another, but learn about themselves and what it means to risk it all. In The Likely Event was emotional, it had high tension, but most of unforgettable.
Rebecca truly knows what she’s doing when writing a story that pulls you in & doesn’t let you go until even after you turn the last page. If you’re in need of an emotional second chance romance with high stakes, ADHD representation, and a slowburn, In The Likely Event is a must read.
July 6, 2023
a military wife using the horrific atrocities done to Afghanistan as a backdrop for her shitty romance…what could possibly go wrong?
August 3, 2023
Started great with boatloads of chemistry and tension. Progressively became more and more repetitive, dulling the effectiveness of the prose and progression of the relationship.
By the time I got to the end, all that addictiveness was gone.
‘Tis a shame 🙁
By the time I got to the end, all that addictiveness was gone.
‘Tis a shame 🙁
July 27, 2023
How Rebecca can write a phenomenal fantasy story “Fourth Wing” and then write this wonderful and completely different romance story is beyond me. Wonderful job!
This story had me in all kinds of emotions, but the last third I don’t think I was breathing properly. I had tears in my eyes. I was just an absolute mess at wondering what was going to happen. Nate, Izzy, Torres, and Serena are all very like able characters. There is a twist at the end with one of them that shocked me and was bittersweet. There were some parts in the middle I got utterly annoyed at Nate and Izzy for their lack of communication and just not wanting to deal.
I will say at times I got similar vibes to November 9th by Colleen Hoover. That mishap kind of love. Which I loved that book too.
I think Rebecca did an excellent job!
This story goes to show how much we will endure for love whether it came on quickly or took years to happen. It shows how much sacrifice there is for love, but especially those who sacrifice their freedom and lives in the military to protect and serve while their families are left behind hoping for their return. All while hanging on to that hope and love.
Read it.
This story had me in all kinds of emotions, but the last third I don’t think I was breathing properly. I had tears in my eyes. I was just an absolute mess at wondering what was going to happen. Nate, Izzy, Torres, and Serena are all very like able characters. There is a twist at the end with one of them that shocked me and was bittersweet. There were some parts in the middle I got utterly annoyed at Nate and Izzy for their lack of communication and just not wanting to deal.
I will say at times I got similar vibes to November 9th by Colleen Hoover. That mishap kind of love. Which I loved that book too.
I think Rebecca did an excellent job!
This story goes to show how much we will endure for love whether it came on quickly or took years to happen. It shows how much sacrifice there is for love, but especially those who sacrifice their freedom and lives in the military to protect and serve while their families are left behind hoping for their return. All while hanging on to that hope and love.
Read it.
April 26, 2024
“Existir no es lo mismo que vivir”.
¡Qué historia más intensa, más bonita y más bien contada! Me ha enamorado por completo.
La autora escribe tan bien, describe todo con tanta destreza y pone tanto sentimiento en todo lo que cuenta que puedes ver cada una de las escenas que te narra, sentir la alegría, el dolor, la incertidumbre y hasta oler la brisa del mar, el aroma de la lluvia y notar la arena del desierto en tu piel. Es brutal.
La historia principal es oro puro, contada a dos voces y alternando pasado y presente, poco a poco vamos sabiendo datos y cositas que han pasado y que nos han traído hasta el punto en el que estamos ahora mismo. Y todo está tan bien hilado que no sobra ni una coma de todo lo que vamos leyendo.
Los personajes principales son perfectamente imperfectos, los secundarios aportan lo justo en cada momento para engrandecer la historia y hay un par de cosas que ocurren que yo al menos no me esperaba para nada y que han hecho que mi corazoncito se rompiera un poquito.
Este libro no solo esconde una historia de amor preciosa y memorable, sino que también nos encontraremos con mucha acción, lazos familiares irrompibles, otros que no lo son tanto, AMISTAD así en mayúsculas y una evolución en ambos personajes principales muy significativa.
Me ha gustado mucho. Pasa a lecturas favoritas, de cabeza. Me apunto a la autora para seguirla de cerca, sin duda.
¡Qué historia más intensa, más bonita y más bien contada! Me ha enamorado por completo.
La autora escribe tan bien, describe todo con tanta destreza y pone tanto sentimiento en todo lo que cuenta que puedes ver cada una de las escenas que te narra, sentir la alegría, el dolor, la incertidumbre y hasta oler la brisa del mar, el aroma de la lluvia y notar la arena del desierto en tu piel. Es brutal.
La historia principal es oro puro, contada a dos voces y alternando pasado y presente, poco a poco vamos sabiendo datos y cositas que han pasado y que nos han traído hasta el punto en el que estamos ahora mismo. Y todo está tan bien hilado que no sobra ni una coma de todo lo que vamos leyendo.
Los personajes principales son perfectamente imperfectos, los secundarios aportan lo justo en cada momento para engrandecer la historia y hay un par de cosas que ocurren que yo al menos no me esperaba para nada y que han hecho que mi corazoncito se rompiera un poquito.
Este libro no solo esconde una historia de amor preciosa y memorable, sino que también nos encontraremos con mucha acción, lazos familiares irrompibles, otros que no lo son tanto, AMISTAD así en mayúsculas y una evolución en ambos personajes principales muy significativa.
Me ha gustado mucho. Pasa a lecturas favoritas, de cabeza. Me apunto a la autora para seguirla de cerca, sin duda.
June 3, 2024
That feeling in my chest . . . I was in love with him. And he was going back to Afghanistan tomorrow.
If you're going to read this book, have thirty boxes of tissues on deck at all times. Seriously. I do not even know what to say right now. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up as the best book I read in all of 2024. Nate was all, "Touch her and die," and I was here for itttttttt. Nate's dog tag necklace? I am not okay. Fuck. I also felt for Izzy on a personal level and felt seen, as I know how difficult it can be loving someone engaged in a dangerous profession. 🥺 Finally, you're telling me Fourth Wing's kingdom of Navarre is a nod to Nate's call sign? OMFG. I'm done. 🫠 So many emotions, not enough pages. 😭
Side note: An epilogue where they don't have a child?!?! NO WAY!!! Yarros, you've done it! I'm your superfan!
“He put his arms out and turned slowly, but I didn’t savor the sight of his bare back and torso like I had just a few minutes ago. Now I saw every place he could be hurt. Every vulnerable inch.”
“He wasn’t mine. I wasn’t his. That was the agreement we’d made. And yet he was always mine. I was always his.”
“‘I’m realizing that it doesn’t matter who I date. They’re all just placeholders because I’m waiting for you. Waiting for us.’”
If you're going to read this book, have thirty boxes of tissues on deck at all times. Seriously. I do not even know what to say right now. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up as the best book I read in all of 2024. Nate was all, "Touch her and die," and I was here for itttttttt. Nate's dog tag necklace? I am not okay. Fuck. I also felt for Izzy on a personal level and felt seen, as I know how difficult it can be loving someone engaged in a dangerous profession. 🥺 Finally, you're telling me Fourth Wing's kingdom of Navarre is a nod to Nate's call sign? OMFG. I'm done. 🫠 So many emotions, not enough pages. 😭
Side note: An epilogue where they don't have a child?!?! NO WAY!!! Yarros, you've done it! I'm your superfan!
“He put his arms out and turned slowly, but I didn’t savor the sight of his bare back and torso like I had just a few minutes ago. Now I saw every place he could be hurt. Every vulnerable inch.”
“He wasn’t mine. I wasn’t his. That was the agreement we’d made. And yet he was always mine. I was always his.”
“‘I’m realizing that it doesn’t matter who I date. They’re all just placeholders because I’m waiting for you. Waiting for us.’”
August 5, 2023
I'm conflicted.
On one hand, this is the kind of story that I'd watch with a girl friend, with wine and snacks and wrapped in my blanket on the couch as we both sobbed over the romance and called for a re-watch right after.
But as a book, I was..unimpressed. The lead protagonists' chemistry was tolerable, but nothing more. Their characters felt very bland to me, and I couldn't find myself rooting for them as much as I should have. Neither of their motivations were relevant to the war going on in the background, and felt entirely selfish .
I've gone through many of the other reviews and I can agree on one thing - the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan was completely unnecessary. It did not provide any value to the story, and seemed to rather just be used to portray the couples' indifference for the deaths happening around them while they argued about their relationship and exes the entire time. Be warned, there are about two or three open door sex scenes in the book - one of them happening while there is a literal war going on outside.
Giving it 2 stars solely for the surprise plot points revealed at the end, and the tackling of abuse and trauma in the story.
On one hand, this is the kind of story that I'd watch with a girl friend, with wine and snacks and wrapped in my blanket on the couch as we both sobbed over the romance and called for a re-watch right after.
But as a book, I was..unimpressed. The lead protagonists' chemistry was tolerable, but nothing more. Their characters felt very bland to me, and I couldn't find myself rooting for them as much as I should have. Neither of their motivations were relevant to the war going on in the background, and felt entirely selfish .
I've gone through many of the other reviews and I can agree on one thing - the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan was completely unnecessary. It did not provide any value to the story, and seemed to rather just be used to portray the couples' indifference for the deaths happening around them while they argued about their relationship and exes the entire time. Be warned, there are about two or three open door sex scenes in the book - one of them happening while there is a literal war going on outside.
Giving it 2 stars solely for the surprise plot points revealed at the end, and the tackling of abuse and trauma in the story.
July 2, 2023
So, I read this book in one day. It was utterly unputdownable. I picked it up today on Amazon First Reads, which was incredibly serendipitous.
I will say, this book wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. There is a LOT of war/military content here, which is not my normal reading material for many (personal) reasons, and I expected more about the plane crash. That said, I genuinely liked this book- military/war content and all- far more than I would have imagined.
This is, at its heart, a contemporary romance. For my more sensitive readers, it’s steamy and open-door, so keep that in mind. We follow Nathaniel (Nate) and Isabeau (Izzy) for 10 years after the fateful plane crash that drew them together and the many intervening years that pulled them apart.
If you know me, you know I don’t like the “we met 10 years ago but somehow are still pining for each other” trope at all. But! And I mean it- but! I am making an exception here. These two were drawn together by a deeply traumatic incident and I have zero issues with understanding how that event might have triggered this long-term pining. It works here.
I loved Nate and Izzy’s story, as frustrating as it could be at times. I also loved some of the ancillary characters too (namely her sister Serena). The last third of this novel was heart-pounding enough that I had anxiety and really felt like I was reading a thriller. Yarros captured a war-time scene well, and I realize from reading her bio that she is married to a veteran and probably has a good understanding of this life.
There was also a twist near the end that I didn’t see coming. I was surprised.
All in all, I really liked this book. It releases in August if you don’t have Amazon First Reads, so if you like open-door romances and military/war content, you should check this one out.
I will say, this book wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. There is a LOT of war/military content here, which is not my normal reading material for many (personal) reasons, and I expected more about the plane crash. That said, I genuinely liked this book- military/war content and all- far more than I would have imagined.
This is, at its heart, a contemporary romance. For my more sensitive readers, it’s steamy and open-door, so keep that in mind. We follow Nathaniel (Nate) and Isabeau (Izzy) for 10 years after the fateful plane crash that drew them together and the many intervening years that pulled them apart.
If you know me, you know I don’t like the “we met 10 years ago but somehow are still pining for each other” trope at all. But! And I mean it- but! I am making an exception here. These two were drawn together by a deeply traumatic incident and I have zero issues with understanding how that event might have triggered this long-term pining. It works here.
I loved Nate and Izzy’s story, as frustrating as it could be at times. I also loved some of the ancillary characters too (namely her sister Serena). The last third of this novel was heart-pounding enough that I had anxiety and really felt like I was reading a thriller. Yarros captured a war-time scene well, and I realize from reading her bio that she is married to a veteran and probably has a good understanding of this life.
There was also a twist near the end that I didn’t see coming. I was surprised.
All in all, I really liked this book. It releases in August if you don’t have Amazon First Reads, so if you like open-door romances and military/war content, you should check this one out.
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