Emma is making changes in her life. She has new protective room mates and friends Meg, Serena, and Peyton. She finds ways to distract herself and not all of them are healthy.  She is getting out, going to parties, and self medicating a bit with alcohol. She is just existing, not really feeling, and drowning in guilt and feelings of loss. Her best friend Sara is in Paris and relies on her room mates to be Emma's watch dogs. Even another man comes bounding into her life. She does not want to let him in, but somehow he sneaks in just a bit past her defenses although she will not let him in deeper. But he provides a nice distraction from the turmoil of her life. But I was just anticipating the return of Evan. I missed Evan. I needed Evan. The anticipation was seriously killing me!

Then tragedy strikes and Emma is forced to return to Weslyn and face her past and Evan. And of course, even if he is not really wanted there, he is there for her. Before she knows it, past and present are all mixed up for the Summer as they all end up in California. She doesn't want to live in the past, but she has unfinished business with both Evan and Jonathon that keep them all from moving on. But once Evan sees what the last couple of years has done to her, he cannot help but go back into protector mode. Soon he is immersed in their lives and trying to save the girl that was his first love. They have serious issues and years of pain and guilt between them. 

Can she truly open up, shed her secrets, and face the demons and fears  from her past and begin to heal?

Her friends and Evan are determined to try. Just like the rest of the books in this series, this story is not easy. It is raw, painful, and heart breaking. There is loss, guilt, fear, insecurity, and secrets. But there is also forgiveness, recovery and redemption. It is not a short or simple journey for Emma and she could not have done it alone. It took finding the strength and self forgiveness in order to even begin her journey of  healing and a future. So it was difficult and heartbreaking, but also beautiful and inspiring. 

“I’m afraid. So afraid that if you see who I truly am, you’ll hate me. And I can’t let that happen. I only exist because of you, Evan. You’ve saved me more times than you know. I’m so afraid I’m not worth the breath you gave me. I want to be so much better that this girl in front of you. I want to deserve to let you love me. I just don’t know how.”

"People change. I know this. And we will continue to change. That just means I'll get to fall in love with you again. Because no matter what happens in our lives, what I feel for you will survive anything."

I felt every emotion in this book. I was in anticipation, tense, angry, frustrated, sad, tearful, fearful, and happy. I felt completely connected to these characters after living these stories with them. They are so well developed, so intense, so broken and complex. Her best friend Sara and his brother Jared meant almost as much to me as Emma and Evan. And they had their own troubled journey.  Jonathon was not a big part of this book, but I really felt for him too. And all of the California guys and girls made me smile. And despite having such a dysfunctional family life of her own, Emma was blessed with with a pseudo family that was there to fight for her. 

I was thrilled that in this one we got Evan's point of view mixed in with Emma's! I liked how it flowed together but was still clearly defined. It made the book so much deeper and interesting. Due to the conflicting emotions and the fact that they had both gone through so much during their separation, we really needed to be able to see into Evan's head and heart. He was struggling as much as she was and needed to get answers and deal with his own feelings and issues. 

I felt that this was a wonderful conclusion to this intense poignant series. I was very happy where the story lines went and that is was just as complicated as the others. I would not have expected these characters to just have an easy and happy reconciliation without drama or problems. It would not have been true to their story. I would have liked to have more of an epilogue into the future of all the characters, but was still satisfied. I waited until all three books were out and  read this entire series in one weekend. And I think I would have gone crazy if I had to wait in between books with the cliffhangers in the first two books. Rebecca Donovan knows how to hit you in your gut, shake your foundation, rip your heart out, but then slowly starts to help put you back together. 

In the uneven balance of my life, I'd experienced love and loss. The loss challenged me to be strong, but it was the love that supported me when I was weak. I was a survivor. And now I wanted to focus on living my life. This was just the beginning of our healing. Of being forgiven. I knew I would struggle with it at times, and feel like I was fighting for every breath. I just had to remember, there was always a choice. And I chose to live. I chose to love. I chose to breathe.

Thanks to Rebecca Donovan and netgalley for providing me with a review copy for an honest review.