A young woman with no memory.

A young man with a questionable past may hold all of the answers.
But is it too dangerous to reveal?

Will his attempts to protect her now just hurt her worse in the long run?

We are hit from the beginning with a devastating horrific scene. Then to an injured woman waking up in a hospital with no memory at all. Her surgeon Meredith and her husband Gabe who  also happens to be the town sheriff take a special interest in this Jane Doe and their family becomes her only real lifeline. And their son Jesse, is also part of the puzzle. 

Jane Doe has a complicated history leading up to her attack and that is slowly revealed through Jesse's point of view in the past. He tells us of her past as Alexandria. While her present is told in her point of view as Jane Doe and eventually her newly chosen name, Water, as she struggles to figure out what to do now that she is a clean slate. Their shared past is slowly revealed. We see their lives cross. We see how they ended up. And the in between is gradually filled in throughout the story. 

We basically  see this couple fall in love in two different worlds and circumstances and a connection that can't seem to really be broken despite secrets and a need for protection. 

I really loved Jesse. He was a good guy that made some bad choices during his life time. But he also was protective, caring, and wanted what was best for her all along. He struggled with guilt, loss and pain and was unsure of how much he was helping and hurting the situation. But he would do what he had to do in order to try to keep her safe.

And Water was a resilient woman who had a good heart and cared for those around her. And even in her previous life as Alexandria where she had little control, she was a gentle, loving woman. She struggles with her memory loss, but has no idea that it might be safer not to remember. I wished we got to see more with Water and Jesse's relationship in the present and later. And maybe Jesse's point of view in the present towards the end as well.  

I enjoyed most of the side characters. Jesse's parents Gabe and Meredith, his twin sister Amber, his friend Boone and their cantankerous neighbor Ginny Fitzgerald. She was a force to be reckoned with and was a very important part of the story. They all touched Water's life and helped her to start over when she had nothing. And all cared about her enough to want to protect her and keep her safe and happy. They were likable, well developed, and added depth to the story. The villians were easy to hate and added significant tension and fear. But I did think one of their stories might have been resolved just a bit too easily for me. 

This book had a complicated plot with converging details and alternated past and present in dual points of view. It  was a slowly unraveling story with mystery, suspense, pain, and betrayal with a forbidden love story woven in.  It had secrets, surprises, and  twists. This young woman was basically reborn and had to struggle to find her a new life and eventually face the ghosts of her old one. But "the truth is like that water: it doesn't matter how hard you try to bury it; it'll always find some way back to the surface. It's resilient."

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

The mind, it can be a deceitful thing. But it is no match for the heart.

Memory loss is such a curious concept for someone who has never battled with it. When she wakes up in the hospital, Jane Doe, as she’s referred to, has no memory of her past. She knows how to do things that would otherwise take learning, but she has no memory of her personal history, even her name but especially not how she came to be found beaten and near death in a field. 

“He said the truth is like that water: it doesn’t matter how hard you try to buy it; it’ll always find some way back to the surface.”

Jesse Welles, the son of the local sheriff, has a reputation for trouble. Part of his reputation is earned, part is small town gossip and rumor. He is also the narrator of the past. His memories are the only complete details of the past shared in the story, and the story he paints is one of deep love and deep fear. But underneath his own love and fear runs a protective streak pointed at Alex. Though he can’t seem to stay away from her, he also worries about her and wants to do anything and everything he can to get and keep her safe.

Jane Doe/Water was an interesting character in that all her early characterization happened through the eyes of another. In her present day scenes, I felt her frustration in remembering nothing, but it was hard to get a feeling for her as a person until she was released from the hospital and starts re-living a life. Pinpointing her true nature was also challenging in the past because she spent so much time wearing a mask. There were moments of clarity when her personality shone through, but they were hidden behind the public mask she wore and rarely shared.

As she struggles to remember anything while also trying to pick up her life, the people who support her became near and dear to me. Her quirky boss, Dakota, with her penchant for sharing gossip without judgement regularly put a smile on my face with her prescience and understanding. And then there is Ginny. The cantankerous neighbor to the Welles family, she is the one who offers an empty garage apartment for Jane to settle in and help out around her ranch. But Ginny also needed Jane’s presence (whether she will admit it or not), as the older woman has been a recluse, refusing to leave her land for the last 10 years and refusing permission for anyone except Meredith Welles to help her out. 

This was a slow burner. While I didn’t find as much reading time as usual while I was working through this, I was constantly thinking about Jane Doe/Water/Alex and the series of events that might have led up to her as she appears at the beginning of the book. The beginning was a little slow to pick up, but that may have just been my inability to connect to Jane/Water before she began building a life outside the hospital. I wished that more of Jesse’s point of view was available in the present day, though the consistent format was a strong method for telling this story. It was more that I wondered how he felt watching Water so close yet so far away. And as I was writing this review, it also occured to me that I would have loved to have a little bit more of their future, of what happened after all the truth came out. 

As a new series, there are a lot of characters to meet and backstories hinted at. I can see future books focusing on Jesse’s roommate Boone, or his sister Amber, as well as several other townspeople from Sisters that are introduced and help Water find her feet again. The setting alone would cause me to pick up another book in the series, as I love the Pacific NW. Beyond that though, these characters have stories to tell and I can’t wait to hear them.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

K.A. Tucker: