There were two brothers—identical twins—and though I loved them both, my soul belonged to only one. 

Annalia Del Valle has loved Preston Sawyer all her life. The daughter of an impoverished migrant farmworker, she grew up as an outcast in what was no more than a tiny, cooped up shack in California’s Central Valley. But her heart found freedom in the land, in the wide-open spaces of Sawyer Farm, and in the boys who were her only friends. 

Preston has yearned for Annalia since he was a boy. But a sense of honor kept him from pursuing her until he’s unable to hold back any longer and their worlds—and bodies—collide one hot summer night. A night that sets off a chain of events that will alter their lives forever.

Once again, Mia has crafted a world that pulls readers in, breaks them down, and puts them back together. I’ve come to expect the emotions her stories pull out of me, but am still surprised by the feelings her words create.

Annalia Del Valle grew up following the Sawyer brothers around their farm, trailing after them through the woods, one twin was her best friend, and one she fell in love with. But as the daughter of a migrant farmworker, she kept to herself, always an outsider except when she was only with the brothers.

Preston loved Annalia, but his sense of honor had him standing back rather than stepping forward until one night that would set off a chain of events that would hurt them all.

From the moment we meet Annalia and Preston in the prologue, I couldn’t help but be curious about the events that sent Annalia running and what Preston had faced by staying in their small town. The pain their shared, each in their own way was palpable from very early on.

As both characters are naturally quiet, they don’t always communicate out loud the reasons behind their actions, and those actions often have lasting consequences. Neither character is perfect. They both hold their own notions of what the other is thinking without really knowing. But it is the flaws they each have that makes them so relatable, so easy to sympathize with.

As the story progresses through flashbacks and then meets up with the scene set in the prologue, I couldn’t stop reading without knowing what resolution these two were going to find, because the lead up is heartbreaking and I needed to find some peace. And as the story continued further, there was even more at stake than just two hearts. 

This was an emotional second chance, friends to lovers combo. As Annalia and Preston navigated the pain they had created, they also had to face some pretty hard truths about the situations they had had a hand in creating, learning more about themselves in the process than they realized they could. While this story wrecked me in the process, by the end I felt the peace I had been looking for, the peace *they* had been looking for, and I find myself stuck thinking about this family and their next steps.  

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