At eleven he was my first crush. At sixteen he became mine. At nineteen he broke my heart and destroyed me. That was ten years ago and the last time I saw Cole Ryan.

They say you never get over your first love...I beg to differ. I left my shattered heart buried in a town I never expected to return to. I erased every thought of him and buried the memories never to be found. 

I moved on...now ten years later I have the perfect life, the perfect fiancé, the perfect career. Everything I ever wanted until I'm forced to go back and face my past and the man that destroyed me. 

He won't stop until I know the truth no matter how hard I fight it. In the end, lies will be uncovered, hearts will be broken, and my life as I've come to know it destroyed.

Frances Callaway is returning to her hometown of Crescent Ridge, Nevada after a ten year absence. She needs to be there for her family now, but she has stayed away to avoid her first love who broke her heart and sent her running, Cole Ryan. She has made a new life for herself with a thriving and challenging career, a handsome and successful fiance', and a seemingly perfect life. But one phone call from Cole will change everything and make her return to face her past.

It has been ten years, but Cole has never gotten over what he did to Frankie. He had his reasons and he thought he was doing the right thing, but he broke both of their hearts in the process. And to this day he does not even know all of the damage he has done. He has built a life in Crescent Ridge and is successful in his own right, and he gives back to the community to help it thrive. But he has had to live with his decisions, secrets, and lies all of these years and his coping mechanisms have not been all that healthy.

His actions allowed  her to follow some of her dreams, but killed others and broke her in the process, and sent their lives spiraling in different directions. She is not looking forward to facing him. Their reunion will be colored with denial, anger, hurt, guilt, and regret. But the only way to find truth, forgiveness, healing, and home will be to face all of the secrets head on and deal with the fall-out.  But to do that they have to be actually willing to listen. And communication is not their strong point. I wanted to shake sense into them and force them to be honest with each other at times. 

Frankie is strong-willed, feisty, independent, but afraid of being hurt and vulnerable. He is equally stubborn, but knows what he wants and needs. But he also has a protective complex when it comes to her and just wants her to be happy. They have both been living their lives based on consequences of the past. But only by facing the pain, spilling the secrets, and processing it all will they have a chance to make decisions about a future and to try to move on. But some secrets and lies have more weight than others. Can they be forgiven?

This is an emotional, passionate story of first love, second chances, and new beginnings. It is told in dual points of view that was critical due to their secrets. The writing style flowed well and the characters had depth. I really felt for both of the characters and all they had gone through. Their connection and chemistry was intense and their bond had a solid foundation despite the huge crack he created with his actions. 

The small town was really a character in itself as well. And I loved how the theme of fault lines filtered through the book with various meanings. The side characters especially his friend, Carter and her sister, Faith, and friend, Ashley were much needed sounding boards and providers of blunt feedback to these two damaged people unsure of their future. I would love to see more with them.

This was a full and complete story spanning a decade in present and flashbacks, but it did not scrimp on the ending either. I was so happy to see epilogues!

Frances Callaway hasn’t been back to her hometown since the day after her first love, her best friend, broke her heart and shattered her dreams. She has a new life, living her new dreams in California, but her mom needs her home so she will do her best to be there for her mom while avoiding everything she ran from so many years ago. 

Cole Ryan hasn’t forgotten Frankie, even though he knows her leaving town was probably for the best. But he has his own reasons for the actions that chased Frankie out of town.

There is so much pain and anguish surrounding these two. They both had hidden reasons for their actions all those years before, but even 10 years hasn’t dulled the hurt. Even though they appear to have moved on, they are stuck in those feelings, both the hurt and the love.

My biggest frustration with this book was the lack of communication between the two main characters. When push comes to shove, they are both runners. Frankie’s running started the whole Cole seems like a stable guy, ready to stand his ground, but even he had several key moments where he left or cut a conversation off without getting to the real issue.

The side characters built a rich world. Frankie’s family, Cole’s best friend, they were all there watching when Cole and Frankie fell in love, and when they imploded, and they could all see things that Cole and Frankie were too involved to see.

But this story moved quickly, despite my frustration. These two had a lot to sort through, particularly because Frankie had avoided home and Cole for so many years, which kept the pace moving. And as they worked through their problems, I loved the resolutions they found together. 

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

Rebecca Shea

Rebecca Shea is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Unbreakable series (Unbreakable, Undone, and Unforgiven) and the Bound and Broken series (Broken by Lies and Bound by Lies). She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her family.

From the time Rebecca could read she has had a passion for books. Rebecca spends her days working and her nights writing, bringing stories to life. Born and raised in Minnesota, Rebecca moved to Arizona in 1999 to escape the bitter winters. When not working or writing, she can be found on the sidelines of her sons’ football games, or watching her daughter at ballet class. Rebecca is fueled by insane amounts of coffee, margaritas, Laffy Taffy (except the banana ones), and happily ever afters.