2.5 Stars 
 I wish we could have seen more of Demi and Royal's relationship prior to their almost decade long separation. It would have help me understand Demi's pain after Royal's departure more. 
 I felt Demi was a very passive character. Throughout the book, there are a lot of people who try to take advantage of her and she makes a lot of excuses about why she doesn't do anything about it. I wish she'd stood up for herself more. 
 After Royal's return, Demi let him back into her life too easily. Even before knowing the details of his disappearance, she welcomes him back. I wanted to see Royal make more of an effort to make amends, and I wanted Demi to be a little more cautious with him. Most of the sex scenes between them also reflect this wonky power dynamic, in which Demi is giving way more than she gets, especially considering he is the one who needs to be proving himself. 
 And then there's the whole issue with Demi's family. They all cut Royal out of their lives, and Demi's father essentially betrayed him. Without giving too much away, I'll say this was all a result of Demi's father choosing not to trust Royal when he needed him the most. This leads to very serious consequences for Royal, yet in the end all is forgiven. That happened way too easily in my opinion. I felt the author was trying to squeeze a happy ending out of a scenario that couldn't realistically allow it. 
 And most importantly for me, I was disappointed that from Royal's perspective, the book employed that whole cliche of "the girl I love is so pure and all the other ones I slept with were just sluts." I'm tired of men sleeping with woman and then shaming them for it. Demi is classy and angelic while her foil Pandora is slutty and malicious. She is shamed for her unconventional sexual preferences, and Royal talks about their relationship as if he didn't choose to sleep with her. Why is it that after these separations, the guy always goes off and sleeps with everything that moves, and the girl either commits to a man she doesn't want to be with, or remains celibate until her long lost love returns? Something tells me Royal wouldn't have been so forgiving of Demi if he'd learned that she'd slept with a dozen men during his absence. And I suppose that's what's missing in the book for me; knowing Demi and Royal's love is really as unconditional as they claim it to be.