** spoiler alert ** 
 3 - 3.5 
 (This will be more of a rant than a review sorry) 
 "Emma," Jesse says. "It's me. I'm alive. Can you hear me? I'm coming home." 
 I'm mad. I'm not mad because the book wasn't a good read because it was but I'm mad because I had the highest of high hopes for this book and I just expected more than what I was given. I honestly hate love triangles because of the fear of the hero or heroine not being with the person I want them with and what did I get from this story? Exactly that. 
 "Falling out of love with someone you still like feels exactly like lying in a warm bed and hearing the alarm clock. 
 No matter how good you feel right now, you know it's time to go." 
 Imagine that you're 14 years old, and you see someone for the first time, and you grow the biggest crush on them. He's dating someone else, so you crush from afar, but you become friends with a guy who wants to be with you but you friend zone him. Years later the person you had a crush on speaks to you, and everything feels perfect to you; he comes your first time; he's your first love your high school sweetheart. You go on adventures and follow your dreams together, and he's your soulmate your best friend, and you get married, but a year later you find out your soulmate, your best friend, your other half is missing and most likely dead from a flight that crashed. How would you cope with that? 
 "He's not out there somewhere trying to come home. He's gone. Forever. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." 
 "He's not dead," I said, my voice wavering and rocky. "He's out there." 
 Well, Emma Lerner coped with it by changing her last name to her originally one, Emma Blair. I don't know why but I got so mad when she changed her last name. He dies and within a few weeks/months, she decides to leave and all their memories and change her last name? Her grieving did indeed make me feel her pain (had a few tears), especially the note she wrote him. BUT only three years later (In MY opinion it would have taken me a little longer considering the love of my life and my other half died who I've known since I was 14/17 jus died) and she's already engaged to no other than the friend who wanted to be with her when she was 14, Sam. 
 "I believe in us, sweetheart. I believe that I am good for you and that I am a better man because of you. And I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. So, Emma Blair, here it is: Will you marry me?" 
 The first thought that popped into my head was, This is too soon. But then the second thought was, I think I deserve to be happy. 
 I'm all in for happiness and love, but I just didn't feel connected with Emma and Sam as I was with Emma and Jesse. I found it too predictable who she was going choose, but I kept reading because I wanted so badly for it to be Jesse but towards the end only made my heart ache for Jesse. I didn't like half the decisions that Emma made, but if I were in her situation (god forbid) I wouldn't know what to do either but most of her decisions were just pure selfish in my opinion. 
 First off, Emma choose Sam because she felt settled in and because he knew the new you? YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE JESSE A CHANCE TO GET TO KNOW THE NEW YOU! Emma, literally expected a three trip with Jesse to make him understand and adjust to everything!? Jesse just got back, and the ONLY thing he knew and wanted was that he loved his wife deeply and wanted to be with her not get tossed to the side. 
 I'm mad again. 
 I know I know, it was Emma's decision, but she didn't even give Jesse the chance to get to know her at all. She says "Jesse is a different man than he was before. I am a different woman." YOU'RE different, but he's the same person as before. Instead of at least trying to fix their marriage she just ends it, and it's bullshit because she chose the SAFE route. All Jesse wanted was his wife. 
 "But I'm home now. And what drove me to get home, what kept me going, was you. Was coming home to you. Was coming back to the life that we had planned. I want that life back. And I'm not going to let you decisions that you made when you thought I was gone affect how I feel about you now. I love you, Emma. I've always loved you. I never stopped loving you. I'm incapable of it. I'm incapable of loving anyone but you. So I absolve you of anything that happened while I was gone and it's now our time. Our time to put everything back together the way it was." 
 One last thing that annoyed me was that Emma couldn't have a conversation with Jesse or Sam. All she most ever said was "I love you" and it got me even more mad that they let her get away with so many things just because she said those three words? She got off so easy with a lot, and she knew that. 
 I'm sorry, but Taylor Jenkins Reid's heroines get me mad. I love the guy characters she makes but the heroines just irk and annoy me. I know I'm ranting, and everything but the story is well written and can keep you intrigued to what happens but the person I honestly felt whole heartily connected with was Jesse, and that's why I'm so mad right now. 
 Characters: (not doing Emma because I'm mad at her right now) 
 Sam 
 Sweet. kindhearted. gentleman. safe. vulnerable. funny 
 "I feel like my entire body is an open wound and I'm standing next to someone that may or may not pour salt over me." 
 I liked Sam, but I just saw him as Emma's friend. I couldn't feel that connection between them and it probably was because I felt like the author just cramped everything in 352 pages. I felt bad that he had to go through the whole situation, but I liked how he loved her and how he always wanted to be with her and now that I think about it, what would have happened if she said 'yes' to him when he asked her all those years ago? 
 "It's like I'm eighteen all over again," he says. "I love you, and I have you, and now I'm terrified I'm going to lose you to Jesse for the second time." 
 Jesse 
 Handsome. Loving. Charming. Persistent. Confident. straight-forward 
 "Thank you," he said as he gathered his bags and looked at me. "I love you more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of the world. Do you know that? Do you know that Antony didn't love Cleopatra as much as I love you? Do you know that Romeo didn't love Juliet as much as I love you?" 
 I laughed. "I love you, too," I said. "More than Liz Taylor loved Richard Burton." 
 Jesse came around the side of the car and stood at my window. 
 "Wow," he said, smiling. "That's a lot." 
 He's that guy you see across the room and just want to talk to but can't because his confidence just intimates you but then you suddenly see him walking towards you and says 'hello' and you guys easily talk throughout the night. Yep, that's my Jesse. Jesse encouraged Emma to be the person she was in her twenties, he pushed her to do everything she wanted to do but was too scared to do; he was her anchor, her best friend, and her soulmate. He wanted nothing but for Emma to be happy, but he wanted her to be happy with him. I felt Jesse's pain, and I felt his tears because I cried with him. 
 "You're my wife , Emma. We stood in front of a hundred people right down the road at the goddamn lighthouse and promised to love each other for the rest of our lives. I lost you once, and I did everything I could to get back to you. Now I'm here, I'm back, and I'm in danger of losing you all over again? This is supposed to be the happy part. Now that we're here together. This is all suppose to be the easy stuff?" 
 #TEAMJESSE!!! 
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