Only Ever You book review [ARC]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Only Ever You by C.D. Reiss
Published by Brilliance Audio on July 9, 2019
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

From New York Times bestselling author CD Reiss comes a story of friendship, romance, and growing into a love that was always there.

Rachel knew exactly what turning thirty would be like. She had a plan, after all. First college, then a climb up the professional ladder. Love, marriage, children. All of it was on the schedule.

The cheap Hollywood apartment wasn’t on the list. Neither was the string of heartbreaks. Or the effect her mother’s cancer had on her career.

It’s hard to stay practical and on point when everything takes a left turn.

Enter Sebastian, the nerd across the street. The boy she defended when he couldn’t defend himself. The best friend she promised she’d marry if life didn’t go according to plan.

Not only is he successful, confident, and gorgeous, but he also still has their handwritten marriage contract.

No one goes through with childhood wedding pacts.

That’s crazy.

But their families might just be crazy enough to rent a hall and set a date. All Rachel and Sebastian have to do is fall in love.

There seems to be a running theme with my reading style at the moment and I’m very into the ‘will they, won’t they’ type of romance at the minute especially with The Morning After the Wedding Before. Only Ever You definitely falls into that category, and I really enjoyed the moments and references that were made throughout the book. I will say that whilst I really enjoyed the book and reading it, there were moments where it all became so predictable and I knew exactly what was going to happen. BUT and this is a big but, I connected with all of the characters and I enjoyed reading about their stories and connections with one another.

Only Ever You follows Rachel and Sebastian as they deal with a fake engagement and a marriage contract that was never supposed to mean anything. These two make my heart swell, they start off as best friends with Rachel swooping in and saving “Sebbie” from the local bullies. I just loved the dynamic that these two both had and also the way that they looked out for one another. I was a little annoyed with the way Sebastian kept comparing Rachel to her fearless younger self, it’s easy to be fearless when you’re younger and the world hasn’t crapped all over you. Also he is quite wealthy so it doesn’t really compare. I just loved the lengths that they went to in order to keep their families and themselves happy.

The best bits of Only Ever You was definitely when they buy the ring and Rachel’s reaction. I loved the interaction, the way the two characters bounced off one another, it was definitely the start of seeing two best friends blossoming into something else. I loved the ending, I thought that the story ended well and there was a decent amount of closure. I always think with these kinds of books that it’s always the same in the sense that you always want to know how they end up. I think this book covers all my bases on that point. One of my favourite parts.

There weren’t specifically worst bits in this book but overall I think everything moved really quickly and I was left feeling a little like I had whiplash at some points. I wanted more of a slow burn romance but this seemed to snowball at some points and run away with itself. Something that didn’t diminish my enjoyment but definitely disconnected me from the story a little bit.

I definitely would recommend Only Ever You. It is definitely a warm fuzzy read, so don’t expect the next Charles Dickens, but I loved reading it, I didn’t want to put it down and I was satisfied with the ending. If only the romance had been slower paced it would have been rated higher.

What are some of your favourite “will they? Won’t they” type of romances? Let me know in the comments