“I love you.” I tell her, my hand braced against the nape of her neck. “I’m fucking drowning in you, Gia Maria. I slipped right into your pretty blue eyes, kidding myself when I said I was going for a swim. I’m drowning, and I don’t care to come back up for air.”

Was this one of the best books I’ve read in 2020? YES. A thousand times, yes. I would never want to ruin this book for anyone, so I won’t go into much detail in this review. I will be brief, but just know that if you read this book and want to discuss – I’m totally down!

Max and Gia meet in a coffee shop at the beginning of our book. They know of each other through mutual friends, but have never really sat down and talked. As they are getting to know each other, Gia shares her hardships with her family and life. Max decides to invite her on his summer road trip, hoping that she will want to get away with him and find herself. He’s drawn to her, attracted to her soul. After finding out that her parents have set her up to be married to a man she doesn’t love, Gia decides to run away and join Max on his road trip.

Max is a musician, and a very talented one at that. Gia decides to take on the role of his manager while they are on this road trip together and she books him a bunch of gigs. Max’s talent catches on and soon enough they are in Las Vegas and Max is preforming back to back shows. He gets signed by a record label and his career takes off. All while this is happening, he’s keeping a huge secret from Gia. Something so big that you will literally never guess what it is. It’s life changing. When Gia finds out about the secret, her response is everything. It is what makes her so perfect for Max. She doesn’t even realize how incredible of a human she really is. There are some major issues with Gia’s father, which cause some pretty large bumps along the way, but our couple does get their HEA. 

Both of these characters have been through the ringer. Max specifically. Their connection and the love they share is heartbreakingly beautiful. READ THIS BOOK. Please. I’m very serious about this. I can’t even begin to explain to you how incredible this story is. The chapters from different POVs, the dialogue differences, the plot twists…I mean, it was simply perfect. That’s the only way I know how to describe how I feel about this book: utter perfection. Lacey Dailey is an exceptional author, if this book is any example of that. I hope she has more brilliant stories like this one because I’m about to one click all her work. Bravo. 5 stars!!!

“All my seconds are for you.”