“You make me feel amazing just by being you, Bauer.”

At the very end of the book, Karla has a note to the readers about her writing process for this story. She comments first on the fact that she tried really hard to make the hero of this novel, Finn. I have to admit, at the beginning of this story, I wanted it to be Finn too. I had really high hopes for him and I could totally see this being a sister’s best friend romance. But once I got into the meat of the story? There was no one but Bauer. 

He is everything that Claire needs. The way they first meet and the way their relationship builds? It’s all chemistry. Every single moment is built off of this insane chemistry that they have. They crave each other, being near each other calms them. It’s something people only dream of. Chemistry as potent and strong as that. This story is a little complex but the root of it is simply this: Claire has a massive crush on her twin sister’s best friend, Finn, but ends up falling for his brother in the end. Their entire romance happens over 5 days. It’s short but boy is it passion-filled. I find that it can be really difficult to write believable romances when the timeline is shortened, but Karla Sorenson did a fantastic job. She wrote a rich, complex story about two people who found each other by accident and fell in love on purpose. It could have been so easy for Bauer to close his heart off to Claire, but because she was so pure and so good, he couldn’t. He wanted to be better for her. He loved her for exactly who she is, someone so different from her twin sister, Lia.

A huge part of this novel is Claire finding her own identity. At the beginning of this story, she is pretending to be her sister Lia (read the book and you’ll understand why). But as she gets more comfortable around Bauer, she lets her guard down. Crazily enough, Bauer knew from the moment he saw Claire that she was pretending to be Lia and it wasn’t actually Lia he was with. Bauer finds Claire mysterious and complex. He wants to dive deeper into who she is and get to know her on intimate levels. When a snow storm forces them to spend a few days alone together, things heat up pretty quickly. It’s delicious and fun and, at times, heartbreaking. When the climax hits, it’s awful. Completely and utterly devastating. Bauer and Claire are ripped apart by outside circumstances, things from the past, and, in my opinion, nosy family members. But that ending? THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT. The way our couple makes up and ends up together is absolutely perfect. What a wonderful story. 

Karla Sorensen gets me every single time with her stories. I always forget how insanely talented she is until I pick up her next book. So here’s what I’m going to do – I’m going to buy all her books in paperback so I never forget 🙂 Smart, right? Then I will always have them on hand and know that I love them endlessly! 5 stars for this brilliant love story. I cannot WAIT for Lia’s book!! I hope it gets released soon!

“Love is always a risk, Claire. Always. Every day, even when you’re together, because the day you stop choosing your partner is the day you risk losing them.”