Another good read in this series.It’s been a while since I read the first two books in the Ivy Years series but the details came back pretty quick with the brief mentions of Hartley, Corey and Bridger throughout this new story. This book focuses on the love story between Rikker and Graham. Two of the guys on the hockey team who knew each other five years ago in high school but were torn apart by tragedy. I won’t bother to restate the obvious and explain how this book is different from the first two because it focuses on a love story between two guys. Instead, I’m just going to tell you what I liked and didn’t like about the characters and the story itself – the same as what I would do for any other book I read – you can form your own opinions about the rest.First off, I really liked the way sports is still a big part of the story. I’m not a sporty person but I appreciate it when authors are consistent in centring their stories around a common theme – in this case hockey. The other thing I loved was how this story told yet another tale of love in the face of adversity. The bigotry and harsh judgements from people who didn’t even really know the main characters reminded me a bit of the kind of attention Scarlett was fleeing in The Year We Hid Away. I loved how in both that story and this one, side-line characters stood up and unconditionally loved the main characters – despite personal differences, baggage, social status, bad family history, whatever… it was a shining example of what true friendship is like and I was glad to see more of it in this story for both Graham and Rikker. As to the actual relationship between the main characters, I liked the way they had to get to know each other again and learn to forgive and forget all the hurt in the past before they could move forward. Graham’s self-depreciation and despairing attitude was a bit heavy at times and made things depressing, but I’m glad he finally pulled himself out of it long enough to realise all the good things he still had going for him. Rikker was an incredibly strong character and I liked the way he stayed so positive (and patient with Graham) despite all the crap he had been through. The only thing I was a bit surprised about was the abrupt ending to the story. I thought there would have been more of an epilogue covering what happened after all the craziness at the end. Don’t get me wrong, all the main points were resolved, I just wanted to see what life would be like for Graham and Rikker after such huge changes.Overall this was another great read and I’ll be looking forward to the next book in this series. I’d recommend picking this series up if you’re looking for a good college/sports based new adult romance series that is well-written and has a great host of really unique characters. This was a nice surprise. Great characters and a big thing for me was the fact that the author actually had written in great support characters that I liked just as much as the key characters. Too many books these days really fall down when it comes to writing in supporting characters. Bella I adored and can't wait to read her story! It should be vastly entertaining! I'd love to read another story on these guys, like 5 or 10 years down the line. Really well written, with a focus on human struggles in the face of mass opposition of someone you love. Believable ending as well. Not a massive fan of Grahams, felt like kicking him but could still understand why he was being a douche. ;)
Do You like book The Understatement Of The Year (2014)?
could not put it down it was a really good read. although I would have maybe liked an epilogue
—Madi
