✨Im Literary Anxious✨

Estimated Reading Time🕒: 4 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Alice Kellen✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 420📖

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲:🌶️🌶️

“𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍.”

❤️Brother’s Best Friend
💜Age Gap
💙Overcoming Loss
🧡Close Proximity
💛Emotional Healing

What’s the Story?

Leah and Axel’s families have been neighbors and best friends for as long as she can remember—one of those rare, almost magical situations where two completely unrelated families feel like one. Leah grew up infatuated with Axel, her older brother’s best friend, while Axel always saw her as part of his extended family. But when tragedy strikes, both families are suffocating under a blanket of grief, each coping in their own way.

As Leah becomes a shadow of her former self, Axel can’t just sit back and watch. Determined to pull her out of the darkness, he helps her confront her grief and find herself again. Here’s the thing, somewhere in those ten months, Axel realizes his feelings for Leah run much deeper. But, while his heart knows what it wants, will Leah’s brother and their families understand?

My Thoughts

I don’t usually write reviews right after finishing a book—partly because I need time to digest what I’ve read and figure out if I have anything to say, and partly because of executive dysfunction (thanks, brain).

But right now, it feels like a 75-pound German Shepherd is sitting on my chest (speaking from actual experience here), and if I don’t word-vomit my thoughts onto the page, I’m afraid this emotional hangover might derail the productive Sunday I had planned. Let’s be honest, though—that could still happen, coin toss and all.

If you’ve read June First by Jennifer Hartmann and liked it, then this book is a no-brainer recommendation. Think June First with a slightly smaller age gap, less on-page tragedy, still plenty of angst (with a capital A), and, in my case, a little less sobbing.

Alice Kellen did an excellent job balancing Leah and Axel’s perspectives while weaving in just the right amount of flashbacks to give the story depth without overwhelming us with backstory. Each flashback packs an emotional punch, but they’re short enough to keep the momentum going.

Leah’s trauma is portrayed with care and detail, and Axel’s character growth as he helps her heal is just as beautifully done. Their relationship is heartfelt, heartwarming, and heartbreaking all at once, leaving me choked up and desperate for a happily ever after that I know (hope) is coming… eventually.

This is a deeply emotional read, so a word of advice: make sure you’re in the right headspace before diving in. This is not the book to pull you out of a reading slump, cure a book hangover, or read when you’re already emotionally wobbly.

That said, I 1,000% recommend this. It was my first Alice Kellen book, and you better believe I’ve already Googled her entire backlist. But first, I need to dive into All That We Are Together and finish Leah and Axel’s story because I need that happily ever after to scrub off all this angst.

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