The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen

Series: The Ivy Years #2

Format: Ebook

Pages: 274

Rating: 4 Stars

How I Got It: Purchased

                I’ve been eying Sarina Bowen for a few months now. I’ve heard good things about her new adult books but always talked myself out of it. Then, I saw this was only $.99. I figured even if it sucked $1 wasn’t too much to spend. And it was worth the money and more. The cover is pretty awkward though.

                This story hit a lot of my sweet spots. First, it’s in dual POV. If you are set on doing first person please do dual POV. When there’s a romance I prefer to get in each character’s head. And it was a cute romance. Both characters have a bunch of shitty things going on in their lives, but their romance is perfectly adorable. Plus, the romance progresses slowly and isn’t over-the-top sexual. Plus, hockey-even if it wasn’t a main focus of the story.

                Scarlet and Bridger were both great characters and I liked them equally. But-and I say that with no intent to offend-what the hell kind of name is Bridger?  I can definitely tell why people really love Bridger. He’s a sweet guy and his life situation just makes you love him. He actually reminds me of Cam from Wait for You in personality. And Scarlet was down to earth and not super melodramatic considering her situation. A lot of the side characters were intriguing and make me want to read more about them.

                All that being said, I did have a couple issues. First, a few times I would get confused about which character was telling the story. And Scarlet would get a little repetitive when she would complain about how she had no friends because of her dad. Normally, that kind of stuff doesn’t bother me, but here it got annoying. I also wish Scarlet had more friendships. I get why she would avoid people but so much of her life was focused on her relationship with Bridger.

                But those complaints are pretty minor. This is a great new adult read and I’m excited to read the other books in the series. They both have characters that are exactly what I like. Plus, hockey. There should be more books with hockey in them.

                

Thanks for reading!

~Holly