Book Summary: 

You know the universe is trying to tell you something when you get struck by lightning, but only after getting hit on by the elderly, almost getting ran over by a semi, and running into the one who got away.

Why do they say it like that anyway?

Like I accidentally lost her when she was the one that got in the car with my best friend and left me.

The day after I proposed.

We were eighteen.

I wanted forever.

She didn’t.

It’s been ten years.

I tried to move on, tried to get married, had that same wedding crashed by my now best friend who says the only way for me to stop pissing off the universe, is to gain closure with the one woman I can’t forget.

So I do it.

I embark on a journey down memory lane that not only lands me in prison but on the receiving end of a fist fight in front of the entire town, this naturally happens after drunken pool sex, climbing the same girls window, and getting threatened at gunpoint by her father.

To say the universe is trying to tell me something anything, is a giant understatement.

I just hope I survive the message.

And then, I hope I survive her—again.

My Review:

I will be honest, it breaks my heart to be done with this series. Hanging out with Milo, Max (especially Max), Jason, Colt, and Reid (love that guy!) with the additions of Jordan, Becca, and finally Maddy has been a blast. It’s like watching the last episode of Friends – bittersweet. This series has been non-stop laughter from the first page of The Consequences of Loving Colton to the final sentence of this book. While each story revolved around the HEA of a primary character, Rachel still found a way to include Max and his insane insight (the way she did it in this one was just plain genius!)

Jason Caro is a walking disaster area. After three previous books, how this man is still alive is a miracle within itself. Having witnessed his best friend Colt marry his sister Milo, her best friend Max find the love of his life Becca via a reality show, and Max’s brother Reid recently finding love with his publicist, Jason believes the universe has it out for him. He had his chance at happiness, he knew who had his heart, and he watched the love of his life walk away without looking back 10 years ago. Accepting his defeat and giving up on any chance of his own happily ever after, Jason focuses on remodeling his parents house and moving up the ladder in the police force. It’s easier and, as long as Max and Milo are not around, safer than dwelling on or digging up the past. Unbeknownst to him, his past disagreed with being forgotten and is about to remind him just how much he missed it.  

Maddy looked her future in the eyes 10 years ago and decided to walk away. Her decision wasn’t easy but she couldn’t fathom the idea, at 18, of her life already being over before it began. Instead of staying with the man who would always have her heart, Maddy followed her dreams – going to college and becoming an editor only to have said dreams come crashing down, pulling her back to a reality she never wanted to revisit. Now back in the same town, staring across the street at her past, Maddy has to decide if she is ready to face the destruction she caused a decade prior or if she will continue to play the avoidance game in a small town that loves to talk.

Having met Jason in the first book and watching him escape the clutches of Jenna, you secretly hoped Jason would finally get his happy ending. To learn that he found love before anyone else and the heartbreak he endured completed shifted his backstory. As the reader, you just thought he was simply jaded because life and love was working out for everyone else. To learn that his heart was always with Maddy and that his heart essentially stop beating the second she left, it gives a new perspective on his outlook and attitude through the previous three stories. 

As mentioned above, I love that Rachel somehow still included Max in this book (well he is Jason’s best friend of course, accordingly to him…and no one else). The excerpts she had from his “book” were hilarious and it became quite frightening when they actually started to make sense. If you read this series, you will understand that statement. I also enjoyed the idea of “closure” that was presented to the two main characters. There was so much hurt, anger, and fear between the two of them that any type of reconciliation was impossible. Max’s idea that they needed to relive the glory days to let go was brilliant. I agree with Colt, it is a scary day when you say Max is right and even scarier when you say it more than once! Above all else, I am ecstatic when these four guys get together! I am a huge fan of the Bromance Series by Lyssa Kay Adams and their camaraderie reminds me a lot of those guys. Entertainment (and injury) always ensues when they get together but they have each others back which is what warms my heart the most.

The only thing that bothered me about this story was Maddy’s resolve. Yes, I understand she came back to town when her sister decided to drop off her child and Maddy stepped up to take on the responsibility. I also understand where she was working shut down and she was barely making ends meet. For me, she didn’t come back because she loved Jason and wanted to make it work, she came back because everything else blew up in her face and in a way, she was settling for the life she left behind. I think I would have been more accepting if Maddy CHOSE to walk away from her life in New York versus her reluctance to return, the failures she left behind, and where she ended up. I mean come on – 10 years! She did not look back for ten WHOLE years. It makes you wonder if she ever would have if things had worked out for her. That seed of doubt is what bothered me the most. Failure drew her back, not success. She didn’t look at her life and decide something was missing. Her life fell apart and THAT made her regret what she gave up but again ONLY because her life fell apart. If you can’t tell, this really irked me but not enough to take away from the story.

This little number was a little bit steamer than the other books. The chemistry and tension between Maddy and Jason was felt off the pages. The commentary by the guys was even better! Part of me wants to see that .pdf, just out sheer curiosity. 

While all good things must come to an end, the ride has been worth it! If you haven’t heard of this series, check it out starting with The Consequences of Loving Colton. If you don’t laugh until your sides start to hurt and you are gasping for air, you read it wrong and need to read it again, and again, and one more time for good measure!