Spoilers occur in the listed triggers.
- Cheating spouse
- Fertility problems
- Lack of career progression
- Sexual assault
- Young pregnancy
- Death of a loved one.
Belle and her friends Gem and Laurie first visit Ibiza after graduating from their university degrees. Since then, 10 years have passed, and Belle has grown up a lot. She’s excelled in her career despite a difficult beginning when she first moved to London, dated and maintained her friendships from before London while also creating strong new ones. But she’s still not feeling fulfilled in her job and after breaking up with a colleague she’s ready to move on and try for a fresh start somewhere new.
After breaking up with a colleague, Belle discovers a short-term role in Ibiza for the summer that sounds amazing. She’ll be able to get away from London and all it’s pressures, focus on herself and she’s got the perfect excuse to get Gem and Laurie to Ibiza for a 10-year reunion of their first holiday there. Except, things don’t go to plan and Gem and Laurie aren’t as excited to go back as she is. Each for their own personal reasons.
One of the biggest things I enjoy about Kate’s romances is that while her characters aren’t “mature”, they’re also not super young and inexperienced in life. They’re all around the 30-year-old mark (like me), have experienced some challenges in life, are focusing on themselves over finding the perfect guy and happen to meet the guy that’s right for them.
Usually in some amazing locations!
While the romance vibe of this one felt a lot more low key in comparison to some of her other books that I’ve read, it felt more natural and real because of that. There was no rush, no pressure, and it didn’t feel like there was an expectation for there to be a happily ever after.
Instead, we got to explore the difficulties of maintaining friendships that were made in one’s youth, especially when you start hiding the difficulties you’ve experienced or are feeling because you didn’t want to seem like you didn’t have the “perfect” life. That trap of portraying the perfect life is something that many young adults go through, and I do think that’s exacerbated a bit thanks to social media, and we get to see that explored fully in this book.
10 years’ worth of secrets, feelings, and judgements come out of the woodwork, and we get to see how they’re impacting their current relationships and outlook on life. And as the book progresses, how they can sort through those and come out the other side.
