by Jay Crownover
Book: The Forever Marked #4
Publisher: Author
Pub Date: January 18, 2024
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Book Links: Goodreads Amazon
She’s the only girl he’s ever loved.
Zowen Archer has been in love with Aston Wheeler for as long as he can
remember.
She’s perfect, except for the glaring fact that she fell in love with his best
friend instead of him. For years, he loved her from afar with zero expectation.
He told himself that as long as Aston was happy, his feelings for her didn’t
matter.
However, Aston isn’t nearly as happy as she seems. And by the time Zowen figures things out, his life takes a drastic turn for the worse.
Now that Aston is single and laser-focused on making up for the lost time between the two of them, Zowen is doing everything in his power to avoid her. He’s convinced that if she never wanted him when he was at his very best, there is no chance in hell she could care about him now that he’s at his absolute worst.
He’s the only boy she’s willing to wait for.
Time has never been on Aston Wheeler’s side.
She spent too long pretending to be someone she was not. She lost herself in a first love that everyone, except her, thought was perfect. She wasted a lot of time trying to convince herself that she should be happy when she was anything but. She watched for years as the one person who made her feel like her true self drifted further and further away.
Finally, when she’s ready to reach out and grab the one-of-a-kind love that Zowen Archer has always silently promised her, it’s too late. Zowen is taken away, and when he reappears in her life, he makes it clear there’s no going back to whatever they might have been.
Good thing for Zowen that Aston is patient and doesn’t mind waiting for him to have a change of heart. It’s the least she can do after all the time he spent waiting for her.
My Review: This is a world that I couldn't untangle myself from the second I read
Rule. From that world to this spinoff of their kids, its been nothing but
amazing and I am sad this is the last book in this spinoff.
Zowen is a free man now. He could finally go home and see his parents again and check on his dad since his big health scare. Only problem is that this legal battle isn't over yet. Then the next problem (okay so maybe two problems) is Aston. The woman he didn't let visit him....
Aston has the guest house in back all setup for Zowen to stay in. She wants to help him while also wanting to reconnect. Selfish? Maybe, she did play with his feelings for a long time before realizing. But regardless you can see how much she really does want to just help Zowen.
Everything between them changes soon. From a drunken night to Zowen going to meet his niece and Aston coming back from her own family stuff. Things start to mellow out and a connection builds, plus they are basically dog parents now.
Aston
wakes in her room and walks out to see Zowen making breakfast, everything
needed for the puppy is now there and he'll take care of things while she takes
time to deal with everything going on.
From then on this book truly develops into what I've come to expect from Jay. Zowen and Aston are wonderful characters. They truly deserved to finally have that happy ending after everything they've been through.
