Reminders of Him

- Colleen Hoover

Albany, WA

September 22, 2022

Goodreads Book Blurb:

After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.

The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.

The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.

Genres:

My Review:

meh, nothing special:

☆☆☆☆☆ 2.5/5

And so my CoHo readathon comes to an end. It’s probably not a good sign that it’s a relief, but I think it’s safe to say there were more duds than diamonds.

I’m a bit on the fence with Reminders of Him; the lack of grayscale bothers me – everything here is so black and white. The characters are only allowed to feel one thing without allowing for complexity. They’ve had five years to come to terms with what has happened, and while it’s certainly not an easy adjustment to make, everything that takes place here shouldn’t be surprising, and they should be prepared.

Yeah, I cried through probably the last 25% of Reminders of Him, but I’ve never denied that Hoover knows how to write emotions or pull on heartstrings. I generally don’t enjoy many of her plot choices (or holes) or how every romance needs to include massive red flags that are ignored on purpose.

Spoiler

The ending confused me. Yeah, everything went way too well and way too easily when Kenna was finally allowed to meet Diem, but that makes the fact that she still doesn’t have custody two years later all the more confusing. Kenna is her mother; what’s this bullshit about not messing up her routine? I’m sure she lives with Ledger right across the street- why is she still a visitor in her daughter’s life? Especially now with a new baby, it’s not like they’ll have all the time in the world to get across the street to ‘visit’ her daughter. This makes absolutely no sense to me.