3,5/5 Stars!!
2026 is the year of men who yearn and I will not be taking any other input!!
Molly wakes up in an unfamiliar bed with a familiar man she has no good memories of. After suffering a stroke, Molly finds she no longer has her memories of the last 6 years. More importantly, no recollection of her husband Aster Bishop - her former school time nemesis. Molly is now forced to navigate this new world where she's not sure who she trusts less, Bishop or herself.
Amnesia tropes are such hit or misses for me. But I enjoyed this a lot. Admittedly, I read the source material for this multiple times and was very excited for this to be trad pub. Aster's yearning in this story is so apparently, he loves Molly so much and would do anything to protect her. I loved Molly's relationship with their friends and how everyone was there for her memories or not. Molly's stubbornness is her biggest flaw, as it made it really hard for her relationship with Aster to flourish initially. There's a moment where that changes and makes the slow burn worth it, but I did feel like it took a smidge too long to get to that point.
As much as I loved the source material, I feel like that almost creates a disadvantage for this story. There was problem with the pacing of the story for me - there was a lot more telling of what was happening than showing Aster and Molly navigate their relationship. I wanted more of what their past and stories of how they fell in love.
Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC. All thoughts are honest and my own.