Into the Mountain by Kelsey Schulz

SHE THOUGHT SHE'D NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN.

 

HE THOUGHT HE'D ALREADY FOUND HIS FOREVER.

 

When Charlotte Monroe moved to Blue Grove, Oregon to start a business with her best friend, her past was the last thing she expected to be confronted with. Her ex rival and ex-lover was once her prince charming.

 

Now, fifteen years later, he's still on her mind and living too close for comfort. Continuing to lie to herself about how over him she really is just got a lot harder.

Elias Waters's only focus since his wife's passing has been his son. But when a stubborn redhead finds her way into his life again, old memories capture his attention. With tensions high from long-past arguments, he can't deny the spark of new feelings right under the surface.

 

A town* full of meddlesome friends and family forcing them to collaborate might just be the blueprint to helping them design a new future.

 

🤭 Single Dad

🧡 Second Chance

❤️‍🔥 Rivals to Lovers

💞 Dual Timeline

🏕️ Only One Tent

🏡 Small Town

 

 

Love has it’s own ways of finding you, even if it is fifteen years later. Especially if everyone around you can still see the love between you and your sworn enemy. In a matter of a few months Charlotte goes from being the luckiest girl in the world to hitting a grieving rock bottom that she can’t seem to recover. 

Hate and grief mix in a way that seems to be impossible to unwind. But can Elias help her finally accepting the grief and accept the love he and his son have to give? 

I devoured this book. It’s a mix of dual POV and Timelines, where we can uncover why Charlotte hates Elias so much, and we can see that he truly regrets his actions. We navigate with them through hate, grief and acceptance with a good amount of banter, friendly rivalry and a few steamy moments. 

Kelsey managed to put this double POV and Timeline in a perfectly balanced way, where we get the right scenes and throwbacks at the right time without foreshadowing to much. I also liked to see how everyone griefs in their own way and time, and sometimes, it takes more than a decade to finally close a chapter and move on. A little pet peeve of mine is trying to find the exact line or word of the Title in the Book, which was nicely hidden in the perfect spot. 

For me this is definitively a five star read, and I would highly recommend this book.