I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley and exchange for an honest review. The chemistry between the two main characters was only OK in this. I was not as invested and it took a while to get into it. I would recommend it for someone who really likes romance, and it’s determined to finish what they start reading

"Ten Years" by Pernille Hughes is a slow-burn centered around loss and grief. The enemy-to-lover trope is done well and the book has high notes, but the chemistry between the leads doesn't jump off the page. Still, this is a novel worth the read.

Penniless Hughes writes romantic gold and has done it again. The plot, the flawed characters, the scenery and pacing are all sublime. Can't recommend highly enough.

I found this book to be a pleasure to read. Becca and Charlie's dynamic was interesting and their dialogue was fun to read. I still haven't landed on how I feel about how little of Ally there was, I found myself wishing that there were maybe some more scenes of the three of them when she was alive. I think that's how I felt about the book in general, I just wanted a bit more. While I didn't feel like there was anything bad about the book, I'm not sure I'll think about it for very long, I'm not sure it made an impact, and it feels like it has the potential to be more impactful and more emotional. Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for this ARC!

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes was a fun read for me. Charlie and Becca have a history and then are constantly being thrown together because of their mutual love of Ally who is terminally ill. The bulk of the story is about Becca and Charlie traversing grief and finding themselves and what they really want over the course of 10 years. I enjoyed returning to these characters each morning and evening as I read this book and recommend it is a fun romantic tale and will look forward to other books by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for this ARC and a chance to read and review this book**

Tropes:
- Enemies to lovers
- duel POV
- third person

Trigger warning: loss of a partner

Summary: Charlie and Ally are engaged, but when Ally dies, she leaves a bucket list for Charlie and her best friend Becca to complete. 1 task per year over the course of 10 years.

Review:

I liked it in the beginning - the first year was definitely the most interesting chapter. I felt that you really got to see how both the FMC and MMC dealt with the initial grief of loosing someone close to them. I thought that the breakdown of chapters by year was an interesting concept, but didn’t do the story any justice. In fact, I felt this made it hard to connect with any of the characters, especially with the passing of time, because some chapters only had one of the characters POV. Becca and Charlie did not seem like they liked each other the entire time so it was hard to believe in any romance.

Other things I liked:
- They address each other by their last name, which I thought was cute!
- Allie’s mom was a good example of healthy coping/grief and spoke positively of the palliative care experience which I enjoyed as someone in the healthcare profession.

Slow and steady book. Sometimes the female.main character was annoying but I grew to love her. The book is slow but I think it adds to the sense of time and slow burn. I ended up really enjoying it and it was incredibly complex.

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is a laugh out loud, heart wrenching, joyful, lump in your throat treat. This rollercoaster ride delivered all the feels in the best possible way of two people grieving a loss over ten years. It is a UK based novel so the humor is English based but overall loved it!

Imma be honest. The premise is something we've seen before. It's opposites attract. It's best friend's fiance. It's best friend. It's loss and pain and healing.
It's also not for me. I had a really hard time believing that these two were actually attracted to each other, other than the physical. Didn't buy it.

Before her passing, Ally leave a series of notes and emails that leave her boyfriend, Charlie, and bestie, Emma, on a series of bucket list activities. The catch? Charlie and Emma loathe each other, and Ally knew it. The relationship changes between Charlie and Emma is amazing and will have you laughing and crying.

On reading the description of this book I knew it was to be a gutcrusher. Within the first few pages I was reading through wet eyes. There were plenty of laughs too. There couldn’t have been two better people to go through this bucket list kicking and screaming yet coming back for more. It’s crazy how much one can change over the course of 10 years. For these two it took a lot of grit to circle back to one another after some of their interactions. Sometimes your heart pushes you in the right direction and waits for your brain to catch up! This was a great read that I devoured within one sitting.

Slow & boring. I just didn’t believe their love at all. They spent the first 70% of the book reiterating how much they disliked each other and then all of a sudden that changes? Just… no. I stopped reading at that point.

Quite honestly, Becca was an annoying main character to me, as well. DNF @ 70%.

I received a digital ARC from Harper 360, One More Chapter via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this story. I connected with Becca and Charlie as they grieved the loss of Ally over ten years. However, at times, I felt the story became too repetitive and drawn out. I do look forward to reading more from Pernille Hughes in the future.

***ARC Provided by the Publisher via NetGalley***

There was a lot about this title I enjoyed.

I liked the way the story was constructed and the way the reader learned about the events in each of their lives at the same time Becca and Charlie did.

I liked the way it was written in snippets of moments and that there wasn't a lot of fluff between the meetings.

There was a reveal at the end I could have done with as it made the story feel like it was...fraudulent for lack of a better word and no opportunity was given for the reader to deal with it as it was the last reveal.

I also didn't really ever feel much of a connection between Charlie and Becca. Well that's not entirely true...I felt the dislike and the frustration that they felt when forced to be around one another, but I never felt the attraction or passion between them. I'm not really sure why either as the dislike worked so not sure why the passion didn't, but it wasn't there for me.

While there were parts of this I liked, it's a romance (well, maybe more women's fiction) and for me to be able to recommend a romance I need to feel the romance, and that was lacking for me.

I'm unable to recommend this title.

When Ally dies young, her best friend, Becca, and her fiancé, Charlie, are both devastated. Given that Becca and Charlie have never gotten along dating back to when all three were in university together, they assume they will no longer be in touch. But then it turns out that Ally's last wish is that Charlie and Becca each year jointly complete an item on her bucket list. They agree to honor Ally's request, so every year over the course of 10 years they find themselves coming together on different adventures. At first, they each drive the other up the wall like usual. But over time, they find themselves becoming closer and, much to their own surprise, perhaps even becoming friends ... or more.

This was a heart-warming and frequently funny story that also explored interesting themes around grief and whether and how people change as they older.

Highly recommended!

TEN YEARS by Pernille Hughes was a heart grabbing roller coaster of a ride. When the death of a friend unexpectedly brings a couple as often at odds as they are in union, the sparks fly and the pages are turned as fast as I can go to keep up with the twists and turns and results of this perfectly matched couple through the ups and downs of ten years of living. I especially enjoyed their dialogue and the fact that I had no idea what was going to happen next, but happy to go along for the ride in this wonderful writer's hands. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased thoughts.

4 stars! such an interesting book that had me excited about their story!

i was nervous about reading this just because i’ve found myself so-so about uk-based romances but this one was a beautiful balance of romance and their general lives and how they got there.

i am so into books that take place over a long timeline and missed connections and this didn’t disappoint. the grief and realizations they endured were captured in such a clear way although i think this would’ve been 10000 times more interesting if it were told in a first person perspective. i respected becca and charlie’s feelings and lives so much and wanted even more from them. first person would’ve made it a perfect book for me.

becca was such a sharp character you were rooting for and wanted to shake while charlie was so laidback who you also wanted to shake. i loved them both and they were real in a way that i was annoyed with them but in a way i understood. i love feeling annoyed with characters like they’re my friends making incorrect decisions because to me, it’s proof how the author was able to write them authentically. i wanted becca to understand her grief was holding her back but i could see myself right there giving myself or a friend grace around it, you know? they were just written in a way i loved.

tw: grief, death of a side character

thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in return for an honest review.

Ten Years, a novel by Pernille Hughes, available August 15, 2023!

Two characters, stricken with grief over the loss of their fiancée/friend Ally check off items on her bucket list in this novel enemies-to-lovers novel by Pernille Hughes. Told over the course of many years, Charlie and Becca seem utterly incompatible until brought together by forces from the grave, which show them that they are better working through their grief and supporting one another as friends and maybe more than that…

This is a slow burn, but you will root for them the entire book. The banter was great between the two characters, and their individual character arcs were well-developed. I liked how their lives and careers crossed paths, even if they made it a plan to see each other for Ally’s sake.

I would definitely pick up other books by this UK-based author. What a refreshing take on a second-chance romance with a cover to die for!

Thank you so much to Harper 360/One More Chapter and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced (e-)reader copy and a chance to rate and review this book!

4 ⭐️ 0.5 🌶

TEN YEARS – Pernille Hughes
One More Chapter
ISBN: 978-0008478421
August 15, 2023
Contemporary Fiction

London, England

Becca and Charlie have known each other since they attended university. Becca’s best friend, Ally, fell in love with Charlie. But despite the connection, Becca and Charlie didn’t really get along. However, they were there while Ally battled cancer until she finally died in 2011. TEN YEARS covers the day of Ally’s funeral and through each year up to 2020. Unbeknownst to them, Ally left behind a mission for Charlie and Becca to do together.

A year after Ally’s death, Becca receives an email from…Ally. Thinking Charlie was pranking her, she looks up his phone number and angrily contacts him. Turns out he got the same email. They decided that Ally had scheduled emails for the future and in them were requests that only the two people she cared for could fulfill. Becca and Charlie hate each other, so how can they stand to be around each other now? But for Ally’s sake, they will tolerate the other. They contact Ally’s mother Valerie, who gives them a little bottle with some of Ally’s ashes. The email had instructed that they would go to this particular place and spread the ashes from the little bottle. Amazingly enough, despite their dislike of each other, Becca and Charlie perform the task. The next year, another email and another task. They’ve finally figured out that Ally is doing it as a way to keep her memory alive, but it is also forcing Becca and Charlie to interact.

Every year that Becca and Charlie get together to once again spread part of Ally’s ashes, they end up learning more about what the other has been up to. Becca is an aspiring actress who isn’t having much luck in finding a steady job—or finding a good man to date. Charlie took a year off after graduating from university. He is a journalism major and finally lands a job. He also eventually starts dating a woman at work, and they marry. At his wedding reception, Becca is enraged because she thinks Charlie is disrespecting Ally’s memory even though it’s been several years since she died. As they bicker, it soon becomes apparent that he hasn’t told his bride the whole story about Ally. Within a couple of years, Charlie is once again alone. And each year Charlie and Becca continue to get together to spread more of Ally’s ashes.

Each year in TEN YEARS represents changes happening to Charlie and Becca. It turns out they are good listeners for each other, yet they don’t recognize how their relationship has changed. I won’t give away all the spoilers, but readers will soon realize what Ally is doing. She is bringing Charlie and Becca together. Did two people who thought they hated the other really turn out to be…perfect for each other? As you can guess, it takes time and the ups and downs of their lives before that question is answered. A compelling and intriguing tale, you won’t want to miss TEN YEARS.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

When Becca’s best friend dies, the one person she doesn’t want to spend time with is the friend’s fiancé, Charlie. The felling is mutual. So when, a year after her death, she sends Becca and Charlie on a bucket list to spread her ashes, neither is too excited but agree to meet every year on the anniversary of her death.

This book was amazing!
First, I loved the format. Each year has one or two sections where you either follow Becca and Charlie in their lives or together completing the tasks. This gave room for me to be excited or anxious to see how their lives had changed. And man did I get anxious! You can tell pretty early in how suited they actually are for each other which makes them moving on with their lives so hard to read. But that’s some of my favorite kind of readers anxiety.
I also really liked Becca and Charlie. They are flawed and can’t see it. But they can see it in each other which makes for some high drama. The tasks that they need ti perform always put them at odds. Becca was also hilarious.

All in all, this was a really good romance. It’s a slow burn but worth it!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted copy.