Goodreads blurb:
Brina and Eagan meet for the first time when she's nine and he's fourteen. They like each other from the very beginning, although their bond isn't immediate, but it grows over the years. What links them is the fact that their parents are photographers and are extremely devoted to their work and to each other; so much so that both Brina and Eagan have to learn how to take care of themselves from a very young age. Despite their differences, age, gender, nationality, Brina is Italian and Eagan is American, they find comfort in their growing friendship.
Then Brina becomes a teenager, and her feelings for her friend start changing and deepening. New desires stir within her. As soon as Brina realizes how those feelings complicate her friendship with Eagan, she runs away from him.
A few years later, Brina is twenty and Eagan is twenty-five, they find one another once again. Brina is studying cinema in Rome and she's also trying to become a musician. Eagan begins to work as an architect in the same city. Eagan wants to be a part of Brina's life anew. Brina, however, is still in love with him; she finds it difficult to act merely as a friend and she keeps pulling away.
Set in the beautiful Rome, this is a sensual and romantic story of friendship and love.
(Recommended for ages 17+, due to sexual content and language)
This is a story about love, loss, grief and forgiveness.
I love love stories between best friends, because most of the times, sooner or later best friends end up falling in love for each other. Most of the times that gets really complicated because if you tell about your feelings to the other person you are risking losing not just your best friend but the person that you are in love with. But if the other person feels that way toward you too, is totally worth the risk.
Brina and Eagan met when she was nine and he was fourteen, since then they are best friends. Their parents are always busy with their work, and they became each other family. Brina never lived for a long time in the same place, she doesn't have more family, it’s just her and her parents and sometimes she feels lonely.
Years later, Eagan goes to college in New York and they spend their summer vacations together but what was an simple friendship is now surrounded by drama. Eagan does things that Brina doesn't agree with and when she tells him how she feels about the things that he is doing, he hurts her.
“When my mum called and told me you were sick, I got so, so scared, kitty-cat." He nuzzled my neck. “Then, when I saw that you weren't just sick, you were crushed, I wanted to kick myself.”
Even with all the problems in their friendship they are still friends, he supports her music, takes care of her when she is sick and one day Brina kisses Eagan and sees that she has other kind of feelings for him and in her mind the best thing to do is run away. She leaves and goes to Rome to study cinema and she and Eagan barely talk to each other anymore.
After a tragedy Eagan decides to go to Rome because he want’s to rekindle his friendship with Brina, but things are not so easy as they seem. It hurts Brina when she isn't around him but it hurts even more when she is. She loves him but she just doesn't want to ruin their friendship by telling him about her feelings.
“I can't even feel my own tears. Damn it, Eagan! I'm a mess without you, and I'm a mess with you. I don't know what to do.”
After many failed attempts to rekindle their friendship, she decides to tell him and for her surprise he feels the same way. They decide to stay together but the drama that surrounds them doesn't go away and that ends up breaking them apart again. She asks him for six weeks to think about their relationship and he accepts.
They are both miserable but neither one of them wants to make the first move, Brina because she thinks that she is not good for him and Eagan because he wants to give her the space that she asked for. But a friend convinces Eagan to go to Brina and when they reunite again everything is how is supposed to be and they get their happy ending.
“Take control of the situation. Be an alpha guy. Instead of—Hell, I don't know which letter of the Greek alphabet you're now, but it's not a good one."
I liked the end, and really liked that the epilogue had how they were 18 months, 3 years and 5 years after they happy ending. Overall I liked the book, it was well written and the characters were well developed. The one negative point for me was the flashbacks because it was a little confusing, sometimes I didn't really know when it was the present and when it was in the past.
I recommend reading the book, it was a good read.
*Copy of the book provided by the author*
Buy the book: Amazon
