Did I Mention I Miss You? by Estella Maskame
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): One last chance for love.
It’s been a year since Eden last spoke to Tyler. A year since he left her all alone after nearly destroying their family. But Eden picked herself up and headed to Chicago for college where she found a new boyfriend—someone who doesn’t run when things get tough. She’s finally moved on from Tyler…right?
Despite their breakup, Tyler’s determined to rekindle what they once had. He’s restarted his life in Eden’s hometown of Portland, and he wants her in it. But when a tragedy draws them together, Eden must search her heart and decide if Tyler is worth the risk once and for all.
MY OPINION: ***
I ended up not enjoying this finale as much as I hoped I would. I did like the series overall well enough but this one in particular was boring and hard to get through. I didn't like the plotlines or the characters in this one and it felt like the writer had run out of ideas and was spitballing random twists and turns for the biggest possible punch of a finale.
It's been another year since Tyler left Eden for the second time to work on himself again. She hasn't heard from him in months and has no idea where he is, what he's doing, or who he's with. Eden has had to deal with the stares, the whispers, and the general disgust from her own family and the rest of her community about her dating her stepbrother all alone, despite Tyler's promises that they would face the criticism together. However, suddenly, lo and behold, our favorite man, Tyler Bruce, comes back a year later.
Tyler is under some sort of delusion that Eden will take him back immediately and act as if nothing had happened, which is obviously not the case. The rest of this book centers on the budding relationship between the new Eden and the new Tyler and the resurfacing of old feelings. I liked getting to see them find each other again and start to fall in love with the new versions of each other.
Tyler definitely showed a large amount of character development from the first book to this last one. I loved seeing how he turned his life around, learned to manage his anger issues, and has started a youth group to help those in need. Turns out that he's been living in Eden's old hometown of Portland the entire time he was gone, where he, along with his old friend, Emily, has started a new life.
I still did not like Eden. I completely understand where she's coming from and feel that her anger and hurt was justified towards Tyler but her character overall annoyed me. She felt very immature for someone who was supposed to be nineteen and acted the exact same way that she did in the first book when she was sixteen. I do feel bad that her relationship with her own father is so messed up but I don't think she handled things in a mature, responsible way the way that I would have expected of an adult. I also don't think her decisions about her future or her education were very smart, as she mostly focused on making choices based on her relationship rather than on herself.
I despised Jamie in this book. I can understand where he's coming from but his attitude and general personality was not at all admirable. He is compared to the old Tyler and I can definitely see that. I loved Chase, though, as he was adorable as ever. I do think they should have helped explain more things to him because they treated him like he was five when I believe he was a preteen or a teen (I'm not entirely sure).
I liked how we got to see all of the old side characters because it didn't seem as if the writer had forgotten all about them as the books progressed. Rachael is still very much present in Eden's life and we still get to see Emily and Snake. We are also introduced to Eden's old best friend, Amelia, who I liked, despite the tension that I felt between Amelia and Rachael.
Overall, I was disappointed by this less-than-amazing ending. However, I would recommend this book to readers looking for a summer whirlwind romance series.
Main Character: Eden
Sidekick(s): Tyler, Ella, Chase, Dean, Snake, Emily, Amelia, etc
Villain(s): Lying, cheating, misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book is all very real to life.
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