Hard to Forget (Hard to Love)

This is a cute romantic story. Matt and Noah were together in high school but broke up because they were going to college on separate coasts. The time wasn't right for them. Now Noah was back in town so maybe the time was right now. I really enjoyed this book.

Noah and Matt were each others first loves. They had dreamed of building a life and family together. They lost focus of that dream when Noah's dream school turned out not to be in the Northeast with Matt but on the West coast. Their relationship changes and is strained but they stay in touch. When Noah returns to Kings Bay the pull to Matt is still there. But now they have to decide if what they are feeling is love or nostalgia? This book reset my nervous system! It was so nice to escape into a world where there was no "Big Bad" waiting to get them and what conflicts were resolved by the characters discussing things. I didn't realize how much I needed sweet, low angst, uncomplicated love story until I picked this up.

I wanted to love this story, particularly with the demisexual and grayromantic aspects, but I never connected with either of the MCs. (I also couldn't tell them apart—one of them writes computer code and owns a boat and talks to rubber ducks, and the other works in a museum and is super high maintenance about his skin care, but I don't remember which one is which in terms of sex/romance, or which one initiated the original breakup.) Getting through the book was kind of a slog—it was a lot of "I want to be with you, but for some reason I don't think that's a good idea or I think you think it's not a good idea or my friends don't think it's a good idea..." Bottom line, this wasn't the book for me. If other people love it, great! My thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for an advance copy of this book.

This is such a good second chance romance story. Matt and Noah have grown a lot since they were 18 and not just in years. Their self knowledge has increased and they understand relationships much better. Even though neither of them have had successful relationships since they parted. The title of the books counts for quite a bit, hard to forget says it all. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

I love a good second chance romance especially with high school sweethearts like Matt and Noah were. Until like high school usually goes sometimes they both broke up and drifted apart especially when Noah left King's Bay. They had their reasons but when Noah returns and still feels something for Matt, and vice versa, that's hard to forget, that has to mean something right? These two had a lot of finding themselves to do which can be hard especially with one being demisexual and the other being grey ace. That's something you really have to navigate in a relationship especially with the multitudes of ways a person can love and be loved which aren't always the same for every person. Yet these two couldn't fully break away from each other. I did hate how they kept finding ways thinking and getting the idea about what a bad idea them being together may be instead of just listening to themselves and each other and working through it together. They got there in the end but I would have loved to see more between them. But for a book with a little over 200 pages the author gave us an enjoyable second chance love story and brought these two high school sweethearts back together.