Just One Year

I just want to say that this is one of my favorite covers and after reading the book it was so perfect!! Penelope Ward just continues to put out the most incredible stories. For as many books that she has published each and every story is unique with the best characters!! Just One Year is a standalone told from both points of view. Teagan and Caleb’s meet cute was just that and it was beyond cute!! Teagan had to use the rest room and the ladies was closed, so she snuck into the men’s room the smelly men room!! She runs into Caleb and tries to defend herself with the smell. Dang funny stuff!! Caleb ends up being a foreign exchange student that will be staying in Teagan’s house for one year. He fits right into the household, gets along with her Dad, Stepmom, and little sister. For her own reasons Teagan has distanced herself from her family. Having Caleb in the house has changed the dynamic and opened her eyes to see things differently. Teagan and Caleb's story is a slow burn romance but I love that their friendship is formed before it even became obvious that they had feelings for each other. The spark between Keaton and Caleb comes out in different forms, Caleb knows how to push her buttons, the sarcasm and banter are overflowing. And she is brutally honest on everything especially her feelings. Each has their very own reasons for the way they are with their families. It was like they were put in the same place at the same time so that they could each heal the other. So many different levels to this story and with Penelope’s’ incredible storytelling it flows beautifully. We are gifted an amazing epilogue that made me feel all the happy feels!!

A wonderful heartwarming story of a girl named Teagan who stays pretty much to herself in her own little world. Caleb comes to America as an exchange student. Right off the bat he has an incident with Teagan in the men's room at university. They don't know each other but they have an instant dislike. Later that night at home, Teagan discovers he is the foreign exchange student that will be living with her and her family for this college semester. She doesn't like him and texts him her displeasure. He has the nerve to text her back from upstairs, revising her text as he sees it should have been written. Now he's done it! He's an ass and a thorn in her side. It's a hilarious story that will make you laugh out loud one minute and cry the next. The perfect combination of all emotions. I was really looking forward to reading this book and it did not disappoint. Penelope Ward has a way of mixing angst and attraction, love and hate and hopelessness and desire, winding all these feelings into a story that wraps around your heart and leaves you with deep emotions for days and days. It is the perfect read. I highly recommend this wonderful book. *****

Teagan is a bit unhappy to say the least that the obnoxious British boy is her new housemate, thanks to the exchange student who was supposed to be rooming at her house being allergic to cats. But she's even more unhappy to find that he's happy to put her in her place and let her know what a terrible sister she's been to her younger sister. So she bares all her anger at him via passive aggressive emails. And she's witty and funny as hell. Caleb certainly sees through her, though. And maybe, just maybe, Teagan's anger toward the hot Brit invader is just masking something very different than anger. I LOOOOOVED Caleb and Teagan together! So much snappy, witty banter, some seriously laugh out loud moments, and even more significantly, some quietly emotional times that left the most impact on me as a reader. Although these two are young throughout the story, they feel more mature than their ages, and their love story packs a major punch. The character and story development is top notch, as usual with Penelope's writing, and I am still feeling this story in my heart though it's been days since I've finished reading.