Stevie‘s review of When I Knew You by KE Payne
Contemporary Lesbian Romance published by Bold Strokes Books 15 Mar 16

Reunion stories are a well-used trope, but they need a good plot to pull the estranged pair back together and keep them moving towards a resolution, especially when the original separation was acrimonious. Having said that, I do enjoy watching exes rediscover each other and find that the years apart have allowed them to grow as people – possibly into people more suited to each other than they were when they got together and split up first time around.

Nat, Ash, and Livvy were best friends all the way through secondary school. Even when Nat and Ash became secret girlfriends, the three were still inseparable up until they started applying to universities and Nat dumped Ash due to parental pressures. Now Nat’s a successful doctor, and Ash has built up a small but popular business taking tourists out on boat trips – the trauma of the break-up having led to her failing A’Levels and dropping out to go travelling. Livvy meanwhile built a career in law and raised a daughter on her own before being diagnosed with cancer.

Nat and Ash meet up for the first time in seventeen years at Livvy’s funeral, having resisted all her previous attempts to get them to meet up with her on the same day. They both learn that she’s left one last request, and the next day find themselves brought together once more. Livvy wrote a series of letters in the final weeks of her illness, detailing eight places and activities she wants her friends to share with her teenage daughter. Nat and Ash are reluctant, but neither wants to let the girl down, so they start fulfilling the wishes described in each letter.

I have to admit to a little confusion over the wishes here. The first letter stated that four tasks would be close to Nat in London and four would be close to Ash’s home, which is in Cornwall. However, the first trip takes the three characters to Oxford, which isn’t that close to either – though trips from London are possibly the more convenient. That’s not the biggest plot hole I’ve encountered recently, but I’d have liked one of the characters to comment on it.

Plot holes aside (there’s another one, but the explanation is very spoilery), this is a charming book, and I was really rooting for Ash and Nat to forgive each other’s past mistakes and to find a way to be together for the future. Not my favourite of the author’s books that I’ve read, but sweet nonetheless.

Grade: B

Summary:

When Ash Wells and Nat Braithwaite are thrown together after seventeen years apart, old resentments and passions are rekindled. The days of their heady teenage relationship are long gone—or are they? As they put aside their differences to honor the memory of a friend, Ash and Nat learn that sometimes, to build a future, you have to be willing to let go of the past.

Read an excerpt.