What do you want, Ledger?' 'I want to get to know you better.' 'What do you want to know?' 'More about you. Your likes, your dislikes, your goals. What do you want to do with your life?' " Kenna Rowan is an ex-con who served her five year sentence in prison for involuntary manslaughter of her then still alive boyfriend. Upon discharging, she’s looking to start over and reconnect with the daughter she carried and birthed during her serving time but never had the chance to hold. Kenna could (should) have called the ambulance, even if she thought he was already dead. She didn't. She served 5 years for this in prison. CoHo wants you to feel sorry for her ( "But it's five years." "It was one mistake." ). No. She KNEW she was drunk. She STILL drove, DESPITE being drunk. She got into an ACCIDENT BECAUSE SHE WAS DRUNK. She DIDN'T call an ambulance because she thought Scotty was already dead, which is NOT a good excuse to not call an ambulance. She just LEFT. That man SUFFERED for SIX more hours before he DIED. And you want me to feel sorry for her? No.

Reminders of Him was a thoughtful and poignant story of a woman who was dealt one too many bad hands in life, making a way for herself in the shattered remainders of the life stolen from her. Colleen did a great job in making us feel every bit of Kenna's pain and root for her reunion with Diem which should have been epic and heartfelt. Some mistakes are bigger than others. Some mistakes are life changing. Life ending. Kenna is at a place she hasn’t been in five years and she’s there for a reason. Or a person. One of the main themes in this book is forgiveness. Kenna struggles with forgiving herself and others struggle to forgive her.Meanwhile, Kenna reveals that she wrote hundreds of letters to Scotty over her years in prison, and she reads one that explains the accident in detail. Kenna had thought Scotty was dead, and she left for help when she couldn’t find a phone. On the highway, she became disoriented by her injuries and went home. It wasn’t until the next day that she found out he had been alive for 6 hours after the accident and before he died. Riddled with guilt, she plead guilty, and she was too heartbroken to discuss her side of the story in public at her sentencing.

As they continue to get to know each other, he figures out who Kenna really is, which leaves him conflicted, and she begins to rehabilitate herself with a low-paying grocery store cashier job.When women say they’ve been to prison, people think trash, whore, addict, thief. But when men say they’ve been to prison, people add badges of honor to the negative thoughts, like trash, but badass, addict, but tough, thief, but impressive." Like a lot of Hoover’s books, even though I would definitely classify this as a romance, it wasn’t only a romance. There were so many other facets to this story. It was a story of family, forgiveness, grief, and love. It’s heartfelt, emotional, and truly unforgettable. Reminders of Him is a book that will be on my mind for some time, as well as my favorites list! I highly recommend this one! Roman - Ledger's best friend and one of the 3 side characters that were the stars of this book for me. We can call him a semi-grump, but can we all band together and think of ways to destroy cupcake shop girls' marriage so Roman can have her? I love a good unrequited/forbidden love. I loved the little bits of Roman we got, he was the only one who was understanding towards Kenna and didn't judge her for her mistakes. This man was delicious and he wasn't even the hero. I think this is one that will go down as more enjoyable because I listened to it. I always love the Brittany Pressley and Ryan West duo combo narration. Had I read this one I don't think it would have captured much of my attention. Most importantly for me, I found the central romance to be sweet and convincing. I will (very reluctantly) admit that I started tearing up at one point while reading this. I don’t know that I’d ever be a big romance reader, but to the extent the mood strikes, I’d say something like this is perfect for scratching that itch.

Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coincidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can.” It’s definitely in my top books from CoHo. I’m a diehard AYP fan so I feel like that’ll always be number one but dare I say this makes second slot for my fave? I still don't know if what happened between us the first night you showed up at my bar was authentic, or if it was all an act to get to Diem.' I rest my head against the wall and watch Ledger's expression. He's looking at me with patience, and not at all with judgment. It's like he truly does want to know if the kiss we shared was authentic. It's almost as if it meant something to him. 'I didn't know who you were until you said your name.' I admit. 'I was literally sitting on your lap when I realized you knew Scotty. Seducing you wasn't part of some master plan.' " I experienced ALL the feelings that came with this story but by the end I was left genuinely happy. Kenna DESERVED that ending. You think you know how you’ll react in a terrifying situation, but that’s the thing. You can’t think in a terrifying situation."

Ledger, on the other hand, who just met this woman, who's known her for all but 20 minutes, is sure that Kenna's face is "a work of art" and god, how he wishes "there was a picture of it hanging on a wall in a museum somewhere so [he] could stand in front of it and stare at it for as long as [he] wanted." Not the "face is a painting and belongs in museum" trope, I beg thee. 😭 Idk what to think of the romance. I think it was poorly written. Kenna and Ledger didn’t fall in love under the best of circumstances, but I’m afraid Ledger might just be a consolation prize for Kenna. I’m not sure if Kenna was over her grief and already moved on from her dead boyfriend. Also, the fact that she still wrote him letters, I don’t know what to make of that. I loved that we saw glimpses of their relationship from those letters. At the same time, it only emphasized how much she loved him.

There was before you and there was during you. For some reason, I never thought there would be an after you.” I say this because there was no chemistry between them. It was just lust from day one. Too insta love for me. They didn't even know each other. I truly believe that Kenna is not over Scotty and never will be. Throughout the whole book I felt as if Scotty was developed more as a character/love interest than Ledger, circumstance brought Kenna and Ledger together with a sprinkle of lust. Lady Diana aka Lucy - Is Lady Diana my favorite CoHo character ever? yes. as she deserves. LD lives in Kenna's apartment complex, works at the same grocery store as Kenna, befriends her as her first friend, and has Down's Syndrome. I love how welcoming and protective of Kenna she is, so much so she calls Ledger a jerk after he makes her cry. Look at this iconic behavior, your favs could NEVER:Ledger meets Kenna and he doesn’t know who she is at first. He’s drawn to her. It’s almost magnetic. Once he finds out who she is he struggles with how he should feel about her. Ledger was the perfect hero, and one of this authors best characters. Kenna was also great and getting to know her through her letters to Scotty made me love her even more. Ledger puts some pieces together early on in the book and figures out who Kenna really is. Aside from the whole still-kissing-Ledger-when-she-knows-he's-her-dead-boyfriends-best-friend thing, my heart truly went out to Kenna in this story. I think that's why I kept reading for so long, I was waiting for everyone to have empathy for her, to try to put themselves in her shoes and forgive her. I don’t think this part is handled particularly well. Not that it didn’t break my heart seeing Kenna’s longing for her child and her struggle as well as desperation to see her. However, I’m disappointed that Kenna didn’t try harder to fight for her daughter. Not that there was anything much she could do in her position. But she only tried once, got rejected by the people in her daughter’s life, and was ready to give up. I feel like she should’ve made more plans, taken more steps, be more persistent. Ledger is Kenna’s dead boyfriend’s (Scotty) best friend who’s been taking care of her daughter along with Scotty’s parents.