The Year We Hid Away (The Ivy Years #2) by Sarina Bowen – Review

Publication Date:

May 26th 2014

Publisher:

Rennie Road Books

She’s hiding something big. He’s hiding someone small.

Scarlet Crowley’s life was torn apart the day father was arrested for unspeakable crimes. Now the shock has worn off, but not the horror.

It’s a safe bet that Scarlet is the only first year at Harkness College who had to sneak past TV news trucks parked on her front lawn just to leave town. But college will be Scarlet’s fresh start. Clutching a shiny new student ID — with a newly minted name on it — she leaves it all behind. Even if it means lying to the boy she’s falling for.

Bridger McCaulley is a varsity hockey star known for being a player both on and off the ice. But a sobering family crisis takes that all away. Protecting his sister means a precarious living arrangement and constant deception. The only bright spot in his week is the few stolen hours he spends with Scarlet.

The two form a tentative relationship based on the understanding that some things must always be held back. But when grim developments threaten them both, going it alone just won’t work anymore. And if they can’t learn to trust one another now, the families who let them down will take everything they’ve struggled to keep.

Review:

Once again this was a buddy read with Cristina @ My Tiny Obsessions so HERE to read her thoughts about this book :).

A few months ago I read The Year We Fell Down and loved it. It was such a great book and I loved how Sarina Bowen included certain aspects in the story. Little did I know that a few months later I would love The Year We Hid Away even more. Let me just tell you, I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I loved how different this book was from the first one. The first one dealt with some serious stuff but this one got even darker… well, not darker but it had more serious stuff happening and I really liked that in the end Bridger and Scarlet were there for each other in their difficult times. But let’s talk about the characters. I really liked Bridger in The Year We Fell Down but seeing him in this book made me love him even more because he was going through so much stuff but he was still super sweet and supportive to his little sister Lucy. I’m calling this the “single dad syndrome” even if she’s his sister and not daughter. Seeing him with her and taking care of her made my heart melt and I loved it. I also loved how much he cared for Scarlet and how worried he would be with her in some situations. I just loved how much he cared and how he showed how much he loved both Lucy and Scarlet. The guy is just awesome. I also really liked Scarlet. Scarlet has a secret just like Bridger and I really felt bad for her most of the time. I can’t understand why some people would treat her the way they did when she did nothing wrong. Seeing her situation was so difficult. But I really liked her grow in the book and how in the end she was able to take control of her life and be herself. I also really loved to see them together. These are two people who are hiding some stuff and that haven’t had the easiest year but they still support and care for each other and I loved that about them. I loved to see how in the end they helped each other, especially how Scarlet helped Bridger.

This book was written by Sarina Bowen so I knew I would probably love it and I would love the writing on it too. Well, I did loved it and I loved everything about this book. At one point it was so emotional that I almost cried and let me tell you that nowadays it’s pretty difficult for that to happen because I don’t cry with books. It almost happened in this one and all because Sarina Bowen wrote such an emotional and amazing story.

Overall, this was an amazing book. I loved everything about it so I have to recommend it to everyone. I know I’ll have to read the remaining of the books in this series soon because I know those will be awesome too.