Ten Years follows Becca and Charlie over a decade. In the prologue, we meet Ally, who falls in love with Charlie and is Becca’s best friend. The first chapter, set in 2011, is set at Ally’s funeral. Becca (still Ally’s best friend) and Charlie (by then Ally’s fiancé) are both there. They can’t stand each other and are pleased they won’t ever need to see each other again after that sad day.
We fast forward a year, to 2012 and Becca receives an email – from Ally. Her deceased friend has instructions for her, things she wants her to do. Both her and Charlie have to visit Ally’s mum, Valerie, on the anniversary of her daughter’s death. So much for never seeing each other again… Valerie is wonderful, such a lovely character – and a great contrast to Charlie and Becca’s constant bitching and point scoring. She passes on an instruction from Ally – her wishes were that Charlie and Becca scatter some of her ashes at the top of Snowdon.
And so begins a series of tasks where the two enemies are forced to spend time together…
Ten Years is a moving account of grief, yet the book is never bogged down by it. There is a lot of humour throughout and both Becca and Charlie are realistic, if often infuriating, characters you come to care about. I was really shocked at some of the things they say to each other! Ouch!
You also get to know Ally. Even though she dies very early on, her presence is there through her messages and through Charlie and Becca’s conversations and memories – and the fact they are seeing each other at all. This made it seem less bleak really, because Ally’s presence was there and she accompanies them on their yearly adventures to fulfil her last wishes.
The novel shows how people deal with loss and how they try to move on, while never forgetting the person they loved and lost. They is a lot of depth to the book, but it never feels heavy. It’s much more than “just a romcom” though. In fact, I wouldn’t even describe it as that. There’s a romance, sure, but it’s more about how two people change over a decade and how their relationship changes with time and maturity.

I've never really been a romance reader, not because I'm not a fan just I've never found a book whose premise has captured me enough to want to read it. Everyone in the book community seems to be all over romance at the moment and I thought it was about time I give it a go. This one popped into my email and I jumped at the chance.

Ten Years is a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance, following Becca and Charlie. They've been connected for years due to their best friend and girlfriend, Ally, but they've never been more than sworn enemies. Ally creates a bucket list when she dies and sets Becca and Charlie the mission of completing it. Together. Over the years, the pair come to terms with their grief but also to their changing relationship.

Sometimes you read a book and it turns out to be exactly what you needed to read at that moment and I think Ten Years was that for me. I'd been feeling a bit reading slumpy and after a few pages of this one I was hooked. This books takes you through every emotion, anger, joy, sadness and also quite a bit of laughter. It's so expertly put together.

The dynamic between Becca and Charlie is so unperfect that it ends up perfect. Charlie loves the outdoors and walking, Becca always wants to take the lazier option. Becca is a wannabe actress, but with a bit of failing career and Charlie never fails to make a joke about it. The pair bicker until it turns into a full-blown argument, but they fit.

I enjoyed seeing the progression over the years, the stages of talking then not talking to each other, the changes to both of their careers, Becca's family and dating lives. Most of all, their ideas and attachment to Ally. They continue to grieve and she's never forgotten about, but their grief comes through the different stages.

Another thing I admired was the realistic tone still present in the book. You have the difficult life issues that Hughes dealt with brilliantly, but due to the journey she'd created the relationship felt so real. The characters both expressed their feelings surrounding Ally and any romantic possibility, you could see the indecision and the emotion as they try and figure out what is right for them but also what would've been right for Ally.

Ten Years came at me at the right time and completed captured me from the first page to the last. For all the romance lovers and non-romance lovers (like I was!), I'd definitely recommend giving this one a try.

I wanted to like this more than I did. There were some aspects I loved, like the creative premise and the way the book handled grief. However, I struggled a bit with the couple’s chemistry. All in all, I enjoyed it.

The write up on this book loosely reminded me to P.S. I Love You, which is my all-time favorite romance book. So I grabbed a copy. Unfortunately for me, this book fell flat. While the premise was good, the execution wasn’t. Ally and Charlie are engaged. Aly and Becca are BFFs. Becca and Charlie rub each other the wrong way. Unfortunately, they are thrown together to complete Ally’s bucket list after she passes.

I found the characters one dimensional, and frankly boring and not very likeable. The story is slow moving and predictable. I found I had to sit myself down and focus to read because I didn’t feel connected to the characters. The book moved slowly then seemed to fast forward towards the end. Ending was predictable.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

the plot had a lot of potential - kind of like 'one day', which is a film i adore - but i felt like it was too slow to the point where it became unbereable. i struggled to get through it, but i can understand that someone else might enjoy it!

I really enjoyed Charlie’s character, and found he had the most eye opening change when it came to feelings and what he chose in life. He explained himself and watching him realize what he’d been doing all these years was like letting go of a breath you’d been holding and smiling in the end.

Becca was a bit more complicated. She came from a broken home, found Ally as a BFF and thought she’d always have this person as her cheerleader, by her side. When Ally dies, Becca continues to flounder in her life. No great relationships, no good jobs, no place to call home.

As Charlie and Becca get thrust together by Ally’s bucket list (with the help of Ally’s mom Valerie), by spreading her ashes in various places while both have to do things that are not in their comfort zone, they turn from enemies to friends. But still keep it real by calling out each other’s bs.

I enjoyed the the meets and then a year went by. I liked the dual POV and what was going on in their lives. I know what in the end the outcome of this story would be, but the journey to that point was a roller coaster of feelings, fails and friendship.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK, Pernille Hughes and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

A fantastic book which stays with the reader, beautifully written and some very difficult subjects dealt with sympathetically.
Ally and Charlie are in love when tragically she dies before her time. Because, Ally’s best friend hates Charlie and the feeling is mutual !
Ally wants them to complete her bucket list together - interesting premise when they can’t stand each other. They decide to undertake one task a year. This is their story and how they deal with grief in their own individual ways
I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend. - a classic
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins and Pernille Hughes’s for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

This book was a mixed bag for me. As it deals with grief in a timely way for my life, I found it hard to read at times. But then sometimes I laughed, which felt really good. But a lot of the time, I spent angry with Becca, who is undoubtedly the most miserable person I have ever read about.

I’ve always said you can enjoy a book when you don’t like the characters, so I give this 3 stars because the story is good. It’s thoughtful, and I like how it unfolded. But I cannot get on board with Becca at all. She argues for the sake of hostility. She’s just so mean, and I spent most of the book angry that we were at another nitpick, another fight, another put down, another “I’m better than you,” and it got really exhausting.

Outside of the constant fighting, there is a fun story. I liked the various locations and activities involved with the bucket list. Hughes writes the story descriptively, so you can picture exactly where the characters are. People live on in our memories, and I think this story is a shining example of that. So while this had some ups and downs, it has some very favorable reviews, so I would encourage people to give it a try.

An emotional tale of second chances and living again. I’ve loved the readalong for this and the chats and thoughts from the other readers really added to the experience.
A brilliant character lead story with Charlie and Becca stealing the stage - this story is full of emotions as we follow their lives over the years. I loved the idea of the bucket list for Charlie and Becca to follow for Ally’s wishes and enjoyed the twists and turns in their journey as they were forced to work together and overcome their grief. Their battles of wit over the ten years were enough for me to want to bang their heads together but I could totally get where they were in their journey with grief and love - a wonderful read.

I’m not normally a massive fan of the enemies to lovers trope, but this book made me rethink my own views about the trope. From the outset we can tell that both Becca and Charlie love Ally, and dislike one another intensely. When, a year after Ally’s untimely death, they are brought together to go though Ally’s bucket list, it forces them to spend one moment each year together to commemorate Becca’s best friend and Charlie’s lost love.

I loved the different bucket list stops, from climbing Snowdon, to afternoon tea on a vintage bus, attending a festival, cycling the London to Brighton Bike Ride on a tandem, and returning to ‘their’ tree on their uni campus. Each of the items ticked off the bucket list brought changes to their relationship, and they begin to very slowly realise that they bring out the worst and the best in one another.

This was such a beautiful study of grief and how differently we grieve, even contemplating the survivor’s guilt that life goes on, when it has stopped for the person who has died. I loved the way Becca and Charlie grew up as the years progressed and found their true selves. Neither of them were the same person they had been at the start of their time following the death of Ally. They both had a growth arc that showed how perfect they were for one another, even if they couldn’t necessarily see it themselves.

Honestly this book had me laughing and crying throughout, and I found that when I had to put it down I was still thinking about it, which is always the sign of a great book.

4.5 Stars

“You can’t hide from grief, it’s in you. You have to accept it and accommodate it to work through it.”

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is our first book by this Author, and what an absolute blinder of an introduction to her work. We bloody loved it! The way she tells a story with such detail, attention, and visual imagery, as well as the intensity of emotions and the depth of her characters -well- it reminded us of the wonderful Sarra Manning and Lia Louis. It was so good, and we loved pretty much everything about Ten Years!

‘Losing Ally had been losing half of himself. For months he couldn’t work out who he even was without her. Moreover, the Charlie who’d been left behind was miserable, angry, and lost. He didn’t like that Charlie, with his unshakeable cloak of sadness.’

Ally, Becca, and Charlie. A three-clover friendship held together only by Ally suddenly becomes two when Ally passes away and Becca loses her best mate and Charlie his beloved fiancé. Much to their surprise, Ally leaves them with a bucket list of where she wants parts of her ashes scattered. So, what do two people who pretty much ‘hate’ each other do in order to honour the memory of their loved one? Well, they decide to carry out one item from the list once a year to minimise contact. These celebrations of Ally become so incredibly special and creates a bond that grows in strength, year by year. However, old animosity is hard to break but sometimes Charlie and Becca ‘doth protest too much, methinks.’

“Whatever. This is different. You belonged to her. Me being with you is disloyal, it’s wrong. What would she think?” Loyalty was everything to Becca. He knew that.

This is a superbly written enemies to lover’s romance with a few twists and bags of surprises along the way. It’s a story that looks at friendships and love, examines the celebration of human flaws and differences, with understanding and compassion. It explores living with grief and learning about yourself as well as the importance of self-reflection and growth. Such a wonderful novel that stole our hearts and made us feel everything in Charlie and Becca’s heartbreak, grief, guilt, and love story spanning ten years.

“I’m not prepared to give you up. I love you, and that’s the reason you should say, ‘Charlie, you’re so right, let’s do this’” ….
“What is it you think you’ve stopped? Me loving you? That’s not how that works. Just because you say it can’t happen doesn’t make it so.”

Ten Years read as incredibly real, and we felt as if we knew these characters and were a part of their story. It had bucketloads of angst and tension as well as extreme emotions and passion, with scattered laughter to break up the darker moments. It was a life and love story through ten years of hurt, anger, grief, laughter, sadness, and love. A slow building love story written with sensitivity that perhaps caused it to feel a tad long, although we never felt it to be repetitive. Rather, we needed to know if Becca and Charlie were going to be okay and that they found themselves in a place where they could be happy and settled after such personal tragedy. Find themselves as well as love. What an immense journey, we cannot wait to pick up more books from this Author!

‘They’d been enemies, then mates, then lovers, then enemies again, then apparently mates again, so perhaps…’

When Ally passes away she has left a bucket list for her boyfriend and friend to complete. They have a mainly hate, hate relationship so this will be a challenge. Ally definitely had a hidden agenda, will her wishes come true? An emotional but at times very funny read.

I went into this book pretty clueless as to what it was about but I think that was best for me! I loved and the twists and turns and quite honestly I just really enjoyed the whole journey.

Becca and Charlie are thrown together in the most upsetting of circumstances and they make the best of it all. I loved the banter between them and even though you saw that they didn't get on, it was still an easy read.

The book is set over the ten years while they do things to honour Ally. You could really see how much they both progressed over the years and it was really nice to see the personal development!

While the book is set in sadness, I'm sure you'll find yourself like me having a whole mixed bag of emotions while reading it!

I enjoyed some aspects of the story. But other times it made me feel uncomfortable. The romance between Becca and Charlie just didn't work for me.

This is hard to write but I just didnt feel the chemistry between the characters. I need to feel the connection to the characters. The ending however was really good.

it could have been a good romance but I didn’t connect with the character and I couldn’t focus out of the thought of ally. i was disappointed bc it had a lot di potential for me to like it…

A love story in the making! Initially the two were at loggerheads sitting on either side of their departed friend who was the glue in the relationship. They honour the wishes of the dead Ally, Becca as best friend and Charlie the boy friend, they carry out the designated tasks over a number of years. The annual meetings bring out both the best and worst of their characters but at the same time cementing their underlying feelings for each other. Their union it materialises was engineered by Ally who had the foresight to se that her two best friends would make a good match, if they could overcome their differences. With maturity, comes success in their working lives and acceptance of their true selves. It’s an amusing read, in part a fairy story but beneath the surface there are ripples of real life scenarios.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers HarperCollins One More Chapter for this advance copy.

I completely adored this heartfelt story which took me on such an emotional journey from the very first page until the last. The beautiful writing completely swept me up in the story and pulled me in to Charlie and Becca’s lives, and I was all in!

After the loss of a loved one Charlie and Becca meet each year to complete items on Ally’s bucket list (what an amazing idea!) Charlie’s lost his way a bit, he just goes with the flow and is a passive bystander in his own life. Becca is a struggling actor, she’s used to being let down by people and often feels she’s second choice. They love winding each other up and have always brought out the worst in each other. Each encounter is a boiling pot of emotions simmering over the chapters – I loved the banter, oneupmanship and their funny antics.

As the story spans ten years we get to see how the characters grow and change over that time both individually and in how they act with each other. The devastating nature of grief is explored well and the impact this has on Charlie and Becca’s realities. They are both lonely and pretending to be ok, and as they are brought together each year on unexpected journeys they grow closer emotionally, experience some amazing achievements together, and start to see each other differently and rely on one another.

It’s an engaging story about love, loss and embracing life. They must each let go of the past to be able to move forward and work through their complicated feelings. I could not stop turning the pages to see how their journey would end!

Hughes takes us on a rollercoaster ride covering the full emotional spectrum! It’s an incredibly moving and reflective tale with compelling and relatable characters. I really enjoyed the way they challenged each other, supported one another, and how they are only completely honest with each other. The will they/ won’t they element made for a gripping read and kept me guessing until the very end – after all, there’s a fine line between love and hate!

This wonderful book will break your heart and put it back together. It’s a bittersweet story that’s absorbing in its intricately woven plot and main characters who were magical on the page. I thoroughly recommend.

With thanks to @rararesources, @0nemorechapter_ & @pernillehughes for a place on the tour and the opportunity to read and review this book.

Much heavier than I was expecting!

I went into it knowing it dealt with the death of a friend/fiancee, but I was expecting it to pivot to Becca and Charlie's story a little quicker. I think it just was less of a romance book than I was anticipating, and more of a story about grief.

I thought the chemistry was lacking a bit through the beginning which made the story a bit slow but was definitely rooting for the couple by the end!

Ten years is an enemies to lovers romance story told from a dual POV. I honestly can’t put into words how much I enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the first two pages. I want to thank Pernille Hughes and Onemorechapterhc for the chance to be on this readalong!

The way this book is written is beautiful, you are taken on an emotional journey from the beginning. It tackles tough subjects such as grief, moving on after death, and also finding happiness. As I said in the beginning of this review I stopped myself from reading this in one sitting as I didn’t want it to end, but it was on my mind throughout the day I was constantly wondering what would happen next.

It isn’t often that in a book I love every single character but that is what happened with this, I felt proud of Becca for wearing her heart on her sleeve. I also fell for Charlie and he had my heart throughout this story and reading him moving on after Ally was moving.

This was the first story written by Pernille Hughes that I have read but it definitely won’t be the last, I feel like all I have spoken about for the last week is this book both on bookstagram and to all my family and friends. It is definitely my favourite book so far of 2022!

Ten years is out now and I highly recommend you read it, you will need tissues