“Like I Never Said” is here! This friends-to-lovers romance is so sweet.
What is “Like I Never Said” by C.W. Farnsworth about?
A lot can happen on a two-week trip to the Canadian wilderness.
Auden Harmon learns her parents’ marriage is officially over. Expected. Accidentally gifts a five-hundred-dollar pen to a stranger. Unexpected.
Neither event wreaks havoc on her life quite like meeting Elliot Reid does. He has eyes the color of the cloudy sky. A slapshot the whole country has an unhealthy obsession with. The uncanny ability to say the exact right thing, right when she needs to hear it.
They stay in touch after she leaves. Swap secrets. Become best friends. Tell each other everything.
Well…almost everything.
It’s a thin line between love and hate. The line between love and friendship with a guy who makes mammoth-sized butterflies swarm your stomach? Practically transparent.
But when he’s made it clear friendship is all he has to offer?
You can never say it.
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Review:
This was the second book – and second hockey romance – by Charlotte that I’ve read (although it’s certainly not the last on my TBR), and I wasn’t disappointed! I flew through this one in just under two days. I don’t know if I’ve read a book before that takes place for a majority of time in the summer across multiple years. I’ve obviously read more than my fair share of summer young adult romances, but the timeline of this one was certainly interesting.
I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical at first of this format. The book is split into four parts, the first summer, second summer, third summer, and present, beginning when Auden and Elliot have just finished their sophomore years of high school. The timeline gets a little confusing for me later when Elliot is talking about the next summer being the hockey draft after I thought he graduated, but I also admit that I don’t know anything about hockey beyond what I’ve read in books, so I didn’t think too much into it.
The reason I was skeptical was because I was afraid a lot of character development would be lost, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t, which is a definite feat on the author’s part. Auden and Elliot’s friendship still felt like it unfolded naturally, even though we don’t see a lot of it since it takes place ‘offscreen’ during the time that Auden is back in California. Their friendship is more than believable, as are their not-so-friendly feelings for each other. Although misplaced, their reasoning for not getting together earlier does make sense. Elliot is a great love interest, which mostly hinges on the fact that he’s just a decent, kind, loyal guy who cares a lot about his future and his loved ones.
Something I really liked is how driven and goal-oriented both of them were when it came to their own lives. Although they later talk about how neither of them considered going to a different school to be closer to the other, I liked that they were putting themselves first in that regard. One of my least favorite things in books is when one character sacrifices the college they want to go to just to join their significant other, so I’m happy that they both chose their own path.
Overall, this is a great summer book. It’s a relatively quick, easy, and fun book – it took me just over five and a half hours to read. Along with a mix of some of my favorite tropes such as fake dating and friends-to-lovers, the book also features both main characters having complicated familial relationships, and the importance of supportive friendships whether they’re romantic or not. Even though the characters are in their mid to late teens for the majority of the book, I recommend this one for mature audiences due to some of the sexual content. Huge thanks to Charlotte and Wildfire Marketing Solutions for letting me read an early ebook copy! The book is available now.
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buried in a bookshelf 
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