[ARC REVIEW] “It Should Have Been Us” By: Anna B. Doe

We’re going back to Bluebonnet Creek! The first book in Anna B. Doe’s new series is available now!

What is “It Should Have Been Us” by Anna B. Doe about?

My high school sweetheart, the boy who shattered my heart, is back in our small town, and there will be no avoiding him for the next two weeks…

Only there is nothing boyish about Miguel Fernandez. The NFL’s best rookie defensive end is even more wickedly handsome than he was four years ago—tall, with abs for days, all that unruly hair, and eyes so dark they swallow you whole.

And that’s exactly what he’s doing every time our paths cross.

I shouldn’t let it affect me. After all, there was a good reason why we broke up in the first place. But no matter how much I try to put some distance between us, it’s impossible to stay away when our childhood friends are getting married.

Not only is he attending the wedding. He is in the wedding—the best man to my maid of honor. There will be no escaping the boy who destroyed me completely with his betrayal or stopping the secrets I kept from coming out…

NOTE: It Should Have Been Us contains dark and mature themes appropriate for readers 18+. For the full list of trigger warnings please visit author’s website.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

“It Should Have Been Us” is the first “official” book in the Bluebonnet Creek series (I’d consider it a Blairwood University companion series), but I’d recommend reading “Kiss Me First” from the Blairwood series first, since that’s where we first meet Rebecca and Miguel years earlier, and it takes place in Bluebonnet!

Rebecca and MIguel are a classic right person, wrong time couple. Their love story isn’t without struggles, and they have a lot from the past that they need to work through in order to be in a place where they can have a happy, healthy relationship in the present. Unlike most of the Blairwood books, this one takes place after college, and Miguel is in the NFL!

I’d recommend this one for lovers of second chance romance and small town romance, especially for those who loved Anna’s previous Blairwood books (especially Kiss to Shatter/Kiss to Salvage), as it’s another beautiful love story that really puts the characters through it before they reach their happily ever after! I wouldn’t consider it a “fluffy” romance though, so be advised on that! Anna always delivers with the beautifully angsty love stories.

I’m looking forward to the next couples in the series, and love how Anna drops little Easter eggs for us to guess who we’ll see get their own stories in the future!

Huge thanks to Anna for allowing me to read an ARC! The book is available now (and free to read on Kindle Unlimited)!

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