When I was 13, he stole my heartWhen I was 18, he took my innocenceWhen I was 23, he said he would love me foreverWhen I was 28, he broke my heartNow I’m 33… and there’s a knock at the door. He’s back, again. And this time he’s not alone. * Full length standalone romance with guaranteed HEA and no cheating *
★✫★DID YOU KNOW? While writing this book, Jaxson kept notes and has those notes … *
★✫★DID YOU KNOW? While writing this book, Jaxson kept notes and has those notes published as a book of poetry, available only on Amazon! Check out 5 MORE WORDS right now searching for ASIN: B0718YJR9Q in the search box above!★✫★
more
I am absolutely conflicted about this book. I didn’t hate it but then again I didn’t love it either. It was interesting. The love Aiden and Lily had for one another was undeniable but were they really meant to be together?! This book spans over 20 years of friendship and love but so much hinders their ability to actually be together. I can honestly say that I did feel the love they had for one another but I felt like there was too much going back and forth, lack of communication, a lot of hurt for these two to overcome. and at times it felt like these two should walk away for good. It would have been a lot healthier for them both.
Back to what I started with… it was interesting and kept me invested in what the outcome would be.
The back and forth telling of this tale, not only between the two main characters, but between each of the times they ended up together, served to show just how stormy and star crossed these characters were. Through each’s own recollections of what happened up to the point of present day, along with their accounting of what was going on IN the present day, we get a fuller picture than we would have if the author had chosen to tell the story from only one character’s POV. I also think it was more powerful and easier to read, than if the author had chosen to go 3rd person with the story.
Aiden and Lily meet when they are both too young to really understand true love, but that doesn’t matter. Through a shared history of family drama and an instant connection, they both know they’ll be in each other’s lives forever. But life doesn’t always work out that way and many things kept getting in the way and they end up split from each other for five years at a time, several times. When they finally end up meeting again for the final time, it doesn’t look very promising for a happy ever after…
I was instantly drawn in and held captivated for the whole book. I look forward to reading more by this author!
The story of Aiden and Lily plays out over twenty years. Lily takes him back time and again because she loves him and the heart wants what the heart wants. I don’t want to give anything away about this book except that it impacted my life. I can relate to so much of this story with my own first love that it both saddens me and brings me snapshots of beautiful memories. Jaxson Kidman’s 5 Years Later is a must read. It’s beautiful.
This book took you on a dark, twisted journey. There were struggles, addictions through drugs and relationships. There were times you were cheering for them and others where you felt it would be healthier to walk away. It was interesting seeing the struggles from both POV’s.
Loved this book
I really loved the way this book was written from both Aiden and Lily’s point of view. It also went back and forth over the twenty years they’d known one another. Lily has been in love with Aiden since she was thirteen and he was fifteen. Both being dragged up in a life of alcohol and drug abuse they were up against a rock and a hard place! They had good intentions but things just kept getting in their way. Being a strong minded woman I found that Lily kept giving Aiden chances and I’m not sure I’d do the same. I thought Aiden played with her emotions, taking advantage of her and expected too much! In saying that it seemed they were meant for each other.
So I really wanted to like this book. I am a sucker for second chance romamce. However I not a sucker for the heroine getting shit on . Lily loved Aiden more than.he deserved, I understand he was an addict and you cant help who you love but when do you say enough is enough . Also how much could he have been exposing her to all those time.he.came back and fucked her unprotected . He was a junkie who knew what or who.he was doing for 20 years . I just didnt like the story
5 Years Later, despite having a great blurb and having been written by an author I’ve read and enjoyed in the past, didn’t work for me AT ALL. It’s basically the story of an alphahole jerkwad who disappears from a woman’s life just long enough for her to get her crap together, then comes back to wreck everything for her, over and over again. Rinse and repeat. I could end the review there, but let me elaborate on all the stuff I hated about the book:
Aidan, the “hero”:
I use the term hero very, very loosely here. I don’t mind so much that Aidan has dependency issues and is a recovering addict. I could forgive that. But every time he comes back into Lily’s life, he ruins everything for her, never really apologizes, immediately jumps back into bed with her (while promising that “this time”, it’s forever), then abandons her without a goodbye for another 5 years. (He also insists on condomless sex, even though he’s been high and far from celibate while they were apart. Dick.) The last time he comes back, it’s with a kid in tow, and he refuses to give her any info about where he’s been or what he’s been doing for a LONG time after they start having sex again. He’s an ass. I hated everything about Aidan.
And after everything he puts Lily through, at the end, when he has one setback, his first instinct is to immediately go back to using. He isn’t even able to stop himself. It takes the help of his sponsor and Lily to get him to admit he’s being an idiot. So, what’s Aidan going to do when things don’t go his way in the future? From what I’ve seen in this book (including right up until the end), he’ll go back to drugs and probably leave Lily high and dry.
Lily, the heroine:
Lily is a wimp. Not only does she tolerate Aidan’s behavior, she encourages it by taking him back with open arms (and legs) whenever he reappears. She doesn’t ask too many questions, or expect an apology. A good heroine, in my opinion, would have kicked Aidan in the nuts the second time he popped back into her life, then gotten a restraining order against him. I also hated how Lily was so ready to burn her life to the ground whenever Aidan waltzed back through her door. Have some self-respect, girl!
The bouncing timeline:
Keeping up with all the time jumps in this story was like trying to follow all the character names in Game of Thrones. It got tedious after a while.
For all the grammar Nazis out there, it’s probably worth mentioning that you’ll find lots of errors in this book. Missed words, misused words, punctuation errors, weirdly phrased stuff that doesn’t read anywhere close to right…these are all issues you’ll have to tolerate in order to finish this one.
Long-story-short, I hated the hero with a fiery passion and wanted the heroine to grow a spine so that I could fix her up with a better hero from another book. That is all.
Don’t forget to follow the Romance Rehab blog for reviews, book lists and other fun, romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
I loved this book. Very well written with so many emotions. Every book I have read my this duo has just gutted me in a good way.
Holy shit, I think 5 Years Later is Jaxson and London’s best work to date. It’s a 20 year long look at addiction and the havoc it plays on someone and the people he loves. It’s sad, gritty and unrelentingly honest. Lily and Aiden meet when she’s 13 and he’s 15. Their each other’s first loves, but their road is not an easy one. She eventually gives him her virginity, only for him to slip out that night to go become a famous rockstar. He doesn’t end up becoming famous, but, he does still love Lily, and continues to crash in and out of her life, usually every 5 years or so around the time of her birthday.
I felt so badly for Lily, every time Aiden came back into her life, she would take him back unreservedly, but the whole time she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to leave her again. While Aiden may have been addicted to his “demon” as he called drugs, she was addicted to him and could never, ever give him up. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up, that Aiden was no good for her, wasn’t nearly good enough for her, but, she loved him unconditionally and that’s kind of a beautiful thing, even if it got her heart broke every single time.
I think the ending is my favorite part of this crazy, beautiful story. It turned out that Lily and Aiden’s story has a silver lining after all, and it needs it, because the whole journey up to that point had been one of pain and heart break. Thank you, Jaxson and London for this beautiful, raw story. I won’t soon forget it!
Amazing work again by Jaxson Kidman he never disappoints!