Just One Year

I rarely cry when reading books, I may feel a bit emotional but no tears. So it was completely unexpected when not once but twice I was brought to tears! What a beautiful, sad, emotionally draining story! It’s also full of love, second chances and many moments to laugh out loud, particularly one dinner scene involving a dolphin costume.
I found Caleb gave me Simon vibes, from another one of Penelope’s books with Vi Keeland, Dear Bridget I want you, and he was my absolute favourite of Penelope’s characters so I found it easy to love Caleb. Teagan is just as awesome, a little bit damaged but super smart, she’s the perfect mix of loving and slightly neurotic.
I really enjoyed this book! Wonderfully written as per usual with Penelope Ward books, highly recommend it!

Once again Penelope has written another bestseller that will pull all your heartstrings. This is the story of two broken souls Caleb and Teagan who meet in the loo. On the first day of orientation at the university Teagan needs the ladies room for an emergency and it’s out of order. So in desperation she uses the mens room and when she enters there is an unbelievable stink. Ignoring the stink she proceeds to use one of the stalls and as she is opens the stall door a gorgeous male enters the restroom and she warns him there is a lady in the stall . He immediately teases her with his British accent that she is culprit that stunk up the room. They exchange a few curt comments and Teagan leaves. Teagan is a sophomore and lives at home with her father step mother and sister. Teagan however has her own private entrance and rooms in the basement. Teagans’ family rents her old to to college students and when circumstances change the mystery Britt from the men’s room Caleb becomes Teagan’s family new boarder. This is the story how these two strong independent students navigate their friendship and become more than friends. Wickedly awesome story of family, forgiveness, and love. Definitely a five star plus read.. Penelope has once again given me two new characters to love.

So, when I started laughing my pants off, I wasn’t quite sure if I was reading a rom-com or a YA romance. But when Ward entwined heart-aching emotion into the story and captured the essence of her protagonists’ feelings, my anticipation grew more and more. Before I go any further, the cover has to be mentioned. I’m not a huge fan of male models showing their abs off on the front of a book, but I have to admit his gorgeousness is rather eye-catching.

The title gives the reader a good idea of the story’s timeline; nonetheless, it’s more than enough to get to know the ins and outs of two beautiful souls. Caleb’s not on home ground but adapting well to his new surroundings. His host family is welcoming, he’s enjoying college life and when Teagan helps him with his studies, a close bond blooms. I loved their feelgood friendship, their contrasting personalities and how they opened up to each other, sharing insecurities and slowly making room for other things to come.

Even though there’s no nail-biting angst, their intense mutual understanding and heart-pounding chemistry is what gives Caleb and Teagan’s deeply felt story that added excitement. As you can imagine, time is running out. Their journey is not black and white, so what will happen when the end of Just One Year approaches?

With Penelope’s unique way of storytelling, she’s delivered a touching romance overflowing playful banter, loveable characters, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. Bravo, Ward!

This was the most amazing beautiful story that had me at certain moments with tears in my eyes! What would you do for the one you love??
I absolutely loved the characters! I thought the way Teagan and Caleb became friends and how they connected was just so heartfelt! I really thought this story was beautifully written with words that really struck a chord and I couldn’t put the book down!
Then when it ended I thought what??? I want so very much more!
Its a sign of a great story when the book captures your attention and brings so many emotions out of you! Uou just don’t really want to finish it because you’ve fallen in love with the fictional characters and want to keep reading about them!
Absolutely brilliant! Ms Ward has written something she should be immensely proud of!

What a difference a year can make. That’s what Teagan finds out. At the start of the story, Caleb is the hot exchange student who is smoking hot and enjoying his time in the U.S. For a while he drove me a bit bonkers while he was coming to his senses and figuring out what and who he wanted. That made me feel like the story had a very slow burn, but once it took off, my jaw dropped. All of the details which seemed like loose ends were tied up and made a complete picture of the life that was just starting to take shape in one year. And the portrait of their lives in the post-one year was so transformative.

At first I thought Ward was merely alluding to the time Caleb spent in the US. However, upon reflection after having finished the novel, I keep thinking about how many things changed in just one year and the amount they changed. And that right there is the beauty of the title and what it represents. A lot of bad can happen in one year, but so can a lot of growth, self-discovery, and beauty.

Enjoy the story at its face value and then look at the intricacies hiding a few layers below. That is the true beauty of Ward’s writing; you never know what you’re going to get in her stories, but it’s going to be good for sure!

Caleb and Teagan was absolutely beautiful.
I loved their relationship, their banter, their honesty. I loved everything about these two.
Caleb was very witty and a dream to read about, i fell in love with him almost instantly.
Teagan was one of those characters that i liked her but didn’t understand her at first, she was aloof and pretty guarded but the more you read the more you peel away the layers.
Penelope Ward always has this way of playing with my emotions and really hitting me in the feels.
The way it was written was absolutely beautiful, it’s well worth the read!

Any Penelope Ward book is an automatic buy for me. All the feels in this one!

Just One Year is Penelope Ward’s newest emotional, sexy, witty, and fun book. As usual I didn’t read the synopsis till the end of the book so all I knew was that it had to do with a hottie and one year. The synopsis is brilliant so I will try my best to make this spoiler free and fast.

It all started in the loo. I mean why wouldn’t you want to meet an hot, infuriating british student in the men’s bathroom? That’s just romantic. Especially when he shows up to your house later that night with a suitcase and with the announcement that he was the new roomie for the year. In the family home. Yeah…totally not awkward at all. But it was just one year. One year being stuck in a house with a man who pushes all her buttons. Makes her feels things she has never felt. And who had his own secrets and wanted to know hers.

Caleb and Teagan’s relationship is complicated from the very start. Hate/Lust. Hate/Love. Best friends. It was all complicated and just writing this is making all the feelings come back. This book is everything. Yes. I got frustrated at times with his ass but I always loved him. I loved them both. They both have baggage to get through in their lives. Watching them unload that baggage was beautiful, emotional, sweet, and even hot.

Overall…it’s a story I will never forget. It’s not your typical hearts and flowers type of romance. But it does have s’mores!! It’s a rollercoaster ride of emotions that I didn’t want to end.

P.S. The emails are amazing.

Quotes:

Sounds like you seriously have a serious problem with me and a serious overusage of the word serious.

He held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
I looked down at my empty hands. “Give you what?”
“The stick in your arse. Take it out and give it to me.”
I crinkled my forehead. “What?”
He wiggled his fingers. “Come on. Hand it over.”

“Fuck, Teagan. You don’t need that mud on your face. You look ten times more beautiful right now than you did last night.”

Teagan is a bit unhappy to say the least that the obnoxious British boy is her new housemate, thanks to the exchange student who was supposed to be rooming at her house being allergic to cats. But she’s even more unhappy to find that he’s happy to put her in her place and let her know what a terrible sister she’s been to her younger sister. So she bares all her anger at him via passive aggressive emails. And she’s witty and funny as hell. Caleb certainly sees through her, though. And maybe, just maybe, Teagan’s anger toward the hot Brit invader is just masking something very different than anger.

I LOOOOOVED Caleb and Teagan together! So much snappy, witty banter, some seriously laugh out loud moments, and even more significantly, some quietly emotional times that left the most impact on me as a reader. Although these two are young throughout the story, they feel more mature than their ages, and their love story packs a major punch. The character and story development is top notch, as usual with Penelope’s writing, and I am still feeling this story in my heart though it’s been days since I’ve finished reading.

Teagan is having a rough start to her sophomore year of college. Between not getting into the class of her choice and being caught by a hot Brit in the mens’ room, it was not what she was hoping for the first day of the new school year. Living at home for convenience and budget sounded like a good idea, but she also feels like she doesn’t quite belong with the rest of her family. Now that they’ve taken in an exchange student for the year, she is glad she can retreat to the basement and focus on herself.

Caleb Yates is in the US for an exchange year for his first year of university. He isn’t a traditional freshman, having taken time off to figure out what he wanted to do. He still isn’t sure, but he’s hoping a year away from home can help him exercise some of his demons. Though he thought he’d be living in the dorms, an opportunity to stay with a host family arose after the original student was allergic to the family cat.

I loved watching these two get to know each other and open up in ways they have avoided for years. Both are carrying past baggage that cause them to keep people at arms’ length. But this was a slow burn, for sure. There is no moving quickly for these two, which really means they formed a strong friendship before even considering crossing any lines.

I struggled with parts of this as I wondered how they could make it work. These two had such strong chemistry between them that I hated the thought that they wouldn’t figure things out, but I also felt that they were hurting others around them at times. I wasn’t fully on board for probably the first third to half of the story as I waited to see what would happen between them. But as I continued, my worries were for naught and thy stayed true to the promises they had made. I actually really ended up loving Teagan’s character progression a lot. She is probably the one who grew the most in accepting her past.

In the end, there was a lot to love here. Despite my minor hangups it was a quick read and I really did like the characters. Penelope Ward has a way of writing these emotional, slightly angsty stories that pull me in and don’t let me go!