They say most people meet the person they will marry while in high school. Balancing one another perfectly, Holly Ryan and Declan James were together through most of college—until their relationship blew up, leaving Declan with more questions than answers.
For the past two years, Declan has tried everything he can think of to earn Holly’s forgiveness, but even if he manages to help her let go of … go of the past and give them another chance at happiness, she still has a secret. Not to mention, she can’t get over the revolving door of women he seems to have coming in and out of his apartment.
Declan is desperate to prove to Holly she’s the one for him and isn’t above using his celebrity status or enlisting the help of their friends to win her back. All’s fair in love and war, right?
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This author knows how to give her readers a story that will make them feel every emotion her characters are going through with words, and I absolutely love that about her books. It’s hard to not love the characters in this story. I truly enjoyed the side characters (Sage & Baxter) as much as I did the main characters (Holly & Declan) in this story. Well to be honest, I love Bax’s character a little more because he kept me smiling and laughing, and at the end of the book I wanted more of him. I would love for D. Kelly to give us his story. The “live feed” moments, surprises, friendship and closeness these characters had and shared were everything. This story gives us love, loss, mistakes, anticipation, surprises, challenges and second chances. Some challenges are worth the risk, and in this story it’s worth everything. Love always wins in the end, right? Well when it comes to this story, you have to read it to find out. You won’t be disappointed!
I enjoyed Declan and Holly’s story in The Evolution of Us by D. Kelly. My favorite things about second chance romances are the delicious angst and idea that love is strong enough to overcome almost anything. While Declan a s Holly’s story had that it also get a bit rushed. I wanted a bit more of the evolution of their romance from being apart to making everything work. Despite that the romance had plenty of swoony moments and both MCs were likable and had me rooting for them.
Narration was performed by Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson. Honestly, I wanted this audiobook when I saw Aaron’s name. He’s one of my all time favorite narrators and did a wonderful job bringing Declan to life. Ava Erickson is another go-to narrator I love and her narration along with Aaron’s made the audiobook well worth the credit.
This is a great second chance to love. I loved it! Declan and Holly’s story is beautiful. They are great together. Their story goes back and forth from past to present, and we learn more about them and their past together. I love the friendship in this story. Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson did an amazing job with the narration. I love their voices together. I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. #AudibleEscape
I absolutely adored “The Evolution of Us” by D. Kelly, a romance novel. The characters are wonderful and have so much depth that it became easy for me to get invested in this book. The story is about a girl named named Holly and a guy named Declan who have been best friends since they were old enough to start high school. They were next door neighbors who quickly started to develop romantic feelings for one another, and started going on double dates with their other two best friends, Sage and Baxter. When the book begins though Holly and Declan are no longer a couple, and they are now 25 years old. It’s been two years since their break-up and Declan desperately wants to get back together with Holly, but Holly is just too hurt to trust Declan. She is still very attracted to him but she would never admit that to Declan. Sage and Baxter are now stuck in the middle, Sage taking Holly’s side and Baxter taking Declan’s. Will Holly and Declan ever find a way to get past the hurt and secrets, and get back into each other’s arms?
D. Kelly has written such a unique story. It is written with jumps from present to past then back to present, and told in either Holly’s or Declan’s point of view. The story had me happy one minute, hot and bothered the next, crying the next, laughing the next, and then doing it all over again; it was amazing! I love sexy romances and this is one of the best that I’ve read in a long time! I highly recommend this book!
5 out of 5 stars
Oh! My! Goodness! I can’t even with this book. I didn’t expect the things that happened to happen. I didn’t really know what I wanted. I was as confused as Finley for most of the book. This book was much more of a roller coaster for me than The Story of Us was.
Jake and Finley appeared in book 1, The Story of Us, but Jake was a very minor character and all we really knew about Finley was that she absolutely loved Ali with everything she had. She was the best, best friend ever. I loved her simply for that, but after reading her story, I love her even more.
I enjoyed the friendship between Finley and Ty as well. It was fun to see her let loose a little with someone other than Jake and Ali. I just loved this book and wish it wasn’t over. I need more of these characters. Like seriously, how does one go about having more??!!?? The story was well written. The characters had great depth. The surprises were amazing. I was laughing and crying and just being in the moment throughout the entire story. I couldn’t put it down! This is definitely a book I will highly recommend to all of my reader friends!
*** I voluntarily read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ***
D. Kelly has a way with words, she’ll have you laughing or crying, maybe even both and she definitely did not disappoint with The Evolution of Us. Declan and Holly’s story was emotional, funny, swoon-worthy and down right sexy as hell. This story will have you captivated from the very first page until the very last and the banter between all characters will have you so enthralled that you won’t realize your finished. Another great read you won’t want to miss.
I volunteered to read an ARC of this story. No form of payment was received.
“What makes you Brooke yourself?” this was my favorite line in the story. Thanks for bringing me back to One Tree Hill!
I absolutely loved this story. This story goes back and forth from past and present but it doesn’t take away from the story.
Holly and Declan have been together since they were young kids. Broke up in college and its been 2 years. Declan is fighting to get back the love of his life. Secrets were kept and a misunderstanding and that is what tore them apart. Will the truth finally set them both free and bring them back together, or is there to much hurt and the secretes to big for them to find their way back to each other?
There were times I laughed and a few times I got teary eyed. I felt the emotions of the characters as if I was right there going through what they were. Great Story.
Oh by the way I call dibs on Declan! Everyone needs him in their life. He is the best friend a person could ask for. Yes he had is flaws but I loved him! I do hope we get more stories of the secondary characters as I felt a connection with them just as strong as with Holly and Dec.