source: kindle unlimited
rating:★★★★★
from goodreads:
Callahan
I’m the Kane brother everyone gossips about behind closed doors.
Trust fund brat. Washed-up athlete. High-functioning alcoholic.
No one knows the real me but her.
Lana Castillo—my childhood best friend and the only woman I ever loved.
When I broke her heart six years ago, I promised to never return to Lake Wisteria.
I kept my word until my grandfather’s will changed everything.
To receive my inheritance, I was tasked with spending a summer at the family lake house before selling it.
The request was simple in theory until my entire plan blew up on the very first day.
Turns out Lana doesn’t just live at the house, but she claims to own it, too.
Alana
Falling in love with Callahan Kane was a mistake.
He told me so before destroying my heart and our friendship six summers ago.
When he promised never to come back, I foolishly believed him.
But then Cal showed up again, intending to sell his grandfather’s lake house.
The biggest flaw in his plan?
My name is on the deed.
i couldn’t choose which POV was my favorite because i liked, actually LOVED, both points of view.
callahan percival kane, my absolute favorite kane brother. i’ve loved cal from the beginning. getting glimpses of him from the other two stories and then the full blown story of him made my heart ache. the underdog, the disappointment. the positive self-loathing brother. the one who looked out for everyone but himself, who would give everyone the world even if that means his was crashing and burning. i hated the way everyone treated him, the addict fuck up of the world. it made my heart ache for him. he did a lot of things wrong but he was working with what he knew. he grew up the disappointment of his family and didn’t let that dim his light that shines so bright.
i loved lana from the beginning. the strong, soft for her man, woman. i hated her for her trust issues but i get where she came from. i feel like she listened to everyone around her when it came to certain things instead of listening to herself and what she wanted but given the circumstances, i get it. i hated the way she dismissed cal in certain aspects, it just added to the heartache.
camila, cami, my favorite character in this whole entire book series. she added the light airiness that the series needed. she wasn’t obnoxious or full of herself. she took after mommy, the confident, loving, strong woman she is going to become will not be stopped by anything or anyone. the parts that involved her made me chuckle more than anything else. the relationship her and cal developed made me all warm inside. he loved her like he didn’t know he could.
this was by far my favorite dreamland billionaire book. cal and alana are my favorite dreamland couple. although it wasn’t really centered around dreamland you still got the glimpses of it throughout. this told the story of cal and basically his struggles and trials throughout life. it showed a true struggle and what someone could do if they set a goal and focused on what they really wanted and needed in life. it showed you how to love yourself even if it is the hardest thing you can do and do things not only for the people you love, but most importantly for yourself. it showed addiction is a real thing and can be super hard to overcome. you cannot buy your way out of an addiction, bribe someone out of it, they have to want it and do it solely for themselves.
my heart ached reading this book. i was sad as i got closer to the end because that means it was all coming to an end. i would love to read more about all of the dreamland billionaires but especially about cal, lana, & cami. i feel like everyone else is just a background character and it’s their story. they were the true, real, and raw relationship that came out of this series and i loved every part of it. thank you to lauren asher for an amazing series that got better each and every book. i would love to see what’s in store for the kane brothers in the future.
favorite quotes:
"Grief is a strange thing. It comes and goes, usually at the most inconvenient time, turning our lives upside down while we process the loss yet again."
"Sometimes it is those with the loudest voices who struggle the hardest."
"It's the people we love most who always hurt us the hardest."
"I need to care about myself before prioritizing others."
"Falling in love with yourself is ten times harder than falling in love with someone else, especially when I don't like myself very much."
"Trying and failing is better than not trying at all. I'd rather fail time and time again than limit my options and fail anyway."