ana's Reviews > Love Redesigned

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ | 4 stars |

Is it the best romance novel I've ever read? No, but was it exactly what I needed? Yes.

R E S U M E
In 'Love Redesigned', we follow Dahlia and Julian, once rivals who competed for the first place in everything. Although over the years they have become something like friends, a kiss seems to spoil the relationship and a forced estrangement due to the death of a family member separates them and ends up severing any connection between the pair. Ten years later, Dahlia returns to the small town where her family lives after a separation and meets Julian again. 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕.

O P I N I O N
Between Lakefront Billionaires and Dreamland Billionaires, I think I have a new favorite. 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞.

Beyond the obvious, the book turned out to be much more than I expected. 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓, 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠. Julian undoubtedly suffered a little and created a personality that ends up having a dominant factor as an adult. As someone who has also witnessed depression up close and seen it affect other people I love, I understand his need to fix everything. To take the weight off the shoulders of the people he loves. I really liked him.

As for Dahlia, I think she's in good hands. Her recovery process after splitting up with Oliver wasn't really because she was missing Oliver, but because of everything she lost when they split up, including professionally as they worked together. Dahlia is also a victim of depression and ends up recounting how it has impacted her life over the years. I would have liked to see a bit more about her visits to her therapist, as she mentions the latter a lot.

They work well together and I confess I loved feeling the back and forth in their relationship. Either they were too close to give in, or they couldn't stand being around each other. Obviously, most of the anger was a facade. I think it was a way of getting each other's attention without raising a stink. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑨 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆. In fact, more than that, Julian made a point of helping Dahlia understand a few things about them and was willing to go after her if necessary. He's so dreamy. And that's why I don't have a boyfriend.

In addition, some of the characters from the Dreamland Billionaire series appear in this book, especially towards the end, which made it nostalgic. I really want to re-read all the books.

I'm looking forward to the release of the second book, which unfortunately won't be out until the summer of 2024.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
- Childhood Rivals to lovers.
- Dual POV.
- One Bed Trope.
- Second Chance.
- Small Town Romance.
- Forced Proximity.
- Mental Health Rep.