It Was Always You

Grace General Series, Book 1

De: Laura Beth

Narrado por: Sara Brodt

A decade of friendship. Three years of heartache. One man she could never forget.

Jenna Watkins has never quite found the place she belongs. Growing up as the only child of a military father, her life was constantly on the move. New city, new school, new faces. With a wild personality and a no-filter mouth, making friends wasn’t something she was good at.

That all changed the day she met Emmett Owens.

At 15 years old, Emmett became the best friend she’d ever had. He was her confidant, the peanut butter to her jelly, and the one person she grew to trust with everything she knew. Over their ten years of friendship, feelings blossomed, and so did the possibility of a true Happily Ever After…

Until he married someone else.

Three years later, Emmett is back, with his adorable daughter in tow, begging for a chance to prove himself. Jenna wants to believe he’d never hurt her, but she was foolish enough to think that once before. Yet, the more they rekindle their friendship, and the closer she grows to his daughter, those lines she so firmly planted start to blur.

Will she be able to let him in, or are some wounds too deep to heal?

It Was Always You is a friends-to-lovers, second chance romance that will have you swooning over a single dad determined to make a good life for his daughter and win back the only woman he has ever loved.

Tropes:
Friends to Lovers
Second Chance
Single Dad
Dual Timelines
Mutual Pining
Slow Burn

©2023 Laura Beth (P)2024 Laura Beth

Great book

Great book by an up and coming author. Can’t wait the her next book to come out.

What a debut!

Oh my goodness, Laura! What a debut novel! I absolutely love Jenna and Emmett. He’s an amazing man and an absolute angel of a father. I need everyone to fall in love with them too. Their story is literal perfection. Sara Brodt brought this to life so beautifully! I love everything about this book

Excellent!

It Was Always You by Laura Beth was such an enjoyable read! This Contemporary Second-chance Romance hit in all the right ways. I'm usually not the biggest fan of second chance because of how they often don't communicate well, and while there were some communication problems between these two, it worked well in the story.

Emmett is like the sweetest man, and I would protect him forever! Thankfully, Jenna knows how wonderful he is, even though he broke her heart. They treat each other well and actually have adult conversations to resolve their unexpected circumstances.

I got a chance to listen to the audiobook, and it was excellent by Sara Brodt! She really brings the characters to life! I highly recommend this contemporary romance! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emmett and Jenna

• Single POV 
• Dual Timeline 
• Groveling 
• Single Dad 
• 1st book in the series 
• Nurse/Blue collar romance 
 
This book has been on my TBR for far too long! Laura Beth gave us the sweetest story told in a dual timeline, Single POV. Usually both of those tend to bother me, or they struggle to keep my interest. But not this book! Jenna and Emmett's story was perfect. And I couldn't have loved it more. I can't wait to listen to the rest of the series. 
 
Their story is full of so much pining! From their very first interaction in their Home Economics class in high school, these two shared the sweetest friendship! Unfortunately, heartbreak and longing rip these two apart. 
 
My heart broke for Jenna for so many reasons. But mainly because she never felt like she was enough for anyone, always questioning her self-worth because of her inadequate parents! Emmett was her only shining light in her life for a long time! So when these two were ripped apart, my heart shattered for Jenna. But as heartbreaking as it was, we get to watch Jenna overcome so many mental blocks! 
 
Emmett will steal your heart instantly. He was so tender and observant. And when we met him again in the present time, he was a wonderful, attentive dad. I wasn't surprised! This man would move mountains for the ones he loves! And I freaken LOVED watching him win Jenna back! Emmett had zero issue making his feelings for Jenna known in the most possessively perfect way! 
 
I loved watching these two find their way back together and the relationship that grew between all three of them! Allie, Emmett's daughter, included!! 
 
🎧Audiobook review🎧
Single narration 
Narrated by Sara Brodt
 
Sara did such an incredible job on this audiobook! Even as a single POV it wasnt lacking in the slightest! Every emotion was beautifully captured. I'm so excited she's the one who's narrating the other two books in this series. Her voice was so perfect for Jenna. Tender and shy! I loved it! So well done!
 

Heartbreaking and wholesome

I honestly don’t know where to start. I’m obsessed, so utterly content, I’m happy and a little sad, I’ve been through the wringer emotionally and I’m so incredibly impressed that this is a debut novel!

This book just grabbed my heart and held on to it throughout Jenna and Emmett’s story. It’s Always Been You have been in my TBR list for a while now, and I’m so happy I finally got around to read it.

I cannot begin to describe just how wonderfully perfect this was. I loved the pace, the jumps back in time, the amount of pining for each other- ugh, it was heart wrenchingly perfect! This was such a beautiful reading experience and the story was right there to match it!

My heart broke for Jenna for multiple reasons and situations. She was such a strong, witty and such a loving and sweet girl who just wanted to belong. Her first meeting with Emmett was perfect and the start of the most safe and wholesome friendship. I instantly loved Emmett. When circumstances led to them being ripped apart, I thought my heart couldn’t handle learning what happened. I also didn’t see the twist coming, which then only broke my heart more, but also made me love Emmett even harder. Like, seriously? He’s perfect.

I LOVED the moments with Emmett, Jenna and Allie. That healed me too. I loved how safe, thoughtful, trustworthy, protective and emotionally available Emmett was. Talk about being a safe harbor. I’m head over heels for this man!

I’m so excited to continue with the Grace General series!

Emmett and Jenna forever!

This was one of my top reads of 2023, and this audiobook was done so well!

Beautifully done

I love this book! Jenna and Emmett are perfection and their story feels so real. Can’t wait for book 2!

Easy to love these characters

From start to finish I felt connected to these characters and pulled into their story. I loved this story from start to finish. It was emotional yet was such a feel good story. The balance between, story, romance, steamy scenes, were exactly what I like in a good heartfelt, contemporary romance. I can't wait to read the next book!

Very good debut novel.

The first 3/4 of the book was better than the last 1/4, but still it was well written with great characters. Well worth a credit.

A great debut and amazing start to the series

4.5 stars (come on Zon, give us our half stars) This is the first book in the Grace General series by Laura Beth. Jenna & Emmett meet when Jenna moves to Chicago to go back and live with her mother because her dad is being deployed. It’s not ideal, and she hates being the new kid, even though she has been the new kid many times over moving around with her dad in the military. It’s off to a rough start when a stranger sticks up for her against the mean girls and they strike up a friendship. They become best friends, with an undercurrent of more. Life takes them in different directions, with the plan to eventually get back to the same town together again.

While apart, they both live their lives. Then the shock of Emmit getting married, right before they were to both be back in the same town, where her next stop is to be. Jenna doesn’t do second chances, and swore no one would ever get in again after that devastating call that shattered her heart. Meg, her BFF, is FULL of spunk. I adore her. They stick together like glue at work and play. Having someone that has your back like that, I just loved their friendship.

Now, there is the shock of finding out that Emmett has moved back to town. It is like the wind is knocked out of her. When she accidently runs into him, that wall is UP!! Seeing his daughter with him is like a shot to the heart, but also incapable of admitting how sweet and adorable she is.

Emmett convinces Jenna to come by and at least give her a proper apology and explain things. Eventually Jenna caves. Determined to keep that icy wall up. However, a charming little princess captures her heart, and starts to melt that ice. She still doesn’t want to talk about what happened or do anything other than work on friendship.

Well, after that, all I will say is that there is not a ton of spice, but it is flaming hot when it is there. a lot of tension, slow burn, and yearning. Laura Beth does such an amazing job, and I cannot wait to read the other books in the series. I listened to the audiobook, and Sara does a fantastic job of immersing you into the story and feeling like each character is separate.

Ok, a slight spoiler below, but I have to address the “he cheated and is horrible” reviews.
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You were warned
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I see several readers really going after Emmett and saying it is an unbelievable story for her forgiving him. While they were working their way back to each other, even Jenna says she didn’t expect him to not have slept with other people. She had as well. They are grown adults, and life gets lonely. The betrayal was the call out of the blue saying he was getting married. He didn’t “cheat”, but it did shatter her heart. Give it a chance, and I believe you will love it.