After enjoying the first book in this series, I was more than ready to come back for book two. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into this time. I did not expect to become so attached to Matt and Maddie that my plans to make this book last more than a day disappeared almost immediately.
Through the Darkness by Emmie Elms
Series: Life in Waves #2
Genres: Contemporary Romance

Just when Maddie thought she'd found her forever with Dylan, a sudden loss leaves her drowning in grief, and the one person who should be holding her hand through it all, keeps finding excuses to be anywhere else.

But the friend who was quietly relegated to the sidelines is suddenly the one showing up with the tissues, staying through the sleepless nights, and helping her piece her life together, as Dylan's true colors finally show.

Maddie finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about love. Because sometimes the person you're meant to be with isn't the one who promises you the world. It's the one who shows up when your world falls apart.

Maddie realizes that maybe love isn't about the grand gestures. It's about the quiet moments with the man who will stay with you through it all, the good, the bad, and everything in between. Who shows up when you need him without you even asking.

But opening her heart means facing her biggest fear. Trusting again when grief has taught her that nothing lasts forever.

Through the darkness of loss and betrayal, Maddie must learn that sometimes the best things come from the most broken places and that love can be the light that guides you home.

Tropes:🔥He Falls First and Harder 🔥Friends to Lovers 🔥Surprise Pregnancy 🔥Quiet Protective MMC 🔥Found Family 🔥Hurt/ Comfort 🔥Slow Burn with Emotional Payoff 🔥Unspoken Feelings 🔥Grief & Recovery 🔥Healing Love 🔥“I’ve Got You.” Energy 🔥Lines we don’t cross 🔥Late Night talks 🔥Bookstore date 🔥Reliving the Past 🔥He knows her better than anyone 🔥Forehead kiss 🔥Always been there 🔥He always chose her

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In this series: Through the Ashes
Other books from this Author Through the Ashes

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I swear I meant to make Through the Darkness last longer but apparently Matt and Maddie had other plans because once I started reading, putting this book down became nearly impossible.

Maddie’s grief was what first pulled me into her story. Emmie Elms captured something that I think can be difficult to put into words. Losing someone can change you, and sometimes everyone around you seems to be waiting for the person you were before to come back. Maddie doesn’t know if that version of herself even exists anymore. Watching her struggle with that while trying to figure out who she is now broke my heart more than once.

Thankfully, she has people around her who love the woman she is instead of waiting for the old Maddie to return. Her friends really are her family, and I loved the way they showed up for her. There were moments when Maddie felt abandoned or misunderstood, but she never had to face everything completely alone.

Especially because she had Matt. Oh, Matt. This man has been in love with his best friend for more than a decade. He’s been the person Maddie calls when something goes wrong, the shoulder she leans on, and the safe place she knows will always be there. Even when staying in the friend category is breaking his own heart, he would rather have whatever part of Maddie she’s willing to give him than lose her completely.

Then Maddie discovers she’s pregnant. Her relationship has ended, she’s already trying to put herself back together, and now she’s facing a future that looks nothing like the one she expected. Matt doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t treat the baby as something he has to tolerate because he loves Maddie. He embraces both of them, and it was the way he naturally began thinking of them as a little family that completely got me.

I loved that their friendship didn’t disappear once the romance began. These two already know each other’s habits, fears, moods, and history. Becoming a couple isn’t about suddenly discovering who the other person is. It’s about finally admitting that the relationship they’ve built over all those years has become something neither of them can keep pretending is only friendship.

That doesn’t mean everything is easy. There is a lot of hurt tangled up in this story, and Maddie has to deal with more than her romantic life. She is grieving while trying to accept how much her life has changed. There were times I wanted to reach through the book and hug her, and there were other moments when I wanted to remind her to look around and see just how many people were standing beside her.

I even found myself feeling for Dylan by the end. I wasn’t expecting that after everything that happened, but his part of the story became more complicated than I initially wanted it to be. I may have forgiven him a little, and I’m perfectly fine admitting it.

After liking the first book, this second installment made me even more invested in this group of friends. I’m already looking at certain characters and developing theories about who might end up together next. I have at least two potential couples in mind, and now I need Emmie Elms to tell me whether I’m right.

And that bonus epilogue? Matt and Maddie had already stolen my heart. Apparently the book needed to make absolutely certain they kept it.