Antonia Bernardin

The 85th book I read in 2024 was If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley, this was sent to me as an ARC and I couldn’t post it until now, as it’s officially release week!

A plot summary attempt

The story opens on the night before Elliot’s potentially life saving Leukaemia cancer treatment and she just wants to feel like a normal person, before her whole world becomes doctors and feeling horrible. At a bar she meets Jamie and they have a magical evening, feeling a connection on a level she’d never experienced before but when it comes time for the night to end, she leaves without getting his number or giving him her real name.

We then jump to a year or so in time, the stem cell treatment was successful and Elliot has been able to move out into an apartment of her own, in the same city as the hospital that changed her life. Her life has been on pause because of cancer for so long that she’s been afraid to start building a future in case it gets taken away again but that all stops now. When she finds out that her stem cell donor lives in the same city they meet up and Carly invites her to join her friends and boyfriend for a night out. Only thing is when Elliot meets her boyfriend… it’s THE Jamie, the one she pined for through her gruelling treatment.

Things are made even more awkward when Jamie pretends not to know who she is, putting her in the position of having to lie to Carly. It’s extra awkward when she realises they live in the same apartment complex and when Carly recommends her to help with the marketing for Jamie’s sister’s bakery. Life keeps conspiring to bring them together and their connection hasn’t gone, for Elliot at least and she hates lying to her new friend. Jamie and Elliot agree to be friends and start again, with Elliot borrowing his dog for runs and exchanging books but it’s long until it becomes clear that she can’t ‘just be friends’ with him, nor does she want to hurt Carly. If anyone understands how short life can be it’s Elliot and she doesn’t want this second chance with him to pass her but she won’t hurt anyone either.

My review

I really enjoyed this story, the whole cancer part of it makes it sound like it would be really sad but it wasn’t, it was more uplifting than anything else. I loved the main character’s journey and her relationship with the MMC. The barriers between them weren’t really blockers so it’s relatively low stakes and definitely more slow paced than some romances I’ve read but I don’t think that’s a negative, as it fits with the journey the fmc is on. It’s all about building towards a future and daring to make those plans, which I think is relatable even if you haven’t had major health issues because those things are scary no matter what.

The characters do get together fairly early-ish in the story, which is good in some ways because we get loads of kicking-your-feet cute moments of them together but it did mean that some of the miscommunication trope stuff felt a little frustrating. There is still plenty of yearning on both sides though, so I can’t quite describe it as slow burn but not fast either, you get that immediate passion on the night they met, followed by various barriers, then more passion and the miscommunication before the happily ever after.

This isn’t the kind of story I would normally gravitate towards because I don’t like sad stories but this wasn’t, it was very hopeful and positive so I’m glad it was sent to me as an ARC and I’ll definitely pick up more books by this author. Also there was a dog in story, so that’s always a bonus.