Read in 2025 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235531962-echoes-of-us
Ashley is living her best life (almost) she has a job she loves working with people who need help dealing with their grief, her husband is super handsome, caring and so smart best of all they are expecting their first baby and she already loves this baby so much... but (yes there is a but) she can't help but feel that her husband is maybe hiding his true self from her at times he feels a bit distant and while she is helping all of these people at work she can't seem to help her husband who needs her at home.
Cole Westwood has been dealing with grief for awhile now it hovers over himself and his family like a blanket that they can't get out from under, losing his twin brother Dale changed his life and he doesn't know how to deal with this loss. He always felt as if he was the inferior brother in their parents eyes (especially his overly critical mother), he looked up to his brother and went to him for guidance on decisions but who can he go to now that he's gone?
Back to Ashley feeling like she doesn't know all there is to know about her husband Cole after an old college friend comes over and basically says that she doesn't know the real Cole she thinks that maybe it would be best if she had a little bit of time away from Cole. She goes to stay with her parents at her child hood home and makes a wish before she goes to sleep about how she wished she knew Cole prior to his grief when his brother was still alive it would help her understand him better.
Ashley wakes up in the past but it isn't the past that happened in her own timeline, the one that she so clearly remembers like it was yesterday (because it was). In this timeline she is back in college after a bad break up to a guy she no longer cares about (but prior to her relationship with Cole... in fact in this time line does she even know Cole?). How is she going to get by without letting on that she has different memories? It's not like she can really tell anyone she is from a different future timeline.
Luckily her friend Sarah is there with her when she wakes up to help fill her in that they need to get back to school... not the school she originally remembers going to, in this timeline she lost a bet with Sarah and they both have been attending Yale. While there she runs into Cole and as a surprise his brother Dale is there as well.
Ashley then struggles with reminders of the future (or alternate reality) that may never happen the loss of her relationship with Cole and the loss of their baby that in this time line hasn't even been a thought yet since Cole it turns out is the campus playboy making his rounds to parties and getting with any woman he feels like which of course tears Ashley's heart apart a bit more each time she sees him and these different ladies.
Dale on the other hand is the thoughtful, kind, considerate, intelligent basically this truly amazing all around guy --> all of these things that she loved about her husband previously, while Cole is charming and acts like he doesn't care about much of anything he also is a bit manipulative and plays head games with her pulling her closer only to push her away again.
Ashley in this timeline at her new school manages to get into a summer physics program being led by Dale and spending more time with him it's hard to overlook that he is everything that she is missing from her old life with her timelines Cole.
Ashley finds herself drawn to both men for different reasons and there comes a point where she doesn't know how to deal with her emotions in this new timeline, everything so far she has tried to do has gone wrong and if Dale's car accident is still in the future of this time line can she help prevent Dale's death?
There were some typos and some repeat sentences but it didn't take away from the story, I found myself drawn to the characters and wanting to see how things would play out for Ashley and the brothers who will she choose safe choice Dale who is sweet, caring and loyal or Cole who is kind of a hot head and likes to play games but seems to be only because he is having a hard time keeping his walls up when it comes to Ashley he has armor up with those around him that show him as a careless playboy but Ashley sees him for who he is warts and all (don't worry, he doesn't have warts of course he is a flawless, handsome hard body) but she still is drawn to him even with seeing his flaws and that means a lot to someone who has always felt like he wasn't good enough compared to his brother.
There are still some left over questions that leave room for a sequel and I would love to arc read for the next book in the series.
*arc read *time travel romance *alternate reality (like sliders) *love triangle *single POV from FMC
*Indie author *First book for this author *miscommunication/no communication
** my own personal opinion I was rooting for Dale and Ashley for this time line --> Team "Dashley"
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