This new novel by PJ Trebelhorn is such a sweet and refreshing love story, a story of forgiveness and learning to put the hurts of growing up behind. Riley Warren had been bullied throughout high school, even to the point of being told she should kill herself. One of those that were part of the bullying group was Victoria Thayer, who secretly had a crush on Riley but was not sure how to deal with the confusing feelings she was having. Fast forward nearly 20 years and their paths cross again, this time with Vic having come to terms with her sexuality and determined to apologize for the pain she had caused. Riley still lived in the same town, working and living paycheck to paycheck. The two search for how to forgive and build a new relationship together.

This was a fantastic story, a slow burn that leaves you wanting this couple to get together so badly that it hurts. The author does a great job of developing the back story and showing how powerful words can be as a teenager and how they can go on to affect you for the rest of your life. Riley is justified in being cautious with her forgiveness after the pain that she had gone through growing up. But Vic slowly chips away at the walls Riley had built up. It is such a beautiful story of forgiveness.

If you are looking for a good slow burn love story, this one will be a sure hit for you.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

2 stars

Riley Warren will never forget the bullying she experienced at the hands of Vanessa Thayer's friend group in high school. Looking back, she can see they were all just rich, entitled jerks, including Victoria, Vanessa's twin sister. So why is it that Riley's still harboring a crush on Victoria after all this time? It's taken Victoria Thayer a while to take control of her life. After being disowned by her mother for being a lesbian, only her sister's upcoming wedding can bring Victoria back to the town where she grew up. But now that she is back home, she might as well take the chance to win over the girl she's always wanted—Riley Warren. Can Victoria and Riley find their happily ever after, or was their love story doomed from the start?

cw: suicidal thoughts (past), minor character death, so much homophobia, so much classism, so much mommy issues, alcoholism, car accident, child neglect (past)

Argh. So I really did not get what I expected or wanted from this book. As you can tell by my content warnings, this was a rough ride. Okay, I did think the book would need to address the past bullying, but it was too much. The bullying did not stay in the past and there was way too much hate in this book for it to be a pleasant read.

The Characters: Riley was a nice person, even though her lack of self confidence was a bit frustrating at times. Vic was... supposed to be nice? But I kind of just got the read that she was obsessed with money / entitled like the rest of her family, but she's slightly better because she's not homophobic because she's gay herself. The MCs were pretty defined by their issues with their mothers, and that made them both one-dimensional in a way. I didn't really like any of the side characters. Some were plain jerks, and even the nice ones made poor judgment calls at least once. Small peeve, but I got the twins' names mixed up super often in the beginning. I also did not like the Thayer family dynamic. There's the extremely homophobic mother, the supportive father who stands up to the mother, and the twin sister who is supportive but sometimes makes homophobic and classist comments. It didn't mesh or make sense to me. You know when you're reading amateur writing and all the characters sound the same because they're written in the same voice? That's what this felt like, except there was the author's voice and the author-imitating-bigotry voice.

The Romance: I couldn't root for Riley and Victoria. I'm not totally convinced that Vic is a good person, and Riley also has her own issues surrounding money. (I suddenly cringed remembering how Riley gushed over Victoria's rooftop pool and heated bathroom floor.) I didn't buy the crushes that Riley and Vic supposedly had on each other in high school. There were some enjoyable reactions thrown in there, but it was mainly unconvincing progress in which they fall in love way too fast, then some angst, then the HEA.

The Plot: The plot is the romance, which was a bit unfortunate. It doesn't make sense.

The Writing: Here's the thing... I've read one of PJ Trebelhorn's sports romances before, and I enjoyed it. I'm very confused about what happened here. As I started reading, I thought to myself, okay, this is a little rocky but I'll probably get into the story soon. And then it got worse and worse and fell apart.

Sigh, I'm sad about writing such a negative review. I think as I was reading and more problems with the plot appeared, I disengaged from the storyline and just kept pushing ahead without trying to get back into it. So at the end, I was just left with a lot of complaints and not much positive feedback.

I think my main issue with this book was that it felt out of touch. In some ways, it was kind of problematic. While the homophobia is addressed somewhat, I don't think the class difference is talked about enough.

Unless you have a thing for overdone poor girl/rich girl romances, I would not recommend this.

**I received an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Victoria Thayer and her twin sister Vanessa were very close and financially secure. Riley Warren was an only child raised by a single alcoholic mother. They lived in a trailer park and Riley wore second hand clothes. She was often made fun of and bullied in high school. By senior year, she was not only targeted and bullied for her home life, but also by Vanessa and her group of friends because they thought she might be gay. Victoria went along with the bullying out of fear. At one point, it became so bad, Riley contemplated suicide. Her best friend Megan, who was always there for her, talked her out of it. Now almost twenty years later, Riley was the manger at a movie theatre in the same upstate NY town of Wolf Bay, living basically from paycheck to paycheck. Vanessa and Victoria were working in Manhattan for their family’s company and still wealthy. The twins were back home to prepare for Vanessa’s upcoming wedding. While Vanessa was making wedding plans, Vic was planning to make amends for her past transgressions and hurtful behavior in order to gain Riley’s trust and the possibility of a relationship with the girl she actually liked in high school.

Riley and Victoria were likable characters. There were many characters that were not, especially the mothers who strongly disliked their daughters. Riley’s mother was never there for her growing up and only wanted money for more alcohol. Vic’s mother wanted nothing to do with her since she came out. The conversations the mothers had with their daughters were hateful and hurtful. But I liked how the author counterbalanced all this mean spirited behavior with a loving support team, especially for Riley. She not only had the constant presence of Megan’s love and support, but also Nancy and her husband Andy. They took on the much needed parental role for Riley and she because the daughter they never had. I felt Vic’s greatest ally seemed to be her father since Vanessa wavered on her opinion of Riley too often. I also felt some of Vanessa’s actions and reasoning were questionable. There were also many angst moments caused by Vanessa, and once again, her friends. Riley’s self esteem and self worth fluctuated several times throughout the story because of that.


I think the weakest part of this story was the romance. The romance needed more time to develop, especially when there was a period of minimum to no communication between Riley and Vic before they reunited again. I had trouble understanding the characters’ actions during the latter part of this story.

I did think the author did a good job in showing how bullying and hurtful actions can impact a person’s thoughts and feelings through the years. I also liked how the author allowed certain parental characters not to change and this made it more realistic.

An ARC was given for an honest review.

2.5 Stars. Riley Warren is the manager of the local movie theater and has never left her home town. She was bullied in high school by a ground of the popular girls, including the twins Victoria and Vanessa Thayer. Riley saves Vanessa one night after witnessing a car accident and is upset when she is never thanked for saving the person she hates the most form high school. Vic was always afraid of what to do in high school, she knew she was different and had a crush on the person they made fun of the most, Riley. Riley also secretly had a crush on Vic but knew it would never go anywhere. When they see each other 20 years after high school in their home town, they cannot stay away from each other as they both have changed.

This novel was okay, I feel like the two characters started to have feelings too quick. Riley forgave Vic very quickly for her crappy high school, she did not even really give it any time. Riley seemed to just accept the change, which I did not really like. They really only dated a couple weeks and that seemed to bother how fast their relationship changed. Vic is afraid of Riley stealing her money and I feel like that barely comes up. The drama in this book, is the worst, its a misunderstanding that could have been solved by a conversation. I am not sure I would recommend this one.

I am extremely conflicted about this book. The overall idea of "Hopes and Dreams" was great, and both Riley and Vic have believable insecurities and are really relatable. I also root for the pair, but I feel like something was missing in the story and that made it hard for me to feel at ease with their relationship.

Riley Warren grew up with a negligent alcoholic mother and was relentlessly bullied by Vanessa Thayer and her friends in high school. The Thayers own the Thayer Group and are richer than Riley could imagine. When Riley's then-crush Vic Thayer, Vanessa's twin, comes back to small-town Wolf Bay for her sister's wedding, Riley does not want to see her. But Vic intends to convince Riley that she is a changed woman. As the pair reconnect, Vic is not sure if Riley is also after her money and Riley doesn't think Vic is serious about her.

The last name Thayer reminded me of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. No doubt it helped paint a picture of the big family name. Trebelhorn did a wonderful at creating the awful yet almost comical Vera Thayer, Vic and Vanessa's mother. I don't know if I was seething or found her laughable whenever she showed up. The prologue of the story was also a nice touch. It features Riley and Vanessa, providing a bond between Riley and her love interest's twin who otherwise have nothing in common.

This book is angsty with a lot of miscommunications. I think while Riley's and Vic's insecurities were strong, they were also the very reason I had a hard time believing that the relationship would work out in the long run. One of the issues I have is Riley's character inconsistency. When they exchanged ILYs, I had to go back and reread one of their first encounters because I couldn't quite believe it. I fully understand that Riley and Vic are both acting very reasonably throughout the development of their relationship, but I don't think I was let into their lives enough to actually understand what they are going through. There were a lot of convenient time gaps that led to my confusion over their romance working out. Also, Vic has some really horrible friends and that is not very convincing when she says she is a changed person. I honestly fear they would break up very soon.

There were also a few instances of fattism. Since a lot of the characters haven't seen each other in twenty years since high school, there were a lot of comments on how some did not become "fat" while others did. Twice, was "fat" and "ugly" used together, and that is not okay. Also, the cover is rather questionable. Who are the two women? With Vic's short hair barely reaching her shoulders, I doubt either of them was her.

"Hopes and Dreams" has so much potential and I found it mostly enjoyable. However, considering the big picture, it did not work for me. If you like rich girl/poor girl romance or twenty-year-crush romance, this book is for you.

I thought this was an ok book. longer than needed tbh.
I also did not feel that Riley was poor. they kept saying she's poor but never did she struggle with anything ext for that dream purchase.
Now Riley's mother, felt like the author wanted to give her a nicer image at the end but somehow changed her mind around the middle.

Victoria was a very boring character, her sister who confused me a lot was too.

the writing was ok. thank you for the author and her teem for the free copy

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I’m not a fan of the writing style as it is somewhat cringey at times. This story is also predictable and it feels like something i’ve read plenty of times before. I do appreciate the sapphic representation though.

Riley spent her whole like in her small town Wolf Lake Bay she works at a movie theater and dreams of owning it one day. She has a great friend in Megan and the two people Nancy and Andy who she consider more her parents then her own mother who never wanted nothing to do with her.

Victoria aka Vic in town for her twin sister Vanessa wedding she doesn’t want to go back to her small town especially staying with her mother Vera who disown her for being a lesbian but also because of the guilt she feels when she was teenager and her and sister and their friends use to bully Riley.

Vic has a crush on Riley and so did Riley but neither one knew because they both was struggling with their feelings and as she tries to stick up for her but cowardly join in the bullying so she wouldn’t get bully herself. Riley and Vic meets years later and Vic vow this time she tell Riley how she feels and apologize for the way she treated her in high school.

Even though they both came from different backgrounds Vic being rich and Riley being poor they both seem to fit but can they believe that and not let what happen in the past and what others say keep them from being happy.


I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

With the book „Hopes and Dreams“ by PJ Trebelhorn my expectations were not disappointed. A beautifully written book with likeable characters and a convincing plot.

After many years Riley meets Vic again, one of her tormentors, who made her high school days hell. Even though she had a crush on her back then, she doesn't want to have anything to do with her anymore. Vic has other plans and does everything to reconcile with Riley and to apologize for her behaviour back then. The two come from different worlds, Riley grew up in the trailer park and Vic comes from a wealthy background. The book accompanies the two protagonists on their way to leave the past behind in order to start something new.
The story has captivated me from the very beginning and I only put the book out of my hand again after I had read it through. A reading pleasure!

At the beginning I had difficulties to find out the age of Riley and Vic (38), because the book sometimes says that Vic was "almost 20 years" and sometimes "16 years" not in Wolf Bay, their hometown.

I received a copy from netgalley in exchange for a an honest review.