Ciara Harney

5 ⭐'s all the way.

I am writing just after I finished reading this book and I am floored. This book had pulled me in and flowed so well with Dot Hutchison's writing. There being no chapters only made it harder for me to put down since there was no distinct stops besides the three part sections.

I must say that this book was a good intro for me in the realm of darker mystery/thriller/horror types. Because it was told so calmly, when bad, troubling, or horrific things happened it made such an impact on me.

I honestly can't say much without being spoilery. But, I have gasped, guffawed, grasped for any straws of hope, and held back tears as best I could in part three. This is definitely one of the best books I have read this year.

3.5 ⭐'s rounded down

I was excited to read this since I enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing style and fun romance. Although, I had fun with the book and some of the characters, this is definitely not that good. It's the kind of not good that is entertaining though.

Was this the best that she has written? No. Was this instalovey as all heck? Yes. Did I still like it? Yes.

The speed with which everything happened was – whew – REALLY fast. Like a couple days to two weeks at most. Despite all of that, I did like the dynamic between Elise, Tobias, Banks, and Gabe. It would've been nice to have it fleshed out BUT the point of this book is to have a short fun time with something close to fate without the supernatural world or attributes.

If you want a quick read with nice banter between overly horny people and a small exploration into relationship dynamics that might make you laugh out loud, I think you should give it a try.

***Also that epilogue was better than most trad published epilogues in my humble opinion. Certainly helps that it was in the POV of my fav character.

I picked this up on a whim but got pleasantly surprised and sucked into the story. The beginning for sure was an interesting way to start the book but pulled me in nonetheless. I loved Edie and I loved John (honestly I LOVED Anders, the most).

I really enjoyed the progression of their relationship. And Edie's inner monologue exploring anxiety, panic attacks, night terrors, and PTSD symptoms felt really well presented from the perspective of a teenager trying to deal after everything that happened to her and John.

Normally I would get bored with books of similar boy meet girl, girl like boy, boy wants to be friends until - f e e l i n g s. The way the author wrote this though was very compelling to me even with the pop culture references (a very small peeve of mine).

I liked that our main character is presented as a thicker girl and actually stayed that way throughout the book. I hate when I read a book about a plus sized woman/girl and it feels like her size changes throughout the book without the author meaning to. Here we had none of that, and yes she does get mean remarks and insults regarding her weight but she owns it.

I do kinda wish that this was dual POV but that's just me being spoiled and wanting to know what john was thinking a lot of the time. Like I could see what he was doing and guess how he felt but, uhhh what I wouldn't give to find what he felt the whole time.

People might have things to critique this about but I honestly can't find any fault in the book at all. I have this warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it (ok maybe the ending was a little concise and short for me but still...). I have to give it 5 stars just cause I am real happy about just everything that happened.

Now honestly, the writing isn't all that great. But, I still did get sucked into the story. Admittedly, I did take a long break from this book. A good few months break. The place I stopped was not the easiest to get back into and I had forgotten what the writing was like. F* this and F* that, F* F* F*. I think this might be the author's favorite word (at least for the Male characters). As I slogged through and got past the F's and the constant sex, the story actually picked up with an interesting storyline. I don't know if this storyline is continued in any of their other books but I would love to see the end result or continuation at least of that particular part of the story. So that interesting plot point ended up bumping this rating from 3 to 4 stars for me. I can admit when the writing is bad but, I can also admit when this author does write some good ish that keeps me reading. I guess jordan silver's work will be added to my list of guilty pleasures.

**UPDATE 2/4/25: Okay, thinking back over this book I decided to change my rating from a 4 to a 3. Reason being, in all honesty, this book is not good -at all- BUT I still enjoyed it. Realistically I would've rated this a 1.5-2 if it were any other author but Jordan Silver's work really is one of my guilty pleasures. And, I have no idea how they do it. **

Gosh, I finally finished this frickin' book. This took me awhile to get back into but I did it (for reasons unrelated to the book itself). I know a lot of folks really don't like it for how vulgar and kinda gross the MMC is. I think that I am kind of desensitized at this point to those type of beginnings. Once that was over I did enjoy the book for how over the top it was. I mean this is not one of those romances for the ages but it can be a good time if you want a short romp with a lot of "will they, won't they express their feelings" like ever.

Here is a breakdown of my rating

Characters: 7/10 Plot: 7/10 Writing: 6/10 Setting: 8/10 Enjoyment: 9/10