Innocence

I think I'm going to have to break up with Suki Fleet. Her books have always been dark and angsty, full of MCs who are dealing with mental illness, homelessness, drug use, and/or violence. I can deal with that (when I'm in a certain mood) and appreciated her message that love can find even the most downtrodden characters. But this book was just...icky. The non-spoiler version is that the romance between Chris and Malachi didn't work, for numerous reasons including the age and life experience difference, the knowledge power imbalance (Malachi knows a lot of secrets about Chris' past and only tells him the truth gradually), and a rather unconvincing Insta-Love on Chris' part. But the insurmountable Ick Factor was finding out that Malachi had an affair with Chris' mother Isabella when he was a teenager. Just No. There is nothing I can read, no matter how much Malachi claims he loves Chris more than he loved Isabella, that can make that anything other than wrong in my eyes. There are also several subplots involving injuries to secondary characters that are left unresolved or barely resolved at the book's conclusion. So unsatisfactory romance plus too much left hanging equals time to bid adieu to this author. I was a big fan of several of her other books including [b:Light Up the Dark 33239302 Light Up the Dark Suki Fleet https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480934241l/33239302.SY75.jpg 53954816] and [b:Foxes 29065717 Foxes Suki Fleet https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455246424l/29065717.SY75.jpg 46229530], but I'm out now. And yes, I understand that this is a self-published reissue of an earlier book, but it left such a bad taste that I'm not planning to return.