I have a lot of feelings about this one. I’m hoping I can explain them and work through how I feel.
First, this cover stopped me from reading this book for a while. The guy on the cover screams F-boy. I had to prepare myself for that type of hero. Kellen is definitely not that character. He’s a quiet and damaged man. I just get a different vibe from the cover than the story actually has.
The use of the past storytelling was very well done. It doesn’t always add to the story. This one did work and I quickly grew close to Darby and Kellen. I actually started crying around 25% in the middle of my hair appointment.
There’s a lot of trauma being dealt with here by both characters. Most of it occurred off-page but some was on-page. Ms. Easton has detailed content warnings on her website. Because of these traumas, I would’ve preferred more time to pass. It just made me feel like the relationship was a bit unhealthy. Easton does address this eventually which I appreciated.
This was definitely dark and there were high stakes. I was curious how Easton was going to resolve the conflicts she set up. I was fairly satisfied with it.
I found some of the intimate scenes to be a little off. I was occasionally confused about what was going on. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I re-read several pages so I don’t think so. Maybe it’s because the characters were disassociating.
Overall, I enjoyed this. But I would’ve liked some things to be more finished. I would recommend this. And I would read more B.B. Easton, but I’m not running out to pick up her backlist.
Thanks for reading!
Holly