Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

“Stay?” he whispers into my skin. “You stole my shoes. I kind of have to stay, don’t I?” I glance at him, gaze catching his. “Stay because you want to,” he says softly. In the end, the decision isn’t that difficult. “I’ll stay.”

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Briar Prescott can write her socks off. The premise of the story was also really good, unique and kept me interested throughout. I did however not really like the character Jude much at all, so while I don’t regret listening to the book or anything, it just wasn’t the right tropes and characters for me.

I’ve heard so much praise for this book and have friends that wanted me to read it, so I kinda forgot about making sure it was a story I would actually be interested in. Got a bit blinded by the shiny-new-thing with the pretty cover. Totally on me, not the author.

To be fair (to me), I think a lot of us can agree that Jude is a bit of a dick, lol, and it changed a bit quickly from the MCs not wanting to get together, to banging a lot, which really created a disconnect for me.

“[…] That you never get to say goodbye to most people. They’re there, and then they’re gone, and nobody cares that you’re left behind with all those words you never got to say that are now trapped inside you for good.”

The final parts of the book definitely held my attention more, and it did make me cry eventually. A highly emotional book with a very original plot that will keep you guessing all the way through. I’m impressed by how the author also kept the tension super high throughout, like I was constantly waiting for something bad to happen.

If these tropes are for you though, don’t let my review negatively sway you. The writing is top notch.

I will say, the narrator made it difficult to distinguish between who was speaking at times, which didn’t help.

“[…] You’re so afraid people will screw you over that you avoid anything more serious than being somebody’s passing acquaintance. Once the girl at Starbucks started spelling your name correctly you were all, ‘Well, this is getting awfully serious,’ and started going to a different coffee shop!”

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Secrets
Friends to lovers
Slow-ish burn
Commitment-phobe
Hacker
A bit of edging
Snarky banter

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Brief mentions of gory injury (past)
Brief mentions of miscarriages (past, side character)
Brief mentions of incarceration in juvenile detention
Incarcerated parent
Death of a parent (off page, past)
Child abandonment
Explicit sexual content
Mentions of child neglect (past)
Mentions of child endangerment (past)
Mentions of drug and alcohol abuse (past, side characters)

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
OM/OW drama: Yes, a little bit, but nothing happens with anyone else.
Breakup: Yes
POV: 1st person, single POV (epilogue switches to the other MC)
Genre: Contemporary romance, M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles
MCs age: 25 and 25
Pages: 323

I nearly jump out of my skin when my phone starts ringing. Who the fuck calls people? What kind of weird social experiment is this?




Mild spoiler alert, unless you’ve read the ‘book safety’ info.


He made me love him.
He turned himself into my home.
Now he’s gone.
And I’m homeless.
But life doesn’t stop for a broken heart.
So somehow, I keep going.