Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

I want a life with you. I want this to be—I want more than we can have.” Andy is looking at him so carefully, too carefully. “But I want it anyway,” Nick admits.

Historical normally isn’t my jam at all, especially when it’s contemporary, but I enjoyed this. It certainly could’ve easily been horribly angsty, but it really wasn’t. It wasn’t angst free either, but I was pleasantly surprised. Nick and Andy developed such a sweet friendship where you could really tell they were genuine best friends. It felt like the development of their relationship, both from strangers to friends and from friends to lovers was really organic and I could feel the change with them.

Neither historical romance or friends to lovers are tropes I love, but there’s always exceptions and this was one of them. Cat Sebastian’s writing is truly beautiful, and Joel Leslie brought it all to life with the audio. He felt really right for these characters.

The ending was a bit abrupt for me, and considering the time it’s set in and the challenges of their relationship, I would have really appreciated an epilogue set a bit further in the future, just so I could see how happy they still were together. I definitely believed in their love and future, but actually knowing is different. There was also some external plot that turned into nothing, and while I understood the choice and wasn’t a case of the author dropping the ball, I was really looking forward to a resolution to the situation and mystery. Just wasn’t meant to be, historically, and I can acknowledge that it was the right choice for the characters. I just wanted my external plot fix, lol.

Families might usually be bonded by blood, but maybe sometimes they’re bonded by shared secrets, by a delicate mixture of caution and faith, by the conviction that hiding together is better in every way than hiding alone.

Predictably there were issues with family, but there were some really lovely family moments too, including found family, which really gave it a hopeful and happy lift.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Historical (1959)
Coworkers
Journalists
Closeted MCs
Friends to lovers
Slow burn
Miscommunication
Slow dancing
Pining
First times
Fade to gray (door cracked slightly open)
Found family

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Alcohol consumption (to point of intoxication - several times)
Death of a parent in bombing (past, no details)
MC mugged and beaten (off page, minor injuries)
MC cheated on by fiancé (off page, not other MC)
Homophobia
Arrested for homosexuality (MC, past)
Non-explicit sexual content
Fear of abandonment

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: Andy dates a woman for a while (prologue). Nick sleeps with other people while they know each other. Both believe the other is straight, just friends at the time. No detailed hookups. MC proposes to girlfriend on page (wedding called off). From chapter 1 there’s only the MCs. Before anything happens between them, Andy convinces Nick to go to a bar together so that Nick can get laid, but he only chats with another man before Andy gets jealous and they both leave the bar.
Breakup: No
POV: 3rd person, dual
Genre: Historical romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Versatile
Main characters’ age: 26 and 26
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: No
Pages: 384


The truth is that after last night, Andy feels like his body has been rearranged in some subtle way and that now it belongs to Nick; it’s a stupid thought but he’s having it anyway.

“[…] if I have to choose between work and you, between a story and you, between anything and you, I’m picking you. […]”

He feels as if he’s been turned inside out, as if he just learned that a part of his heart is on the outside of his body, in the possession of somebody else entirely.

Andy throws the door open, revealing a cat sitting inside the garbage can, the remains of table scraps all over its face. “You’re filthy,” Andy says, as if an animal sitting in a trash can could be anything else. The cat produces a little yowl that Andy chooses to interpret as agreement. Then it wiggles, and Andy realizes that the poor idiot doesn’t know how to get out. “Jump,” Andy suggests. “Or climb. You got through the window. You can’t be totally helpless.” In response, the cat makes a beeping sound, as if arguing that no, he can definitely be that helpless.



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