This book is the perfect example of why I sometimes need to remind myself that just because a book connected with me on an emotional level, does not mean I actively enjoyed or recommend the book. I cried a lot while reading this and definitely remember it wrecking me a bit, but despite that, I didn't care for the writing or the characters.

Also, spoiler-y hot take on categorizing this book (VERY SPOILER-Y, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED):

Spoiler

The only requirement for a book to be shelved as romance is for the book to have a HEA (or at least a HFN). That is literally not a possibility when your hero DIES at the end of the book! This is objectively not a romance book, it's a very tragic new adult contemporary book that happens to feature a lot of romantic plotting.