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On The Run by Jacey Davis, Jacey Davis
5.0

Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

Seventeen years of running from my abusive, psychopathic sperm donor didn’t break me. Countless bruises, broken bones, nights sleeping in shelters and behind dumpsters didn’t break me. […] But Max Campbell? Yeah, he was going to be what finally did me in.

I fell head over heels in love with Aiden, Max and Gray the first time I read the book, and after my reread, I still do. This book has hurt/comfort, a single dad *and* age gap, with a sprinkling of suspense; literally my favorite mix of tropes.

Aiden has had a very rough life so far and goes through quite a bit of trauma during the book, and there’s two things I want to highlight about this. 1) There’s no ‘magic d*ck’. Aiden isn’t suddenly cured of his trauma or issues because he ‘got some’, which would have undermined the seriousness of his trauma. 2) He went to therapy, and he kept going. This wasn’t an automatic fix either. I definitely commend the author for this.

I also appreciated that the older character (Maxwell) did a lot of the pursuing. I can’t really think of another age gap book where this happens (and I’ve read a lot of age gap books). The book really didn’t need extended bouts of insecurity about the age difference. What little there was felt just right. The characters just fit each other.

There was push and pull, but it made sense for Aiden and Max. It was a natural part of their journey, and even though that kind of plot line can lend itself to angst, there really was very little of it. External angst though? plenty. Definitely check the content warning below, if you want them.

This is definitely the kind of book I will read again.

[…] “If I disappear, please look for me, Max. I’m not going to leave you.”
___________________________________
Update!

I did read it again, and I still love it. Perfect for those who love some suspense with their romance.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Age gap
Slow burn
Single dad
Hurt/comfort
Past trauma
Friends to lovers
Size difference
Virgin MC
Interracial relationship

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Explicit sexual content
Graphic violence
Torture (on page)
Kidnapping
Abusive parent (past and present, detailed)
Parent with cancer
Emotional trauma
Anxiety
Child abuse
Severely injured side character
Severely injured main character
Brief mentions of child neglect
Brief mention of addiction (not MCs)
Hospitalization

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
OM/OW drama: No
Breakup: No. They go back to being friends for a while after their first date, but no breakups.
POV: 1st person, dual POV
Genre: Contemporary romance w/suspense, M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles
MC age: 21 and 35
Kid age: 6
Pages: 344

Maxwell Campbell. Holy shit, after nearly a year of crushing so hard on someone who was so far out of my league, we weren’t even on the same planet, I finally got something, just a little crumb, into this man’s life: his name.

I didn’t even know how many times I’d seen Gray or one of my nieces face-plant in a way that would break every bone in my body, and they just bounced back up like nothing happened.

We made no plans for a repeat; we never did. Sometimes, I felt like a damn hamster in a wheel as we progressed with this friendship at a pace slower than molasses, but then, right before I was heading to bed later that night, Aiden sent me a text of a meme he’d thought I’d think was funny, and I knew this snail’s pace redo was worth it.