Here’s my rule: if, after the first few pages, LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENS for the rest of the book—no cliffhangers allowed.

I wanted danger, angsty age gap, and the mess of a hero lusting over the woman he abducted to become the fiancée of his own son 😅

But I think this one over-promised and under-delivered. Our heroine was so ‘barely 18’ that she’d literally graduated high school yesterday. For what? We dodged all the drama by making her maturity levels inconsistent and nonsensical.

The son’s fiancée plot? Hand-wavingly abandoned at 35% and replaced with... shopping and a lamb named Lamborghini (kill me).

And this brat/brat tamer dynamic hurt my heart. They had chemistry... until the bedroom, where they became different people. Her brattiness disappeared and, though he’d talked a big game about wanting ‘spirit’, he’d turn into a Dom who wanted total obedience. It was so different from their non-sexual relationship, and even their sexual fantasies about each other, that it felt inauthentic and kind of sad.

Later, there were some more authentic (and hot 🥵) scenes... but they fell into my least favourite kinky romance pattern: kink scenes when the relationship wasn’t very developed, replaced with non-kinky scenes only as their intimacy and respect increased. That’s not what I’m here for.

Plus all the Canadian references were incorrect and it just annoyed me.