Read the content warnings - this book contained many traumatic events!

During the first few chapters, I was hooked, invested in the relationships (particularly Nancy and Val I loved them) and enjoying the style of writing. However, after a while the story became reliant on traumatic event after traumatic event in order to stay engaging, which kind of ruined the romance/found family trope and became too emotionally challenging to enjoy. It also removed the realism (whilst terrible things happen to lots of people, the way the characters reacted was too "perfect," so I felt very removed from the characters).