Before we begin, this book is about rape. While it doesn't describe the act as it happens, it is mentioned multiple times, as is the trauma and flashbacks. I'll also be talking about that in my review.

This book started out pretty good and it had a lot of potential, but it only went downhill. This book broke down like the damn train they were riding on and I have some shit to say about it.

First, can we have a moment of silence for our boy, Beefy? Because his parents had to hate him for naming him that.

Next, the ridiculous romance. She was already dreaming about going away with this man whom she knows nothing about, including whether or not he's married or dating. Yes, there's history but, at that moment, she didn't remember that history.

And they kept mentioning that weird sexual kink for one of the side characters?? Like, who fucking cares that he's turned on by knowledge. We don't need to know and we do not want to know about some side character and what gets him going.

I hate the main character. Her fucking child is in the ER, having seizures, might die, her grandchild isn't breathing properly, was born premature, there's a fucking murderer on the lose, yet this dumb ass chick still finds time to think about the "attractive" man and the "sexual tension" she feels JUST BY WALKING PAST HIM.

"Belladonna, yes. I remember reading it was used in the Renaissance and before to dilate pupils and make women look as if they're aroused." (Roz couldn't help wondering if her pupils were also dilated.)

(Besides, it was Christmas Eve and her daughter could be dying.)

THEN MAYBE FOCUS ON THAT AND NOT HOW HORNY YOU ARE FOR THIS MAN YOU SCREWED ONCE.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. At least I'm not mansplaining."

I'm sorry, but I refuse to respect or take anyone seriously that unironically uses "mansplaining."

Oh great, now the EX COP is hiding evidence so the murderer can get away.

(Roz wondered if letting this young person go free was the wise thing to do, then she thought of the rapists who went free every day.)

Two wrongs don't make a right, bitch. Just because one person gets away, doesn't make it okay for another to get away!

If someone is SO FAR GONE that they are willing to take someone's life, and not even in the moment, PLAN and SCHEME to take someone's life, they should not be free in society. Just like the rapist shouldn't be either. It really sucks what happened to her and I'm sorry she was raped. No one deserves that. (Redacted) was a total fucking dick who should have been locked up for what he's done. But no one has the right to take another person's life unless it's in a life or death, self-defense situation.

A cop, of all people, should know that. Thank god she's not a cop anymore because she's probably done more bad than good if this is how she acts. She's making an EMOTIONAL decision based on her own trauma. She helped hide evidence and let a fucking murderer go free. Just because someone was the victim of something terrible does not give them a free pass to do whatever the fuck they want without consequence.

Do you know that roughly 30-40% of male sex offenders have reported being sexually abused as children? If your logic is to be applied, all of those SOs should go free because they have the victim pass. Absolute idiocy.

"Most people who are abused do not go on to be abusers. That's a myth."

Calling it a myth does not help your argument. While it's true that MOST victims are able to break the cycle, it's called the cycle of violence for a reason. It may not be the majority, but a lot of people - especially those who do not get help and do not have a support system - go on to continue that cycle. Why do you think there's abusive parents who were abused by their parents? Or domestic assaulters who witnessed domestic assault as kids? Or rapists who were raped as children?

So yes, not EVERY victim goes on to continue that cycle of violence, but to sit there and call it a myth? That's dangerous bullshit. And the fact that the abused, in this scenario, went on to commit the crime of MURDER, seems pretty fucking close to being in that cycle.

Now, rape is a serious fucking issue that some people don't take seriously. It doesn't happen as often as it used to and people do get jailed for that shit. That's not to say people don't slip through the cracks, especially if they are rich and famous. That would be a lie to say so.

This book didn't feel... how do I explain this properly. It felt like a really poor way to treat a serious situation. It felt more like a lecture on how rape is bad, men always get away with rape and men are bad more than bringing light to the seriousness of rape.

I felt bad hearing what happened to these women, true, but these women also suck. I hated their personalities and how they handled themselves. They annoyed me to no end. The book also had a bunch of woke buzzwords thrown in which didn't help at all.

This book had the potential to be great, to bring light to rape victims and how the rapist isn't always held accountable for their actions. It could have been an emotionally charged story that tugged at your heartstrings and made you side with the victims. But it wasn't. 

This book wants you to feel sorry for women who are terrible, annoying and make terrible choices - like fucking murder and letting a murderer go free. This was written back in 2022, I think, and with all the shit that's added to this book... it feels like it was written because these buzzwords and characters tropes and "all men bad" was popular back then. Hell, it's still popular today to some extent. 

It just doesn't feel genuine at all. I know it's fiction, but it doesn't feel real, either. It feels like it panders to a crowd instead of trying to tell a real, heartfelt story about victims of rape. And that's a sad fucking thing to think about.