When I first started reading this book, I thought I'd made a terrible mistake. The beginning was really rough for me, for a few reasons I'll get to. The mistake was that I'd bought the entire series (this is the first in a trilogy of companion novels) off book outlet on the cheap without knowing if I was actually going to enjoy them. To be fair, they were cheap, they had good reviews, and I was hankering for romance and had very little on my shelves.

I read about 30 pages and set the book aside. I found the writing incredibly cheesy. Both the dialogue and the characters' inner monologues. Reading these characters' thoughts about one another was like reading really bad poetry.
There were also words and phrases used that seemed very out of place. One example is when Jessa, our lady protagonist, says something and then worries that Kit (the male protagonist) will think she's 'square'. Now, I don't know about any of you, but I have never heard that word used unless I'm watching a movie from the 50s/60s. It's pretty much obsolete. The author also used the words 'affair' and 'fling' to describe hook ups. Now, I could maybe see fling, but I feel like most people who use the word affair use it to refer to adultery, not simply a sexual relationship between two single consenting adults. When I finished the book I read the author's bio and saw that she grew up in the UK, so it's definitely possible that she was using terminology that is more prevalent over there, but I feel like if you are going to set your book in a specific place, you should try to make sure the language makes sense.

Anyway, I went back to the book mostly because I figured I should give it another try since I bought all three of the books in the series. I told myself that if I got to page 100 and still wasn't enjoying it I would DNF it and just go on with my life.

And as I read, something happened. Did the dialogue and inner monologues get better? Not really. This book embraces the cheese. Did the author stop telling and start showing? Nope. I'm not sure I can actually pinpoint what kept me reading, but at a certain point in the book, I became invested in these characters. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and I wanted to see how the end of the book would pay off the beginning scene.

This book is very readable. The chapters are short and it's easy to start reading and look up to discover you've been reading for an hour.

I enjoyed the relationship between Jessa and Kit, despite all its eye-rolling cheesiness (I know I keep using the word cheesy. But it's apt.). There was a sense at the beginning of insta-love for me, not because the characters had just met, but because *I* didn't feel like I knew them. I wish the author had developed them a little more on their own before having them jump into this intense relationship, but once they were in it I liked them. I liked the fact that they took it (somewhat) slow as far as their physical relationship, and didn't jump right into sex, like so many other New Adult romances tend to do. There are moments of consent all through their relationship and it made me very happy.

I feel like the other characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. Jessa's father, in particular, was a real piece of work. He's abusive in the way he controls his family and intimidates them, and it's all blamed on PTSD. Then near the end of the book,

he sees the error of his ways and changes. Just like that. But we don't actually see any of that. We're told about it through a series of letters and emails. There is a scene with Kit at the cemetery where we see his altered personality, but I would've liked to see some of the steps he took to get there.

There are other things that are just kind of glossed over as well. This book could've been a four-star read if it had really tackled the PTSD/addiction/survivor's guilt that makes an appearance in the last quarter of the book. I actually wish the first part of the book had been cut down to accommodate a more in depth look at those things.

There is one more thing I wanted to note. This book does have several sex scenes written throughout it's pages. This is NOT YA. The characters are 18/19 and 21/22. However, I will say that the sex scenes are far tamer than some of the other NA I've read in the past. It doesn't get super graphic, for the most part. I appreciated that, because as much as I like the steamy scenes, I also like a little to be left to the imagination. This would probably be a good crossover book for someone who loves YA romance and wants to transition into more adult stories.

At the end of the day, while I can look critically at this book and see all it's flaws, I still enjoyed my reading experience and would have no problem recommending it to someone looking for an adult romance with younger characters.