Review also posted to my blog.


4.5


content warnings: mentions of depression, anxiety, parental death by suicide, past sexual trauma, forced outing, and intimate photographs being shared without consent (taken from the content note in the book)
representation: black gay protagonist with anxiety, queer protagonist, interracial m/m relationship, black side characters, sapphic side character

“But he’s smiling again, that faint curve. I want to reach out and trace it with my fingers, which is such an unfamiliar feeling that it shocks me. And then, a second later, it excites me—because that feeling constitutes desire, and it’s been a long, long time since I experienced anything like it. My odd reaction to him sparks a reckless sort of hope, a wild taste of possibility in my chest.”

Talia Hibbert is the best sexy romance writer to have ever lived, don't @ me you know I'm right.

This follows Olu, the brother of the protagonist of one of Talia Hibbert's previous books Undone By the Ex-Con, as he decides he needs to get away from it all and goes to a small village in the country. One of the people who lives in this village is Griff, a man who is somewhat of a pariah because of his sexuality as well as his mother's history. Angsty, sexy romance ensues.

I honestly loved everything about this. I haven't read any of the books in the Just For Him trilogy yet but this is definitely written to function as a stand-alone so that didn't ruin my reading experience at all. In fact, I fell so in love with every character in this book that I now need to go back and read the entire trilogy, and inevitably feel sad that there isn't enough Olu or Griff in it.

I would literally lay down my life for both Olu and Griff, along with most of the side characters. Olu's anxiety is explored in such a great and authentic way, and seeing how his anxiety and tragic past have tied themselves into his personality without ever being reduced to his entire personality. I have to be honest though, Griff was probably my favourite. He's a massive guy who is actually the sweetest person alive, and his hobbies include caring about people and making cordial for free.

Their relationship, as you can imagine based on my love for them as individual characters, was absolutely perfect. It has a rocky start because Olu has some issues from past relationships that he has to work through, but their development is so amazing and makes the lowkey slow-burn so worth it. Talia Hibbert writes such amazing banter and there was literally not a single scene with them that I didn't enjoy.

Idk, I feel like this review is kind of a mess, but in short I really loved this book and the fact that everybody in the entire world isn't reading Talia Hibbert feels like a personal attack.


I received an ARC of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.