25% into this book and the only complaint I had was that one of the characters is called Elizabeth Bennet and nobody once made reference to Pride and Prejudice. How I wish that was the biggest problem I came across. 

Because Holy. Fucking. Shit. What the FUCK with the predatory age gap ‘romance’???????? 

1. Joe ‘chose’ Ox when Joe was TEN and Ox was SIXTEEN. What the fuck. 

2. They then spend basically all their time together, with Ox an extension of the family. So they were brothers, brothers!! I was thinking it would even be weird if Ox shacked up with Carter, but JOE???? 

3. With the knowledge that they were ‘mated’, all of Joe’s possessiveness wasn’t just an insecure kid wanting attention, he was JEALOUS that a kid SIX YEARS OLDER than him was fooling around with other people. I was really hoping that Joe’s possessiveness would be presented as an insecure/overly attached child learning to let people live their own lives. But nope. This is just gross.  

4. Ox gets the crazy hots for Joe (who has strictly been his ‘little brother’ until this point) when Joe is SEVENTEEN and Ox is TWENTY-THREE. Gross gross gross. 

5. And then every single family member justified Ox and Joe’s feelings, and said it isn’t a problem at all. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. 

The only way their relationship might have been acceptable would be if they didn’t see each other for (at minimum) ten years, and reunited when Joe was 27ish and Ox 33ish. Then I think it could be ok. But straight out of high school?? Despicable. 

How did such a delightfully cute book turn so deranged so quickly??? I’m glad this isn’t the first of Klune’s books I’ve read, as I would definitely have sworn him off for good. I’m still considering it even now.