Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

From the moment we met, he’s put an almost pathological amount of energy into trying to take care of me. Even if it’s in the most unpredictable, chaotic and ill-advised ways possible, most of the time.

Wow, this book took me on a ride. Erin has a really impressive way of writing about tough subjects like mental illness. It’s not romanticized, it’s not spelled out in specifics, and there’s no easy ‘fix’ where everyone is automatically no longer struggling at the end of the book. You live and experience everything with the characters, and sometimes that’s really uncomfortable. That’s also what makes it so special, though.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t really enjoy books with ‘fuck-buddies’, as I’m all about that romantic connection, but sometimes you latch onto someone, maybe without knowing why, and it slowly turns into more. That’s exactly what happens here, and it was a lot of fun to see that slow development at the same time as the characters experienced it. It felt genuine and real.

Having someone genuinely give a shit about whether I live or die is like a wet rag over my mouth, and I’m on the cusp of suffocating.

Tristan an absolute hoot, and the trope ‘psychotic sunshine’ is 100% apt. He is also struggling way more than you might think initially, and I adored seeing both him and Ford find a safe place with each other.

This was a really impressive follow-up to the debut Stupid Dirty, and I can’t wait to see what the author does next.

“Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re an asshole wearing a person-suit or a person wearing an asshole-suit.” I stare at Cade, trying to filter through what the hell he means by that. “I beg your fucking pardon?”

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & tags ⚠️
Grumpy/psychotic sunshine
Small town
Rural America
Selective mutism
Paramedic MC
Mechanic MC
Military veteran MC
One-sided enemies to lovers (mild)
Hookups to more
Snowballing
Fuckbuddies
Reluctant friends
Docking
Edging

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
On page:
* MC briefly detained by police
* Minor injury to MC (off page, medically treated on page)
* Detailed emergency medical treatment (gunshot wounds, complications from diabetes, stabbing)
* Nightmares and flashbacks to childhood trauma (domestic abuse)
* Grief (loss of a parent, past, off page)
* Binge-drinking to deal with emotional problems and trauma (MC intoxicated on page, not a recurring issue)
* Feelings of guilt and grief from past death of a sibling (off page)
* Mild objectifying and degrading name-calling (e.g. hole)
* Facefucking
* Details of past self harm
* Body scarring from self harm
* Emotional manipulation by parent (past and present
* Explicit sexual content
* Physical violence
* On-page gun violence
* Injured MC (gunshot wound, hospital and medical treatment)
* PTSD symptoms (nightmares, flashbacks)
* Parent killed by abusive partner (past, off page, some details)
* Graphic self harm (on page, cutting)
* MC almost killed as a child (detailed nightmare/flashback)
* Spanking during sex
* Detailed cravings of self harm
* Altercation between MC and parent (MC shoved)
* Restraints during sex (epilogue)
* Organized crime/gang activity
* Toxic masculinity and homophobia
* Exercise used as self harm (present time)
* Brief discussion of suicide
* Symptoms of depression

Referenced/off page:
* Domestic abuse (past, off page but detailed, MC and parent victims)
* Fighting used as self harm (past)
* Brief mentions of child/teenage pregnancy (MCs parent, 14 years old)
* Minor stabbing of side character (off page)
* References to living with a parent with an undiagnosed mental illness
* Mentions of drug-addicted parent and related problems (past, off page, some details)
* Off-page gun violence (no MC involved)
* Mentions of severe accident and CPR (unknown victims, off page, few details)
* Death of family members (off page, past)
* Very brief mention of past drug use (mushrooms, one time)
* Themes of poverty

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Versatile
Main characters’ age: 26 and 32/33
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 334
Happy ending: Yes


The thing that really gets me is his eyes. He has husky eyes. Light blue and totally fucking crazed. I love it. Something about that raw, feral intensity sparks my own crazy in response.

Intensity hangs between us like the spit-trail after a really dirty kiss.




You can find most of my reviews on Instagram as well: https://www.instagram.com/booksafety?igsh=MWZ3azhkdDc2Y2ludg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr