Safety info, content warnings and tropes down below.

I went back and forth, wondering if I should review this book at all, considering it’s an ARC and a debut, and I don’t have much nice to say. I do believe the bones for a really good story is there, but the execution is lacking.

There were three or four bigger things that massively impacted my enjoyment, and the main one is the fact that so many important scenes and conversations were just… skipped. The scenes change a lot with no break or natural pause in the story. They went from being at school to being at home, sometimes with days inbetween, in the same paragraph. The most important conversations, the ones the reader will be waiting to get to (the big happening, really), were skipped when you get there. Essentially they were summed up by ‘so he told them everything’, and described the other characters’ reactions. It was infuriating and then lost the ability to have any emotional impact.

My second issue was the fact that one of the main characters is only 17 years old for half the book for seemingly no reason. Sure, the MCs don’t have sex until after he turns 18 (only briefly mentioned in one sentence, had to go back and check), but there is a lot of sexual thoughts and tension and descriptions of him fighting his erections before then. I often avoid reading books with really young MCs, so this made it even worse.

While I enjoyed the fact that the book explored the impact of grooming, gaslighting and abuse — the confusion and guilt — it wasn’t executed that well. I fully forgot the MC was even supposed to be struggling, because he wasn’t, for the most part. There is obviously no right way to be traumatized, but most of the book felt like a regular high school drama situation, until the author remembered to include something about the abuse.

The final thing I want to mention, which is a spoiler so feel free to skip, is this scene:

I shook my head and hardened my jaw. “With one word from him, you went right back to Daddy.” “No,” he said softly. Too softly when all I saw was pain and red. “Did you let him fuck you?” Jesus, I couldn’t stop this runaway train. “He held you right there”—I aimlessly pointed at the house—“as if he had every right to, and you fuckin’ let him, Tate.”

Implying that someone would let their rapist do anything to them is horrid. While this kind of thinking isn’t necessarily uncommon, especially with young people, this happens at 92% and the MCs have been a couple for months at this point. He should know better.

Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Past trauma
Stepbrothers
Forced proximity
Small town Alabama
High school
Size difference
Virgin MC
Country vs city

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
References to parent’s drug and alcohol abuse
Details of long-term sexual child abuse of MC by step parent
MC groomed and abused by step parent
MC sexually abused in present time (no graphic details)
Smoking cigarettes
Underage drinking
Psychological and emotional abuse
Homophobic comments
Mention of death of parent (past, car accident)
MC injured in car accident (past)
Violence
Disordered eating
Explicit sexual content
SC bullied and beaten (mostly off page)
Homophobic slurs
MC punching other MC (after getting together, during fight)
Brief mention of MC’s step parent being killed off page

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: Almost
POV: 1st person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Strict roles - they discuss switching in the future
Main characters’ age: 18 and 17 for half the book (turns 18 before they have sex)
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 374
Happy ending: Yes