30something_reads's Reviews (820)

I'm melting. I'm a puddle. I adored these idiots so much. My God. This is what I mean when I say I want slow burn. The tension and the heart ache were killing me (respectfully). And I loved it all the more that it was a friends to lovers slow burn. They were just so good to one another before it ever became romantic. 


This was nearly perfect and the singular issue that I had was more of a me problem rather than the book. (I just didn't love a very specific situation they were put into. But I understand it was also a dramatic kind of turning point for them. I was just too stressed out for Olly in that moment and I only ever want him to be happy.) 

I was ready to LOVE this couple because I just knew they would be so entertaining and while I did enjoy this addition to the series, I didn't love it.

I think my biggest issue was that it often felt like we weren't really getting enough time with Leo and Sofi actually just being together.

There was a lot of drama around things going on in Leo's life and there was drama around things going on in Sofi's life and of course they're dealing with Kamilah and Liam's wedding but all of these things never left time for just Leo and Sofi. And I feel like we really missed out on them establishing and relearning each other after their year+ apart.


Overall, I love this series though, and there are some really great things here:
✅Afrolatine rep
✅ADHD Rep
✅Chronic Pain Rep
✅Best friends brother
✅Secret relationship
✅Papo Vega's excellent meddling

Thank you to Netgalley and Mira for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

🥹🫶🏻

These characters were so sweet and I loved the setting. 

I only wish I hadn't figured out the who/what "done it" almost immediately. (No fault of the book. It just diminished my excitement for picking it back up.)

DNF @10%

I achieved what I set out to accomplish and that was to find out if there is in fact a cat in the story. (There is.)

I did not enjoy the writing so I'm going to keep it moving. 

I wanted to love it but there were just too many characterization inconsistencies as well as moments where I felt like the author kept beating me over the head with the SAME things

And there was way too much time dedicated to a side character (who is not the MC in any of the next 3 books listed so far) & it drove me crazy. So much time spent around Ramsey and for what?

But I did love the concept of "we're so bad at being friends with benefits because surprise! Neither of us actually know how to be normal about one another." The time we spent with Dean and Brody was actually very sweet. Just wish there had been more of it. 

Okay so there's this thing that really irks me with the way the character's interactions are being written and it's that thing when everyone just somehow instinctually knows what the other characters are thinking without any real communication or character development to back it up. It's the ol' "I looked at him and could instantly tell exactly what he's feeling despite only ever having spoken three sentences to each other" And it's just happening too much here. 

A+ Minotaur smut.
A+ narration on the audiobook.

A fun story overall but it often felt too long? I don't know but there were quite a few times that I found myself thinking, "Didn't they already say this? Didn't they already do that?" 

Plot Synopsis:
Her: "He kidnapped me but gosh, why am I so into him? It's not like we could even FIT together 😩 ...Or could we? 🤔"
Him: "She's a disgusting human but also I'm into it and if I'm not careful, I'll accidentally reveal my 🍆. BUT WHERE WOULD I PUT IT? Do we even FIT together? 😩"
Them: Also, let's swim around. Like a lot. All over the fucking ocean it seems.

Anyways. Luckily they figure out how to FIT together. Well done, I guess. 


(The plot and the world building were a mess and I had to wait WAY too long for them to fuck for all of that nonsense.)

Hey this was really cute and I could totally imagine it on the Hallmark channel because in theory & in practice it's pretty bonkers but very sweet.

A small town romance w/ an ethical con woman who is on the job and a grumpy autistic librarian raising his younger sister and fending off the local book banners all by himself? Adorable. I love him. He deserves the world. 

Ooof.