Severely underdeveloped, but I liked Erin's backbone (probably because I didn't have to witness 9 years of her being downtrodden).

Not great, but not the worst thing I've ever read (the bar is so low it's in hell). It's not even the best novel featuring a character with HSAM.

If this were a mafia romance, Alex would have made so much more sense. He was simply in the wrong genre.

Sometimes a story is just too contemporary - the constant name dropping of pop culture and movies was a little much for me. 

 Also, no one says "Netflix's Stranger Things" or "Amazon's Good Omens" - I understand that not all book dialogue will be natural (overuse of names, for example) but citing the source of a TV show is weird.

Too much going on for the length of the story - I needed some resolution rather than no resolution AND new problems.

The resolution of who was pulling the strings was a nice full circle moment, but the real joy (such as it is) of this story was the relationship between Ike and Buddy Lee. The way they navigated their complex emotions regarding fatherhood, their failures and their individual upbringings was my favorite part to read. I knew this kind of revenge story wouldn't have a true happy ending, but I sure as hell wanted it to.

I knew there was a second book, but I very much did not expect this ending.

I just love Everett so much. I wish I didn't find out about series until June 22 so I could read the fourth (and final?) book right away.

Evie really just wants to be loved. The slow, gradual progression of his relationship with Ira is so fucking good.

Everett Larkin is my favorite kind of character - a broken wunderkind. I try to read less copaganda these days given ... everything there is about policing in the US. This one snuck through - Larkin is married and there is a secondary romance, but it's clear that his marriage is dying a slow death. The author made his husband so unlikable that you couldn't even be mad at Larkin when he kisses Doyle, especially since he goes home to immediately end his relationship afterwards. I do enjoy how the relationship between him and Doyle progressed - they're obviously into each other, but a pending divorce and their combined baggage means they're slow about it and it feels more genuine.

I'm off to do research on HSAM now.

I wish we could have gotten the climactic scene without Rain holding the idiot Ball, but it is what it is. Only 3.5 stars even if this is one of my favorite concept  (supernatural investigations) because I can never fully buy into second chance romances. It doesn't feel like things are resolved, even if I know it's a series.