There was zero chemistry between them.

Realized that I wasn't excited to go back to it.

Too much drama, not enough connection between the characters. 

I didn't find myself excited to go back to it.

I read all of the chapters for my class, and then my class ended.

Whole lotta nope. I don’t mind insta-lust/insta-love, but I thought it was weird how in less then a few hours, he went from super professional and detached to…kind of creepy. And it didn’t get better. Dude is controlling from the beginning, never talks about consent before they get it on (in spite of the age and experience gap), and I realized it was just going to keep getting worse. Also: neither of them has any personality outside of “inexperienced virgin” and “dominant older man.”

The pace is just too slow for me.

The premise sounded good: forced proximity! Caught in a snowstorm! Except Russ is in Insta-love from the moment he sees Colton WHO HAS JUST WALKED INTO HIS HOUSE IN THE WOODS. And before Colton knows Russ’s name, they’re already making out and giving handjobs. I LOVE STEAM, but I couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to get past the “I’ve never had sex before, but yes, fuck me in the ass five times in one night” sex scene within the first six chapters. At that point, I skimmed ahead, realized that things were only going to get more batshit, and DNFed.

It was for book club, and I couldn't get past the white author's attempt to compare Cussy's life as a white person with a genetic condition to the experience of Black people in 1930s rural Kentucky. Also, the pacing felt super off from the very beginning.

It’s taken two months, but I’m finally ready to acknowledge that I bought this for Alley Ciz’s story, and wasn’t super excited about the rest that I read.