The writing is amazing. Dabbling in the waters of navigating grief and loss, brought up my own emotions and for the first time in years I cried over a book. No unrealistic drama, just pure emotional turmoil. I might be a bit biased since my daughter’s name is Celeste and my little sister’s name was Serenity, but the book connected with me. Everyone might find a thousand different themes for a single book, but for me…for this book; Don’t let yourself drown in your grief. Accept and grasp on to the things that are still around to make you happy. That help you heal.

I don’t remember enjoying a book this much since I was a middle schooler obsessed with Wattpad. It genuinely brought back the childhood joy of dark romance into my adult life.

The backstory of Rafe, not just making him out to be a heartless soul, but giving him a genuine backstory of pain as well as Cleo’s backstory showing not all trauma is physical, pulled at my heart in relation to my own background. Both showing a realistic portrayal of how different one’s reaction to abuse can be from another.

I cried a bit, laughed a bit, and the spice wasn’t over done. Truly enjoyed the story

I have stayed up countless nights, fighting sleep from being completely invested in this book. Extremely spicy but still heartfelt and left me waiting for the next chapter. Only to look down, fully sitting up in bed to realize I’ve been left on a cliffhanger (a wonderfully done-chef’s kiss if you will…but cliffhanger nonetheless) and I am BEGGING you, knees on the floor, hands unfolded, BEGGING you for book 2. It’s THAT good. I would sacrifice by best lamb for book 2 (if you read it you’ll understand). I typically don’t finish many books on here -absolutely no hate to any other authors, I like a certain flow per storyline- but this is a book I was absolutely enthralled with.

Thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the MCs. Really appreciated the non-cliche outcome, too. I’m also kind of glad that from the Outfits, Sam is the only one that “came around” to the idea. It made it more heart wrenching and with how it ends it left me being able to accept any ‘epilogue’ my brain came up with rather than grasping at straws and saying “that’s it??” It was just enough to leave me satisfied, a want for maybe Nino’s story, but even without there’s just enough laid out to make the story “just right.”

Forewarning: don't make the mistake I did and get two chapters in before realizing it's the second book in the series🙃 But speaking on BOTH books, they are absolutely beautiful. Some parts tugged at my own trauma, some parts my heart clenched, others I was giggling like a schoolgirl. I was so deep into the story that I read at every instance I could while balancing the exuberant personality of my toddler. Both books were my haven (granted it took me only 2 days to finish them both-not because they were short, but because they were THAT good). I loved the real look on trauma and how it effected each character differently. I felt deeply on the need that Josie had of not feeling alone in her trauma only to come to terms that sometimes two people in the same environment may live with two completely different experiences. It hurts but the realness of it was raw and extremely well done. I would LOVE a story in Clementine and/or Dave or even I dive into what happened/is happening with Welma BUT even without that, I adored the story.