"A Shot in the Dark" by Victoria Lee is a deeply romantic and unforgettable love story. Lee's storytelling is emotionally charged, capturing the essence of love's enduring power. The characters' journey is filled with passion, sacrifice, and heartwarming moments. This novel is a touching and memorable read for those who appreciate profound romance.

Unfortunately, due to a large issue that I’ve had with my NetGalley and my Kindle account I unfortunately don’t have a copy of this book. It’s not downloading properly and this technical issue has now been fixed. Unfortunately I can’t re-download this book as it is outside of the download period so I cannot leave a review for this walk and as much as it saddens me I may pick this up in the future

I was not expecting to love this as much as I did, but wow, I was rooting for these characters from the get go. This is a romance that deals with a lot of heavy topics, which just made it feel all the more genuine, because real-life romances are not without their trials and tribulations. And these characters really did feel as though they could just step off the page. The book is short, but by the end, I felt like I knew Ely and Wyatt so well and I wanted to read more about them - I didn't want it to end!

This is really a story about healing. Healing from your past, healing with each other and by yourself, and I thought the author did it so beautifully. I don't personally know much about substance abuse or addiction, but I thought it was all handled very gently and carefully, and the author did a fantastic job of portraying the emotions surrounding those issues. There was also a lot of discussion around religion, which I thought was done really well also, and I loved how the author put across the complex emotions that comes with religion, particularly if you might not be traditionally accepted by yours.

I do think some of the romantic conflict was unnecessary - the story would have worked out just as beautifully without that? And I just don't like when a third-act breakup happens without it really needing to happen, particularly in a story such as this. But other than that, I really loved this so much and would highly recommend it!

Don’t go into this thinking that it’s a romance book. I mean, technically it is, but it is just so much more than that. ‘A Shot In The Dark’ is such a raw and real story that follows two ex-addicts and how their lives intersect. The characters feel very realised and full of distinct little personality traits, aided by the dual perspective.

There are so many little things I appreciated. Firstly, non-fetishistic sex scenes including a trans male character. Fuck yes. Secondly, the fact that there are many conversations about photography and art and none of them feel condescendingly over-explained or, on the other end of the scale, too high-brow and impossible to understand without having a lot of subject-specific knowledge.

Thirdly, I liked that the romance is present, but never completely at the forefront. Ely and Wyatt’s personal journeys and lives are complex and explored with such unflinching depth. These are characters who have fucked up, have done awful, selfish things, yet they aren’t ever demonised by anyone other than themselves at times. I’ve also learnt a lot about faith and religion and culture which I wasn’t expecting at the beginning, though I am very pleasantly surprised.

I have to admit, the final 50-70ish pages is where I felt the narrative was a little bit weaker, or at least just noticeably different from the former parts. The time skips as soon as everything was starting to fall apart and come back together felt odd, but at the same time I think it was probably wise not to wallow and edge towards trauma-porn. (fuck Wyatt for saying what he said and doing what he did and then vanishing for multiple weeks though. and then carrying on like nothing ever happened). Generally the ending is hopeful and satisfying, though.

I will definitely be picking up other books from this author, though I’m pretty sure it’s a fantasy one of hers that I have on my tbr, which could be a very different experience.

A very well-written story. I loved it. This is a relationship driven story, but during its course we get to see the characters grow so much. Not everything is all sunshine and roses, and the build up is slow but steady. Their relationship was sweet and well developed. Though, it's not the author's job to educate about trans people’, but I feel that as a reader I got a lot out of this book. The story itself is not preachy at all, and the author does not make a point to explain things, but we get to experience a lot through these two. Going to highly recommended it!

I loved this book so much. And what I loved the most is that it was nothing like I expected it to be. I adored the characters, especially Ely. Don’t get me wrong, Wyatt is amazing too. And I’m so so grateful for Netgalley for bringing this book to my attention.

You see two people so obviously in love trying to keep apart, whilst also trying to stay on their soberly journeys. You see the ups and downs of growing love and also wanted to end up hitting Wyatt to get him to just stop pushing Ely away.

Another great insight into this book is Ely’s religion. You get an insight into Judaism that I don’t see a lot of in books. Yes, you’ll get characters, but this goes in further providing more exposure.

In case it isn’t obvious, I adored this book. I loved it and I’ll be recommending to people in the future.

don’t quite know how to put into words how I feel about this book. I feel like 5 stars isn’t enough!

My first LGBTQ+ book and it did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to enter a world that I have never known and to also be treated to learning more about Judaism was just fascinating.

I absolutely urge any and all to read this book and I dare you to not love it as much as I do!