4 ⭐ 2 🌶 4 🎧

That was a really unique and interesting dark romance. This is a forbidden love story that starts between a 14yr old and a 17yr old and ends about 4 years later, we do get spice while she's a minor which I'm a little torn over... While I wish it had been left undescriptive, I loved the storyline and how this book played out enough to not care too much.

This is pretty dark. Lots of drugs, physical abuse and SA, lots of uncomfortable feelings and inappropriate situations... But Laney is a young girl thrust into adulthood at too young of an age. Her mom is absolute trash and her brother is creepy as heck, both of which bring not okay situations home... Shane is her safe space and he treats her and Dustin so well. He attempts to stay away, but just can't.

The end was so sad and left us on quite the cliffhanger. While it didn't end quite as tragically as I was expecting, it was really sad and heartbreaking on so many fronts. I'm really looking forward to the next book and seeing how Shane and Laney's story continues.

The audio was great. The narrator did a wonderful job, however I did wish we got a male narrator as well. There are a ton of POVs in this story and it would have helped distinguish them all.

If I could give an example of my favorite kind of story, this would be it, aside from the ending.

I was sucked into this audio from the first chapter. The writing and narration were both incredible. I finish the audio in less than 24 hours. I could not stop listening.

I love how we got a point of view from all of the character. All of the characters were written perfectly. There isn't a single thing I would change about any of the characters.

I wanted to smack Shane more than once a long the way but I still loved everything about his character. He was super stubborn that's for sure. The love between him and Laney was absolutely amazing. You could feel it from the first second. They are literal soul mates. They need each other to be the best that they can be.

I was definitely shocked at the murder part of the story. I can not believe that Cary did what he did for Laney. I hated him through out the entire story until that point.

NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW let's talk about the only thing I did not like.......... THE ENDING!!!!!! Come on Alex!!!! JK it just makes me want the next one even more!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Victor Editting for a copy of this ARC(:

This book. *exhales* This book. *shakes head*

I didn’t know what to expect going in, but it wasn’t that. What does it feel like to read this book? Imagine your heart being carved out of your chest, thrown onto the ground and then beat repeatedly with a metal shovel. Then it’s pieced back together, only to be ripped apart again. Rinse and repeat.

The writing style took a bit to get used to - it’s in third person (which I don’t mind), but it was from at least a dozen different POV’s, along with news articles. It was extremely effective in telling the story.

Overall - this was impressive for a debut novel, and I love discovering more Canadian authors!