4 stars
This story was not easy at all and it actually gives us the real amount of Xander's anxiety and how hard it impacts his life.
We had hints from the previous book, but here we get to know his thoughts, his psiralling, his self hatred. It's a long journey toward happiness and I liked very much that the author divided the story in three parts.
The first one is the most angsty because Xander is reaching his breaking point and his frustration is almost out of control; he's feeling that things are changing and he desperately tries to hold on the few things that give him comfort.
I likked very much Derek's conficted thoughts (and feelings) about Xander, his need to protect himself, but also to be a safe person for him and the awareness that something had to change for him to get better.
The dynamic between Seven, Xander and Derek is so beautifully written and I literally adored how Seven and Derek got close.


What prevented me from giving a higher rate
The whole book revolves around Xander's mental health, obviously, and I get that his relationship with Derek is affected by that. I liked that Xander is not magically cured and that there are still struggles but I wold have loved to see more about them after they got together officially and during all the time that leads to the epilogue.
It seems to me that the romantic part of their relationship was lacking and the story was more focus on Xander's personal journey
Moreover, this is the last book of the series, so I was hoping to see more of the other Bertha boys but, besides Seven and Molly, we just have very very little of them.

Anyway I'm sad to let these characters go, I hope we'll have a glimpe of them in the future series that's about to start.

I received an ARC of this book from the author and this is my honest review