Yall have to understand how hard it is for me to write my thoughts on this, because it physically pains me when the anticipated book of the BEST KANE BROTHER ended up to be a total disappointment. And this is coming from a place of love.

"“But just know that I didn’t choose to go to rehab for the inheritance.”

She scoffs as she crosses her arms.
“You sure didn’t choose it for me.”

“No. I choose to get help FOR me.”

There's nothing more painful than holding back yourself from ranting about a character that you just love, but the book ended up being..... Flat . Not only was I dissapointed with the book as a whole, it took me EONS to finish the books. No, it wasn't the 500++ pages, nor was it the slow pacing ( as it made sense with the theme ).... but this book just lacks.. Chemistry

In other words. Its bland as heck

It got all the tropes that I will usually go crazy over:-
✨ Second - chance love (in which he/she was not cheating)
✨ Found - family (this is my kryptonite. Throw me this trope anytime I will gobble it up)
✨ Vulnerable male characters
✨ CHILDHOOD LOVERS
✨ Smalltown Romance

And DESPITE ALL THAT => I still felt this book lacks chemistry .

Don't get me wrong , I love Callahan with all my heart. And I don't even mind going through a few hundred pages of how he will be overcoming his addiction because let's face it, its not the easiest thing to do. But GOOD LORD, Alana and him was NOT THE MATCH . Periodt. No chemistry. Nada. I felt NOTHING . The only time I teared up was of Cal hating himself over and over again, but Alana? Nope. And Good Lord I tried.

The prose of the story is pretty simple. Alana and Cal had a falling-over, mostly due to Cal's addiction, and fast forward few years later, due to the will, Cal went back to Lake Wisteria to finish his part of the will, where he met again the love of his life Alana. This is a story of addiction, overcoming your self-hatred and most importantly about trust.

And that sounds lovely and all... when its not.

Let's start off with what went wrong with this book.
1) Let's all just address the elephant in the room - Alana IS the problem in this book.

Oh God I TRIED. SO. DESPERATELY to understand her. I get her. I get her frustrations. I get why she's acting the way she is. I totally get it. But even until the end, she just came off as a b**** to Cal. Why the heck would you continue a relationship if you can't even trust this person. Like again, I get your past but, how Lauren wrote Alana to me felt injustice to her character because she's much more than this insecure person who cannot communicate with this person that she's in love with. Like I refuse to believe she's that low, but I blame this on Lauren (sorry still love you) cause Alana was just meh.

2) There were so many repetitive scenes

In cases like addiction and etc, I get the spiral and the scenes that comes with it. ITS THE CHASE THAT WAS NOT IT FOR ME. I don't know but I feel that Alana and Cal's chemistry just felt.. off. I was supposed to swoon over their relationship as they had known each other since they were young and YET ... I don't feel nothing :') Like anything ......

3) The whole book felt like rushed.. .even with the 500++ pages

You'll be surprised that even with almost 600 pages.. I felt that the author just wanted to finish off this book once for all. And it icks me. I tried to not see it but the last few chapters just felt so so rushed. (view spoiler)

Now the good parts...
Just the Kane brothers interactions as a general.

Now this part of the book was what made me still gave this book the rating that it is. Even if I was pissed as heck, the overall closure for the Kane brothers made me smile. The trauma that the three of them faced was uncalled for, and because Seth Kane is major a**hole, no he deserved what he got. The whole interaction of them as a family together was what pulled this book thru at the end.

I have a love and hate relationship with this book. Not with the drama when it first came out with the different spines (lol), and the stroyline that should have made me cried and teared up - as it spoke of very important topics and representations - felt just flat to me. Sincerely wished for a better ending for Cal, but hey, its the end of the series anyways. I'll just be living with the fact that Cal got the fairytale that he hoped for.

3.75🌟 (and i still feel im being generous here)

Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks for this copy!