i’m saying this in the nicest way possible but the romance in this book was the least interesting to me. in fact, it was secondary to a lot of things. siobhan’s bond with emily, and the mother/son relationship stood out more to me. 

there was just something heartwarming about seeing emily receiving the maternal affection she had never gotten from her birth mother—a narcissistic woman who had been verbally abusing her all her life. seeing her slowly heal from her trauma, and utilizing coping skills from her therapist were so refreshing. in the end, i felt more connected to emily and siobhan than i did kier and emily. 

i don’t know how to explain it, but i just did not feel the chemistry between them. yes, they were sexually attracted to each other, but other than that, i didn’t feel like there was anything more to their relationship. it was so lackluster to me that i skipped their sex scenes—i just didn’t care for them at all. 

also, maybe it was just me, but emily didn’t feel like an american at all? i don’t know the author’s nationality, but the way emily talked didn’t sound american to me. aside from her asking secondary characters about certain irish terms, she could pass off as irish too, lol. one time she even used the term kilometer? whether there was a legitimate reason for this, it was still kind of funny to me but i don’t know!