2/5. Highlights may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Content Warnings for book: Parental abuse, physical assault, stalking, misogyny, unbalanced power dynamics, references to poverty

Kink: Somnophilia

This was... something. I'll start with the positives first.

I liked the conceit of this book. I enjoy a little bit ridiculous villain to deal with and the tenderness, the hurt/comfort that can come from it. I enjoy a good poor/rich pairing as well, and there was some great size difference. Jakue was possessive and caring, and I liked how Jai wasn't fighting at every turn to accept his spoiling and assistance. That can be grinding to read. There's also instalove, which I like!

Foxx, I feel, has potential to certainly entertain with their books.

However, I had a lot more I didn't personally enjoy.

Is Jakue superman? I mean it. It felt like he was good at everything, and of course he is the perfect rich man with no exploitation ever. I can't really fault Foxx on this one, in the sense - that is just the nature of billionaire/millionaire romances. It's not that he's rich and a Good Guy(TM). It's more like... okay, he invented something. I liked that! Then, we learn he also invents secret things for the government (?). Also, he went to Harvard, and he was a heavyweight boxing champion? Well of course he is, what else can we expect? He's practically Tony Stark but with slightly less war crimes.

Jai was cute, but didn't really have a personality. I wanted to feel him sad. I wanted to touch the angst in such a shitty fucking life. I wanted to sympathize with him deeply. I wanted some of that internal drama. Instead, he gave us nothing. He was flat and honestly, for someone in such a tragic and horrifying circumstance, he really didn't seem that beat down.

There were some inconsistencies I didn't get. I get Stella used to be CIA, but how did she have a PI tracking Jai for a week when she got the report back in three days? Wouldn't a tracker swallowed just be shat out? Why would the guy care anyway, as long as he got paid? Also, green eyes... really? That whole 80% whatever was just WHAT. (I'm being vague here for spoiler reasons. IYKYK.)

The biggest issue, above aalll of this, was not even the OTT drama. I'll settle in with some popcorn. It's just how much Jasmine felt like a misogynistic caricature. I don't think this was on purpose, of course. However, so much was centered on her looks being "plastic", the pinnacle of the gold digger, and how her only worth was her looks. I understand she is a villain and not to be sympathized with by the reader, but it was just... a lot. Hearing "crazy bitch" and "psychopathic bitch" or w/e more than once, even if she was acting completely absurdly and unrealistically, it just doesn't exist in a vacuum where misogyny doesn't exist, y'know? It's not that women can't be villains, but falling back on the depictions of their villainy in such a way is just... a lot.

Anyway. I do think I'll read more of Foxx, because I see a lot that can be good and enjoyable. Just this one wasn't great.