I feel egregiously basic and how much I absolutely loved this book. I can be a pretty impatient person when I'm reading a book for romance so usually when it takes the couple half the book to get together in some way, despite how good the book may be, it can bother me. I didn't feel that here at all. I thought the budding friendship and romance between the characters was paced nicely and the gradual climb of their relationship didn't end up making me feel like I was wanting for anything before they got together. 

With that being said I did feel like the ending of their story was a bit abrupt. This is something I notice happens a lot with romance books. It's like as soon as you wrap up the main plot and pass the climax of the book you don't want to linger and draw it out but as a result, the conclusion on the main couple seems almost too easy and fast. 

My biggest issue is honestly the way her emotions at the end of the book were dealt with. This could be because when I read I tend to project myself into the shoes of the main character. I am a much less forgiving person and feelings of betrayal hit hard for me so there are moments in the last leg of the book I feel should have been addressed a lot more. Misery (the most laughable name I will never take seriously) has been sold out and used her entire life, just before the big climax the man she loves brutally rejects using her past hurts against her, and she finds out the only person she's ever really cared for until recently have been lying to her for the better for of a year, and her father planned to have her killed. Then Owen, a man who was more an acquaintance to her than a brother until the events of the book, has the audacity to be surprised that she'd believe he'd betray her. She was 100% valid for not trusting anyone in the process and I honestly wish the author had leaned into that a lot more when everything was going down. I felt that she forgave and forgot way too quickly and I feel that the other characters didn't acknowledge it properly either. 

I was scared they wouldn't address how fucked up it was for Lowe to essentially emotionally manipulate her for "her own good" 🙄 because I feel like a lot of books tend to just gloss over when the guy does that. I'm happy they did address it but again, it didn't feel completely satisfactory to me. I needed more blow-up from Misery and more grovelling from Lowe.