Marley and C-zar meet at a community event, and immediately clash. Czar is trying to maintain his calm and work on his career and Marley is simply existing, floating through after a tragedy rocked her entire foundation. She tries to resist him, but what Julius wants, he gets. And he set his sights on her.

I have to start with the fact that my mind refused to read his name as "Caesar" no matter how many times I reminded myself. I don't think that spelling was a good choice, but never mind that. Onto the book!

This is my first Ladii Nesha book and it for sure won't be my last one. Marley and Julius pulled me right into their world. I loved the way they bantered with each other, the way they listened to each other, and the way they took care of each other. Each of them had something unique to bring to the other's world and they were open to it. Julius was able to show Marley how to live again, and Marley was able to show him how to love a little more gently, drown out the noise, and not treat people so carelessly. Their passion was on point, and I felt their chemistry long before they touched, which speaks highly of the author's pen. Benny's reappearance gave the love triangle vibes, which I don't normally care for, but Marley distracted me from that with her actions--why would she take it as far as taking him back??? I was confused. And her "grand gesture" to win Julius over didn't really make sense, nor did his fire alarm stunt to get her attention. I feel like they could have found their way back to each other a little better than that.

Harper, Romeo, Nova, and Sammy gave great comedic relief and showed up when they needed to. Harper's side storyline wasn't too distracting; it gave the book a little extra and I wasn't mad at it. The family dynamics at play were great, even when the subject matter was heavy. I will say Marley's mother took a little too long to get the boot for me. I wish they had set a boundary with her sooner. And Ada's storyline while heavy, wasn't too much, albeit it was a little predictable because I knew the way she was handling things would backfire. I just wish her husband had been the person who stood in the gap for her--I thought Julius had done enough.

I liked having the book written in third person so you could see everyone's side without having to switch POVs chapter by chapter. Because everyone saying "I" and "me" can get distracting after a while (although the author could have been a little cleaner about making it known when she was moving on to another person). Also, there were some language choices that made me cringe (lots of fat shaming, some taunts and teasing that bordered on homophobic/ transphobic, and an STI conversation I wasn't fond of) and I wish we would do better because we can still be funny and entertaining without it. The beginning was a tad bit slow and the ending dragged slightly, but I kinda expected that in a book this long. Maybe trimming by 75-100 pages wouldn't have been so bad. But the majority of the book had me locked in, and I ate it up.

Overall, it was pretty good and I enjoyed it for the most part.