This is a terrible book. It's not a fun read, it's cringey and it's bad.... Yet, I liked it.

I would like to give this book MAJOR props for not acting like P/V is the end all be all of sex, Lowe affirms what they do is sex, and will continue to be sex even if they escalate. Virginity taking (barf) is not some holy grail, and this novel really sticks the landing. We know from her POV Misery is a virgin, but she never tells Lowe, and we never know if Lowe is one or not because it's just not important.
AND it's amazing to see two main characters discuss sex before, during and after sex. They have hard boundaries, like Misery stopping Lowe from P/V without a condom. Lowe sets some harder boundaries for a more intense scene later on (no spoilers). When it comes to their more "intense" interests, they talk about it. When Lowe fears hurting her, they talk about and Misery reassures if it does hurt; they will talk about it.

Misery as a protagonist is kinda the saving grace of the book. She's witty, and she's smart. She actually has a brain cell, which I didn't expect... Sometimes she fails to use it, but those moments are few and far between and don't reflect in her actual actions. It's a nice journey to see her go from Dry wit masking her apathy, even embracing it to see her care a lot about things she swears she hates (Like Serena's Damn Fucking Cat(tm)) And watching her keep her dry wit but with a tender side... That tender side being her back one (haha)

Lowe... Sucks. He doesn't really suck for the first 75% of the book, but that last 25% is like he suddenly wasn't a character and instead a vessel for bullshit drama that didn't need to happen. Boo, Boo, Tomato tomato!! I like him over all, he's the stoic leader who takes too heavy a burden and it lays too heavily on his soul. He's not new or revolutionary in anyway, but he's nice. I will also pretend the description of him doesn't exist and I will cling to long, shabby werewolf man in my cold dead hands. I wish he had just say what he was thinking instead of forcing drama between him and Misery.. It's just so unnecessary... Mfer, you are MARRIED!!!!

The plot is completely predictable. Sometimes painfully so. There was something I speculated in the early chapters when it's revealed (spoilers) was looking into (spoilers) and not (spoilers) and that didn't pay off until the end, so long I started to suspect it wasn't going to happen...But it did. I also saw (spoilers) betrayal from 20 miles away

The last 25% is what makes this book bad. The forced drama between Lowe and Misery. The absolutely way too long, completely mustache twirling, nonsensical Villain Monology. We entered plot twist corner and stayed their for maybe 2 hours of audiobook time.

It is not a good ABO story, but it is actually a really good introduction to the genre. It is too heterosexual and incredibly sanitized. I am honestly incredibly impressed Ali Hazelwood was able to make Vampires even cleaner than Smeyer... And the Twilight Vampires were literally Mormon. It's so bad it's amazing!

Anyways, terrible book. Not a fun read. Read it, if you like ABO or wolf dynamics.

Prepare to get squeal baited in the boringest way possible :)