Ok, I am not a romance reader. But this book was so adorable and I seriously enjoyed it!

I love that Chloe is giving amazing rep as a Black, fat, woman with chronic illness (fibromyalgia). I love that the book addresses the challenge of chronic illness, especially invisible illness, and how relationships suffer. I could relate to Chloe so much as someone who has struggled with my mental health for as long as I can remember, especially as someone who doesn't "look" depressed or "seem" all that anxious or by those who don't understand the lifelong recovery journey after beating an ED. I have had my suffering denied so many times, and lost friendships over it, and Chloe's story brought me to tears on several occasions. Her tendency to close herself off from others to protect herself from being left behind and hurt all over again was painfully relatable.

I wasn't sure about Red in the first few chapters, but I ended up falling in love with them together. He started reminding me of my husband in the ways he trusted Chloe, believed her, and supported her without shaming her or letting her shame herself. The way Red tells Chloe she's the bravest person he's ever met echoed a very similar conversation early on in my relationship with my husband that was an "aha" moment for me (and also an indication that I'd found my person).

The steamy scenes were steamy, the sweet scenes were sweet, and the banter was loads of fun. I didn't love the way the misunderstanding near the end was dragged out, but I did appreciate that at least it was resolved relatively quickly and through mature and adult communication (if that communication had happened right away I wouldn't have had a problem with it because misunderstandings happen in relationships, especially when everyone involved has trauma).

This is certainly up there with Boyfriend Material for one of my favourite romance novels of all time (though to be fair, I really haven't read that many). I can't wait to read the second and third installments of this series!