I got bored. So much build up around Nathan and mentions of harassing texts and restraining orders in the beginning that seemed to culminate in a “oh, yeah, he obviously only hurt me because he was on drugs” excuse when a rando gave us information I feel could have been used for the remainder of the book to keep it more engaging.

I DNFed at 87% because why, after the collar and the lock and the “I see us being forever” line, did we have a random couple of chapters where we were suddenly concerned about finding our own place? We got throwaway lines about wondering if we were welcome long-term (again, after those things) and then a more believable one about wanting to find our own way, but that lasted for maybe two seconds after three sentences from our puppy trainer—and that was that, like a daydream, a blink-and-miss-it soap opera moment. The main conflict was resolved, apparently, and we had a subplot already in-motion with Diva’s inability to appear, so I’m not sure why this had to be included? It didn’t make much sense with the flow of the previous events, and it (presumably) would have no impact on the outcome of anything, unless we’d actually decided we needed to be independent for a while before we could feel sure we wouldn’t be the same person we were with the abusive partner, but we didn’t.

Weirdly, the above paragraph/rant is the main reason I DNFed, but I also couldn’t stay interested for more than a few paragraphs at a time after the Nathan update from the rando. The beginning was fine, but a bit before the halfway point, things started dragging for me.