Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

3.5⭐️

A well-written, exciting, angsty and interesting story. The characters, Liam especially, were lovely (sometimes) and complicated, and also sometimes infuriating. I really enjoyed the concept of the entire story, but I must admit I didn’t necessarily understand why the MCs were together beyond sex. I didn’t really see why they would want to be a couple, things they had in common beyond work, etc. The focus of the story is on Liam’s internalized homophobia and shame, so understandably there’s not much in terms of dates and relationship ‘stuff’, but it would’ve been nice to see some glimpses of that at the end. Thankfully, we did get some relationship development eventually where we could actually see the emotional connection between the MCs, not just the sexual one, but it wasn’t all that strong.

The kink makes sense in theory and for the plot, showing Liam’s shame, but it felt a little out of place, like that was the only reason for the kinky dynamic, just to drive that part of the plot, as it fell away eventually. I couldn’t quite get a grip on who Cody was supposed to be. He goes from never showing any signs of domination to being a dom in the bedroom, and he’s 20 but acts older than 34 year old Liam. I liked his character, but some parts didn’t feel like him.

Keira writes so well and I enjoyed all the rescue scenes and interactions with the rest of the lifeguard team a lot. I also might have kicked me feet a little with joy because of the cameo with Ethan and Clay.

‼️ Spoiler warning for this next bit ‼️

I really felt like, if Liam hadn’t been accidentally outed, he would have never come out and their relationship would’ve ended.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Closeted MC
Age gap
Life guards
Surfing
Former pro sportsballer
Size difference
High heat
Hookups to more
Orgasm control
D/s dynamic
Playing with sex toys
Bondage
Spit-roasted with toy

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Severe iternalized homophobia
Homophobic parents
Excessive use of homophobic slurs
Sexual harassment
Medical emergencies (near drownings, allergic reactions, etc.)
Harry Potter reference
Explicit sexual content
Alcohol consumption
Misogyny (MC)
Toxic masculinity (MC)
Face-fucking
Bondage
On-page CPR (death of unnamed character, drowning)
MC injured and hospitalized
MC high on pain relief medication
On-page anxiety attacks
Accidentally outed

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: No
Breakup: Sort of, brief
POV: 3rd person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Versatile
Main characters’ age: 20 and 34
Series: Standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 328
Happy ending: Yes





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