samarakroeger's reviews
585 reviews

enjoyed it just as much as the first book.  will be on the lookout for new TJ Alexander books!

this was fun!

I had fun, okay.  sure, it was a little ridiculous at times but Tessa Bailey is pure escapism for me.

I don't get the hype for this one.  found the writing mediocre and the characters uninspiring.

easily the best book of the series so far. for me, at least, Henry and Halle were the most compelling (and relatable) characters from Hannah Grace, and I think her writing has markedly improved as well. this one is also less smutty = less boring/repetitive/unnecessary sex scenes. 

anyways, big fan of the neurodivergent rep!

finally went back to read the first book after tearing through the rest of the series.  glad that despite giving up on this halfway through the first time I listened to the reviews and gave Cade and Willa a shot.  honestly I got way more out of this with the context of the rest of the series (and forgot that the Rob/Winter history was actually a secret and a point of conflict), but I do think it falls short of books 2-4. 

my least favorite of the series (ignoring the first one, which I might go back and finish). maybe I was a little burnt out after speed running the middle three books in a row. 

to be fair, I knew I didn’t care for the tropes in this book (I’m fine with an age gap, just want both parties to have fully developed prefrontal cortexes — like in Cade and Willa’s book) and I didn’t like the execution of the third act conflict very much. Their whole relationship felt kind of one-sided in a way that doesn’t seem like an equal partnership. 

I read the first half of the first book (flawless? I hate this series’s naming conventions) earlier this year but never cared enough to finish it. This, however, was an addictive read with much more compelling characters. I found Willa to be eminently relatable and I really liked the family dynamic with Cade and Luke. And honestly, I have to give this book credit for having my least favorite trope in it, but executed well for once. 

I get the hype for this book specifically — WAY better than the first book. 

it’s like they turned the saturation up to 11 on the quirk scale and tried to include as many overdone romance tropes as possible (in an extreme and unbelievable fashion). I’m all here for an “unlikeable” heroine who goes through some character development, but Hazel was on another level. Josh was an extremely boring character who was never really developed (other than reminding us that he’s Korean and name-dropping some random Korean tidbits every time his family is mentioned). Their friendship developed way too quickly to be believable (and how did Hazel not know Emily was his sister??? was he not invited to her wedding and thus in the photos???). There was little, if any, character development from anyone. Hazel remained very emotionally immature. 

There were some warning red flags along the way (drunken sex not being a consent issue, laughing at a side character’s alcoholism/sobriety, a cheap trans joke, having a fetish for Josh speaking Korean, etc), but the ending (which I saw coming, too!) threw all the goodwill I had towards this book in the toilet. They never really had a discussion about it! Also, miscarriage shouldn’t be a cliffhanger for the epilogue — we needed at least a few more chapters in the present day for them to talk things through, not a jump to three years in the future!