Undone: A Novel

The Undone #4

by Peyton Corinne

From USA TODAY bestselling author Peyton Corinne comes a second-chance hockey romance between the team’s antihero and the new assistant coach’s daughter filled with Peyton’s trademark “earnest, raw, and sexy” (Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling.

Toren Kane has always been a magnet for trouble. Branded as dangerous and brutal, his reputation has followed him from the playground to the ice rink. After a scandal cost him his first-round NHL draft pick, Toren’s last shot at redemption lies with Waterfell University’s hockey team—who all despise him for what he did to their captain at the last Frozen Four competition. To make matters worse, Waterfell’s new assistant coach is Christophe LaBlanc, Toren’s former coach and the man who knows all his darkest secrets.

Lillian LaBlanc is out of chances, according to her father. After flunking out of an Ivy League, she’s struggling and her father’s strict rules are the only things keeping her afloat. Suffering beneath the weight of his suffocating control, Lily is desperate to keep her need to paint as hidden as her depression. But her fragile stability is threatened when she discovers that Toren Kane, her childhood best friend and first love, is also attending Waterfell—and is on her father’s team.

As Toren and Lily’s lives collide once more, old wounds and unresolved feelings resurface. Toren must confront his self-destructive tendencies and learn to let others in, while Lily faces the daunting task of breaking free from her father’s grip. Their connection could be the key to healing—or the spark that reignites the chaos they’ve both been trying to escape.

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Second Chance, Hockey, Contemporary Romance, Sports, Hockey Romance

Audible Audio

First published October 20, 2026

Reviews

[nadine · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

im soooo disappointed. serious question: why did she do that?? it was so unnecessary. i got the arc, so my version was perfect, but after reading the new one 😞😞😞

queen naima review.

——————————————————
her favourite artist is Van Gogh and he has Van Gogh tattoo and her name is Lily and he also has tattoos of lilies all over his body 😩.

you all are NOT ready for this book. 😭😭😭 prepare yourselves for the emotional damage because this book is not for the weak. there are 68 chapters, and I cried through every single one of them.

Lily & Toren own my body, heart, and soul. 😭🥹💗

❝ when she could’ve walked away, she didn’t. She’s always stuck by me. Best friends. Lovers. It all sounds ridiculously too small compared to how I felt for her. How I still feel for her. I wear my obsession for Lily LaBlanc on my skin. Hers is painted onto these walls.❞

this book is everything to me. second chance romance will always be top tier, and i will inhale it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Lily and Toren are truly soulmates in every universe. their love story completely consumed me. reading about everything they went through absolutely shattered my heart. i was emotionally wrecked, but seeing them finally get the love, friendship, and family they deserved made every tear worth it. 😭❤️ they deserve nothing but the absolute best.

i also have to say how much i love the Harrises family for standing by Toren, loving him unconditionally, and never giving up on him, no matter what. it was so beautiful to read. 🥹

Paloma & Lily are my angel babies. 🥹💗 their friendship means everything to me. the same goes for Holden and Toren i just want to be friends with all of them. 😭❤️‍🩹 and don't even get me started on Toren and Paloma they're absolutely friends, they just refuse to admit it. 🥹🤍

❝ There’s not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where Toren Kane and Lily LaBlanc aren’t tied together. True soulmates who would find each other, no matter what.❞

💌 • thank you to Edelweiss, Atria Books and Peyton Corinne for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

i got the arc!!! 🥹🥹🥹 best birthday gift ever 😭💌

[levi (starboy) (s.ia)]

I love the cover. Hope it’s just as good

[ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

࣪ ˖ ֪ꮽ᱖܄ 4 stars˚ִִ꒱꒱ ִ݂

⤻ no spoiler review .

( i just wanted to say that i spent the whole day on this review because i have so much to say )

་ 💭 ⊹ ࣪୨୧ preface. lily lablanc, a recent Harvard dropout, moves back to her hometown with her dad due to mental health issues. she enrolls in waterfall, our esteemed hockey university with the famous, broody, and aggressive defenseman, toren Kane. turns out, lily’s dad, coach lablanc, is now coaching the waterfall uni team, and Lily and toren are forced to reconnect and talk about their very, very, very messy and depressing past.

𐑺゛🎨 general thoughts . WHERE DO I EVEN START?? this book was even sadder and more complex than i thought 😭 it’s so bittersweet that this series comes to a close after that.. i truly don’t know if i’m ever going to find a contemporary romance series that hit as hard as this one and that has CONSISTENTLY amazing books and well though-out characters. as with everyone reading this series, i was already interested in toren’s story since day 1, and this FAR exceeded my expectations. peyton corrine pours her heart into every single story that she writes, and it becomes exceedingly obvious with every new book that she releases. I want to also add that make sure you are in the right mental space to read this!! part of the reason it took so long to read this was not only because of life, but also because this book deals with many heavy topics, so just be sure!

･῾⌇ ⁺ the characters ⁺

𖦞.˖ ⊹ lily lablanc. someone give this girl a hug, PLEASE. her and paloma mean so much to me ( i actually almost cried when they met each other and became friends because both of their backstories and trauma lay so deep within them that finding a close friend healed something within me. reading lily’s backstory was incredibly hard since of her cartoonishly evil father. honestly, some of the moments reminded me of some things that i’ve experienced, so having a book character experience it in a way that didn’t hold back was really comforting and validating. all of the girls in this series have earned a special place in my heart, but especially Lily and paloma.

𖦞.˖ ⊹ toren kane. PLEASE he gave me everything I needed in this book and more. i always get scared when authors get to the really grumpy and closed off man in the series because they always either make him extremely rude and an actual asshole, or it’s just incredibly overwhelming. Peyton Corrine did her big one with this one, though!! toren had the most gentle personality, and i’m so so happy we got to read about his story because it is SO explanatory of him as a person and his actions throughout the rest of the series. this series went 4/4 mmcs, and toren has just carved another place in my heart along with Bennett & Freddy.

𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⌗﹒ the relationship was gut-wreching, in every meaning of the word. seeing them from how they were treated as children, through teenagehood, to adulthood, and how they found refuge in each other throughout every stage of their life honestly made me believe in love again. no one can convince me that they aren’t perfect for each other. when the ending of the book finally unfurled, I was close to tears because they finally found their happy ending together after what felt like millions of obstacles.

ʚɞ ╴✷ side characters.

— Freddy & ro. THE COUPLE THAT INTRODUCED ME TO THIS SERIES. i remember when i first read ‘ unloved ‘ and being shocked that i loved the book, since i was in a pretty bad reading slump at the time, so i’m so happy to have received crumbs of them in this 🥹 the most wholesome couple ever 🌷
— bennett & paloma. the most precious couple ever, period.
— Holden he was so important to this whole story but i just want to say that i loved him soso much and he deserves everything <3

﹏﹒✦ overall, PLEASE go read this book / series. this is probably in my top 5 favorite contemporary romance series ever, if not my favorite. the way Peyton Corrine crafts every character and storyline with the utmost care and dedication is truly admirable. this was yet just another couple that stole my heart & i am ecstatic to see the unimaginable lengths in which she'll progress.

𝜗ৎ thank you again to netgalley, edelweiss, & the publishers for the ARCs!

೯⁺ side note, when i figured out what all of the covers were created by, it made me CRY. so yeah. last thing!

⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹

˒🎨 pre read ˒˒࿐・xxvi 𖦞.˖
ꕥ ⸺ 8/11 ⋆˚✿˖°
i've been saving this book for my birthday because peyton's books are AMAZING and as much as i don't want to say goodbye to this series, i've been waiting for lily & toren's book, and what other day to start it than today 😫💙🌟 ready to sob !!

𝜗ৎ BIG thanks to netgalley + edelweiss for the ARC.

[aira · Rating 2 out of 5]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 1.5/5

ummm, it took me a while to properly express how I feel, so I gave it some time to marinate...then I had to go back and reread some parts of this book because I forgot a lot of it. Unfortunately with the amount of time it took me to read the book and then subsequently write a review, I have come to the conclusion that I did not enjoy this. I had to sit down and force myself to write this review because I knew I would never write a review if not now.

With that, I would also like to reiterate that I will not be bullied into changing my rating because I fully stand by it. None of this is directed hate at the author or people who love this book because I've loved the second and third book myself and also because I don't judge people's reading preferences.

‼️ There may be spoilers‼️

I was so excited for this book and it was one of my most anticipated books for this year. There was a lot that excited me: it was second chance, the last book in the series, and I was pleasantly surprised by Toren in the other book.

However, once I got the arc and I tried to start reading it, it took me a while to actually get to the ending.

The book starts off really slow. It took me like 3 months to get past the five chapters because it felt so slow. I don't know if it was just me, but this was very hard to get through.

I felt bad for Lily...poor girl. I did feel bad for her, but I couldn't see the depth in her character. For the other female leads, there was this unexplainable depth where you could feel a variety of different emotions, but I didn't feel much aside from pity at times. Toren too. I felt bad for him, but I couldn't see the depth in the character like I could for other characters, like Bennett for example.

I don't know if it's just me but I felt more chemistry between Holden and Toren than Toren and Lily. I could actually see the tension between Toren and Holden and genuinely, it would have been a 5 star book (at least 4 stars) had we focused on those two. The story between Lily and Toren was really boring. I hate to say that especially because their backstory has a lot of pain, but to me, there was something missing throughout.

The back and forth didn't really make sense and I also had to skim all their spicy scenes because it gave me the ick so bad. I'm saying this as an ardent second chance lover, but I didn't like that part either. I don't want to be rude, but there's barely anything I can pinpoint to say I liked aside from the Toren/Holden, the Harris couple, and epilogue.

The marriage plotline was completely whack because what the hell? it just came out of nowhere and I'm still so lost as to what it even was.

Anyways, I just cannot say I enjoyed it because there was a lot that I thought was out of place. I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out, but this will have to be a no from me (probably wouldn't reread this either). The rating is pretty generous and I'm going to round up to 2 stars only because the epilogue was cute especially those happy endings for my favorite couples from the other books.

thank you to the publisher and edelweiss for this arc!!

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this might hurt some feelings...(maybe long) rtc. 🤷‍♀️

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pre-read: I got the arc omg 🤭

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we're getting Toren and second chance all in one book?!?! literally counting down the days because what

[naima · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

I’m deadass sitting here my heart aching. I love Lily&toren (and paloma&bennett) with my entire soul. Peyton Corrine really knows how to write grief and healing in a way that wrecks you, i’d be lying if I said the ending didn’t leave me in tears, just so happy for toren.

BUT. I was talking to Lena the second I finished, and we need to have a serious conversation about the character logic and the way race is handled in this book,.

Everyone is awful to Toren for a massive chunk even before his incident with Rhys. Let’s be real, it could deadass be racism. Yet, Peyton completely refuses to acknowledge it. It honestly gives the exact same energy as Mona Awad’s Rouge, where the author describes a character being called 'ugly' and isolated from society, but completely dodges the fact that this is heavily tied to race.

It feels like Peyton wanted an easy way out to make Toren an outcast without actually having to do the work of addressing racism, so she just throws in that he has "deep olive skin" and is "violent" leaves it at that. Chris LeBlanc was vile to him, but didn't treat Holden like that at all, even though Toren and Holden were literal partners.

Lena also pointed out that Ro is described as having "'dark curly hair and dark skin', but her background is completely ignored. If you’re going to write characters of colour, why the fuck are you only doing it halfway?" It genuinely feels like she just couldn’t be bothered to give them real depth, meanwhile we have to read for the fiftieth time about how small and delicate Lily is...oh you thought i was exaggerating, i mean deadass the aggressive emphasis on Lily being so 'tiny' and 'delicate' was doing my head in.

It’s not even like addressing racism would stray from the book's core themes. It’s a contemporary romance heavily focused on mental health, and systemic prejudice directly impacts mental health. It’s a massive double standard too, when we look back at Rhys, we get about his Russian heritage. So why do the nonwhite characters get pushed to the margins and stripped of their background?

Now...about that scene.
where Lily and Toren are being intimate, Holden walks in and Toren asks him to stay. Peyton shot herself in the leg with that scene. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater of the scene in general, but in this particular instance, the math just doesn't add up... he literally says one thing and does another? A few paras before Toren was being completely possessive making a whole point about how he won't be sharing her with anyone. And then this. Inconsistent. At this point it became clear to me that Peyton was trying to please her social media audience.

my quotes

“You are my daughter. And I am going to do what’s best for you. But I put my entire life on pause for the last year and a half trying to help you and nothing has changed.”

“I want to kick my dad under the table or throw a full-blown tantrum. I also crave his approval and his company more than I want to. Because, for a long time, he’s all I’ve had.”

“To be nearly attached to someone and then never see them again? It felt like a limb had been sawed clean off, but there were no visible scars to prove it had ever been there.”

“And I’d wanted, for a while, to return back to that house that had once been like a prison.
Maybe that’s why I’m here again, with my father, after flunking out. Maybe I’m only capable of moving in cycles and never moving forward.
And I’m here now. Back to square one.
Stuck in an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness that seems to come out of nowhere and is always successful at devouring me whole. It’s like I’ve been chewed up and spit out, when really, I’m just frozen. Even changing clothes feels like the heaviest of tasks.”


“Paloma said we’re having a movie night and does that mean I should wear pajamas?”

“I’m halfway to the fridge before I freeze, nodding rapidly despite my stomach sinking. Popcorn. For movies. Makes sense and is a lot easier than the ridiculous cheese board I worked on this morning—dried apricots, fancy snooty cheeses, and all my favorite little bites.”

“When I was younger, I thought we were attached somehow, like our souls were really one split into two people. That it was incredible we’d found each other so fast.”

“Is the love between parent and child a guaranteed realness? And if it is, why doesn’t it feel like it? Why can’t I feel that love? Not now. Not last year when I needed it most. Not when I was a child and would’ve done anything he asked if it meant I got a hug or a kiss to the forehead.
Are my expectations of him too high? Have they always been?
Maybe this is what’s real for most others, and my mind is warped by fairy tales of a big family, real love that I can feel, and a home that’s never empty.”

“All my protests—I’m an adult, not a child. I don’t need you to do this. Please don’t make me be with him. Please just love me as I am, exactly this—form and die on my tongue.”

“I’m not, I want to argue. It’s not anger, it’s something more raw that claws at me from inside. Something older than anger. But I don’t dare put a name to it.”

“Happiness always just a little bit out of reach, the easy warmth of giving up always nipping at my heels. Even when I’m here, in this space I’ve made, doing the one thing in my life that makes me the happiest, there is a subtle bitterness to everything. Like I’m breathing in clean air and breathing out toxins, poisoning myself with what’s rotten within me.
Maybe this is it.”

“If I had stabbed myself with the steak knife instead of slicing into the filet mignon, how long would I have bled before they noticed?
”

“He plates all of Paloma’s food for her, so I follow his lead and do the same for Lily, knowing from the spread what she’ll eat.”

“But for a moment, the mask cracks. He looks down at Lily, just a little itch of concern there.
No part of me has ever believed that Christopher LaBlanc loves Lily. But she’s his daughter, and whatever strange way his brain works, he seems to find enough in that to have protected her and taken care of her—though his definition is much different from mine on those terms—in the way he thought was best.”

“So he took everything. I came home one day and all my stuff was gone."


preread:
when i tell you, me and lena have been waiting for this book 5ever...and i mean late late night convos anticipating, theres no one else id go through this rollercoaster love you sagey 🏴‍☠️💘 lets go 🙌🐇my beautiful (and funny asf) bestie nadine👼 who was an arc receiver also said this one lived up to everything and more which in turn literally is giving me such a rush

[joni ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── infinity stars

this is the best book i've ever read in my life

lilytoren have my entire heart and i'm never moving on.

i have never cried this much while reading a book, couldn't go 10 pages without tearing up

her depression, their struggles with friendship and belonging, the pain, and them finding each other again - fated mates in every way.


lilian lablanc is a very sensitive topic for me, i knew the moment i met her (while reading unbound) she was a very special person. depression representation in books is always something i am personally drawn to and am very emotionally attached, as someone who's struggling with it - it's really healing to see my struggles written on a page. toren obviously caught my attention from day one, when he was introduced in unsteady

second chance is my favourite trope of all time + angst and yearning and lots of pain just makes it even better, the best part of this trope is how raw and authentic it feels. two people who may have not been able to make the best choices or life didn't let them be happy at that certain point in time but are given a second chance.

i couldn't open undone without sobbing, every single page is written with such pain and love. reading lily's feels like opening a wound that hasn't healed, her struggles with being a 'weirdo' her entire life and struggling to connect with others and making friends. as someone who has always felt like an outcast and never really felt like they belonged anywhere and the topic friendship is something that keeps me up at night - thank you peyton for making me feel seen.

adding to the reason this story is very special, all i've ever wanted as a child was to be seen and understood - this story about two characters and all they've ever other is see and understand the other. people may not think of a toren like character when they think of their ideal man, but he truly sees every broken up part of her and all the things she hides from everyone else and loves her despite it.


✧˖°🏒 ⋆｡˚꩜ tropes & things to expect
⤷ childhood friends to lovers to enemies to lovers
⤷ he has tattoos for her
⤷ depression & self loathing
⤷ dual timeline
⤷ deaf rep
⤷ it's only been you
⤷ fated mates
⤷ freak for freak
⤷ he hates everyone but her (he's actually the sweetest dude to exist)

if you have not yet read this series - PLEASE do! the mental health representation is so authentic and healing. (please start with unsteady!!!)

thank you atria / s&s for approving an e-ARC via edelweisis


𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── pre read

i can't believe i can say this... but i'm reading undone. the last book in the undone series and im saying goodbye to waterfell university after this.

lilytoren i'm coming!!! im already 20% done and the tears have started falling from page 2.

this is going to be my soul book.


↪ started apr 8
↪ finished apr 1




____

THE COVER. no other words

the most gorgeous and painful cover to exist for the most beautiful broken people (big freaks !)


the most anticipated book of my life. no one talk to me lilytoren are coming home. IDC they're the most me couple to exist.



YOU GUYS UGH I LOVE EVERYTHING PEYTON !!!! my book I called it + the hottest couple to exist


she's 5'0 and he's 6'6

[kimberly ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡. · Rating 5 out of 5]

‎❝ there's not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where toren kane and lily lablanc aren't tied together. true soulmates who would find each other, no matter what. ❞

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎undone did exactly what i feared it would do: took toren kane, a man i have been lowkey thirsting over since the first book, gave him a bad reputation, a scandal, a derailed NHL dream, a motorcycle, tattoos, unresolved history with lily leblanc, then expected me to behave like a normal adult in society. be so for real right now.


₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ i. plot. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ undone is toren kane's story, and when i tell you i have been waiting for this book like a raccoon outside a closed dumpster bin, i mean it. the little crumbs we got of them before already had me prowling through the woods and grunting like a caveman.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ toren kane has the kind of reputation that enters the room before he does, throws a chair, and then asks if anyone has a problem. after a scandal nukes his nhl prospects, his path to redemption runs through waterfell university's hockey team, which is hilarious because waterfell university is less of a college and more of a group therapy waiting room with jerseys.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ enter lillian "lily" lablanc, daughter of the team's assistant coach, toren's childhood best friend, because of course she is, and a girl who is very much not doing okay despite everyone expecting her to keep functioning like a normal little human being. this book has scandal debris, hockey redemption, childhood-friends tension, old hurt, forced proximity to feelings no one consented to processing, and two people who are absolutely not over each other despite acting like they have both moved on with dignity. they have not. nobody believed them. not me, not waterfell, not the ice, not toren's motorcycle, not a single molecule in the room.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ what worked so well for me is that the drama actually had roots. toren's reputation matters. lily's connection to the team and her struggles matters. their past matters. their present mess matters. this is not just some bad boy hockey player meets girl and becomes better because she has eyelashes. thank god. it is much more painful and therefore much more my problem.

₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ ii. toren motherfucking kane. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ toren kane is, unforunately, will be the bane of my existence. i support fictional men's rights and fictional men's wrongs when they come with tattoos and a motorcycle.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ but toren is not just hot chaos in hockey gear. that would have been fun, sure, but it would not have earned the five stars. what made him hit so hard is that underneath the bad reputation and the scandal, there is so much hurt. toren carries himself like someone who decided a long time ago that if everyone was going to expect the worst from him, he might as well hand them a signed copy. he provokes. he pushes. he self-sabotages with olympic-level dedication. he acts like he does not care, but the man cares so violently that it practically leaks out of him.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ he is not careless because he feels nothing. he is careless because he feels too much and has apparently stored every emotion in the same drawer as his bad decisions. someone get him a therapist. and maybe a snack. and maybe confiscate the motorcycle keys during emotional storms.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ toren's arc worked because peyton did not sand him down into some basic, therapy-seeking romance hero who suddenly communicates like he majored in emotional literacy. he is still toren. still sharp. still intense. still a little bit of a walking public safety announcement. but he grows. he softens where it matters. he learns how to stop treating his own life like a demolition site. and i fear that got me.


₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ iii. lily lablanc. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ lily lablanc, the woman that you are. i loved her. truly. because she could have easily been written as the Good Girl Assigned To Fix The Bad Boy, which is a trope i tolerate only when the bad boy is hot enough and the girl has a backbone made of steel. thankfully, lily is not standing around with a clipboard labeled "toren rehabilitation program." she has her own life, her own pressure, her own school struggles, her own history with toren, and her own reasons for being messy.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ she is not just the assistant coach's daughter. she is not just the childhood friend. she is not just the girl from his past who exists to make him feel guilty and then kiss him better. lily has weight. she has that very specific energy of a girl trying to keep her head above water while everyone else assumes she should already know how to swim.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ lily stays. she fights. she feels. she gets angry. she gets scared. she wants things she does not always know how to hold. she sees toren in a way other people do not, which is romantic, yes, but also deeply inconvenient. because knowing someone before they became their reputation is powerful. she remembers the boy beneath the scandal, beneath the armor, beneath the noise. and that makes every scene between them feel loaded.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ lily does not just want the version of toren everyone whispers about. she knows there is more. and because she knows there is more, she refuses to let him hide behind the easy excuse of being the problem. also, she matched his energy without being swallowed by it, which is extremely important.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ and on a more personal note, lily's depression hit a little too close to home for me. like, haha, very funny, i thought i was reading about a tattooed hockey menace and his childhood friend, not getting emotionally ambushed by a girl whose brain is also occasionally a haunted basement with bad lighting. the way she struggled to keep up, to function, to do the basic little human tasks everyone else makes look easy? yeah. unfortunately, i understood that a little too well.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ i related to that feeling of knowing you should be doing things, school, responsibilities, life, existing like a normal person with emails and clean laundry, but your brain is just sitting in the corner like a wet victorian orphan refusing to cooperate. lily's depression wasn't written like a cute sad-girl aesthetic. it felt heavy, frustrating, isolating, and painfully familiar, which made me care about her so much more.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ so yes, toren had me feral because tattoos and motorcycle, obviously, i am not pretending to be stronger than god made me. but lily had me emotional because i saw pieces of myself in her. the exhaustion, the guilt, the feeling of falling behind while everyone else seems to be walking on normal pavement and you're trudging through soup. peyton corinne did not need to come for my mental health and my fictional-man standards in the same book, but here we are.


₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ iv. romance. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ the romance? vile. disgusting. exactly what i wanted. toren and lily have the kind of chemistry that makes every scene feel like it should come with a campus safety warning. and it is not just because they are attracted to each other, though obviously, yes, the tension was tensioning. it is because they have history. history changes everything.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ they were childhood friends and lovers, which means they knew each other before all the armor got this heavy. they knew the softer versions. the younger versions. the versions that had not yet been reshaped by scandal, pressure, hurt, and bad coping mechanisms. so when they reunite at waterfell, it is not two strangers falling in love. it is two people trying to figure out what to do with the fact that the past is still alive and breathing in the corner. and i ate that up.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ there is something so deliciously awful about unresolved feelings when both people are pretending they are not currently being haunted by the other person's existence. toren looks at lily like she is the scene of the crime and the only witness. lily looks at toren like she wants to save him, kiss him, and throw him into a lake in that exact order.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ the best part is that lily did not magically fix toren, nor did he magically fix her. love did not swoop in wearing a little cape and clean up their entire lives. they both had to choose differently. they both had to face old wounds. they both had to stop letting the past steer the car while pretending they were in control.


₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ v. waterfell university. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ what made undone feel especially satisfying as a finale is that toren and lily both have this outsider energy within the broader found family. this is not just toren finding redemption or lily finding love. it is also about them finding where they belong. with each other, yes, but also inside this chaotic little waterfell family that has been emotionally body-slamming me for multiple books now.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ seeing the series come together through them felt right. painful, obviously. this is peyton corinne, not a spa brochure. but right.


₊˚꒰ ⟡ ˙ vi. conclusion. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ this gave me exactly what i wanted from toren and lily. i wanted intensity. got it. i wanted old wounds. got stabbed with them. i wanted childhood-friends and past-lovers tension. delivered. and yes, i wanted tattooed biker hockey man content. i am not better than that. i have never claimed to be better than that. listen. i am only human. barely. you put a tattooed hockey player on a motorcycle. i'm so feral right now.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ but the real reason this hit five stars is that it felt emotionally complete. toren and lily's relationship had history, chemistry, pain, and payoff. i loved that their love was not easy. easy would have been wrong for them. toren and lily needed messy. they needed difficult. they needed honesty dragged out by the ankles. they needed to stand in the wreckage and decide whether they were brave enough to build something real out of it. and when they did? i was done. fully undone, actually. title accurate. five stars for truth in advertising.

— 5 stars. ⋆˚☆˖°.ᐟ


‎── ⟡ ˙ 🪻༘ ₊ main tropes. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
⟢ college sports romance
⟢ little weirdo girl x big freak boy lol
⟢ freak4freak
⟢ second chance
⟢ outcasted loners
⟢ found family
⟢ basically fated mates
⟢ it's only been you
⟢ his tattoos are a shrine to her
⟢ yearning and self-loathing
⟢ depression and deaf rep


⌗ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎started: jun. 3rd, 2026. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⌝
‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⌞ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎finished: jun. 7th, 2026. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✦


₊˚⊹ ᰔ pre-review:
⤿ i'm crying. i'm gonna be so insufferable about this series. also, in the spirit of transparency, i may be slightly biased because toren kane is tattooed, rides a motorcycle, has emotional damage, AND IS SECRETLY A SOFTIE. but also maybe peyton corinne should stop manufacturing men specifically designed to ruin my frontal lobe. rtc!

₊˚⊹ ᰔ pre-read:
⤿ i got the arc for undone, so naturally i am clocking in, losing sleep, and reporting to waterfell university for one final emotional breakdown over toren kane. i fear this is the book that will make me fully feral, academically useless, and legally unfit for society. already predicting the 5 stars.


‎── ⟡ ˙ 🪻༘ ₊ review and ratings.
⊹ unsteady. ┆ 4 ⭑.ᐟ
⊹ unloved. ┆ 4.5 ⭑.ᐟ
⊹ unbound. ┆ 4.75 ⭑.ᐟ
⊹ undone. ┆ 5 ⭑.ᐟ

thank you atria books for the arc via edelweisiss! all opinions are my own.

[lena ♡⸝⸝ · Rating 2.25 out of 5]

hm. okay.

before we get into this review, keep in mind that this is not an attack to the author or your personal taste. this review will contain ‼️full spoilers‼️and will include quotes with context so please read at your own risk !!

update: after having thought about this book for over a week, i've decided to lower my rating to a 2.25 stars. unfortunately, the rose tinted glasses have faded away, and now im just left bitter abt the wasted potential.

this series means everything to me. the characters, the world, the relationships and the friendships are genuinely some of the best i've ever read - but that being said, i cannot ignore the prominent flaws that kept popping up when i was reading this book.

i also cannot deny that peyton has grown exceedingly as an author. her prose flows much better compared to book one, unsteady, and her character developement and growth has drastically improved. unfortunately, even with those aspects this book disappointed me.

here's what didn't work for me :

I. no actual introduction to the characters.

i'm going to be honest when i say this - i would've been so confused about ever single character if i hadn't read the first three books in the series 🥴 we get absolutely no introduction to any of them, and get thrown into the plot head first. in a romance book im not expecting world building or info dumping in the first page, im expecting an introduction to the characters and their personality. here, on the contrary, we get no build-up, just facts and trauma that led me into a pit of confusion for the next fifteen pages. unfortunately, i had to base myself off of what the other books had said about lily, toren and their relationship to have a clear vision in my mind.

tying into that,

II. we have no past chapters of when they met - only vague flashbacks.

if you know me, you probably know that second chance is my favourite romance trope of all time. the angst, the yearning, the miscommunication that comes along with it is everything i need in a perfect romance. but what makes the trope SO MUCH angstier is when we see the build up and fall out of the characters. hence, the "past chapters."

in this, we get none of that. instead, we get vague flashback scenes (that are out of order) sprinkled across the entire book 🧏🏼‍♀️

when i was texting my bestie rei, i was asking her about the book as she had gotten the ARC (non-spoiler, ofc.) during one of my lengthy voice notes, i had mentioned loving past chapters and anticipating them in this book. she then had to break the news that there were none, and that's when i really started to doubt whether or not i would love this as much as i did book two and three.

III. if you're going to market a book as MF, why do we have a threesome scene halfway through the book ??

you should have seen my recation to this sex scene - i went from eating it up, to confused, to disgusted and to then throwing my e-reader across the room. i'm NEVER here to yuck someone's yum, but MFM, threesomes and poly-romances are not for me. i totally understand if it is for you, but personally i just can't do it 😩

the person with who lily and toren have a threesome with, is toren's gay best friend. what makes the scene even weirder to me, is the fact that not even a page ago, toren had said that he would never share.

here is the exact quote :

"I would never share you." he whispers, half threat, half promise, into my ear, licking a path down my neck. "You're a needy brat, but I know how to take care of you, don't I? I always have. I always will."

i'm not even kidding, maybe a paragraph later, he asks holden (his best friend,) to hold lily's leg while he fingers her. holden only sees her waist and breasts, but he then has to go "relieve" himself in the bathroom afterwards. um. oooookkaaayyyyy...😀

safe to say, i was not a fan of their whole dynamic, especially since toren had already hooked up with holden in the past 👺

IIII. this is a college romance - not a mafia dark romance. why do we have a marriage of convience plot in the twenty first century.

after that mess of a fucking scene, my expectations had plummeted down to the depths of satan's ass. not even two chapters later, to my surprise, the author decides to add a nothingburger trope to add some level of ⁉️spice⁉️to the nonexistant plot. the ✨forced marriage of convenience✨between a rich preppy white man and lily. to no one's surprise this didn't only anger toren to the point where he wanted to beat the dude's face up until he was ground beef on the ground, but it added a layer of unnecessary miscommunication between the two characters. we had them pissed at each other for fifteen percent of the book that could've been spent communicating. anyways.

IIIII. the shit representation.

great, we have disability, neurodivergent (only the men though, just saying 👁) and mental health representation. fantastic. im so glad. but where the fuck is the POC rep??? i think it got stuck somewhere because we have ZERO CANON main characters from the core eight that are from a different ethnic group than white. the reason im bringing this up is because peyton really went out of her way to say that toren remembers his mom speaking hindu to him - for her to never expand on it. great, im glad she said 'meri jaan' to him when he was four, but why do we never officially find out if he is pakistani, nepali or indian? im confused.

this isn't the first time this has happened as well - ro is also racially ambigious as she is described as having "olive skin and curly brown hair," which leaves the possibility of her being arab, persian, biracial, north african, and latina.

it's interesting that peyton made it SUCH a big plot point that rhys was russian, with him constantly calling sadie affectionate names in russian (first of all, yuck, why are we endorsing russia with the current state of the administration,) yet never even mentioning the non-white characters ethnicity or nationality. coincidence?? i think not.... 🥸 just a little something i noticed!

the reason why this book isn't three stars or under, is because i have such a deep connection to the characters and world. i loved seeing all the crumbs for the other three couples of the series - especially palomabennett, my babies.

the depression representation was also some of the best i have ever read, i really felt that peyton did proper research for the topic (watching videos, asking people for their experience..etc.) so huge props for that !! i would have loved to see lily being diagnosed with the autism that she most definitely has, but either way, the mental health rep was done so so so well!

toren was one of the most reletable mmcs i have ever read about and i stand by the fact that he is male paloma blake 👹 i want to cry whenever i think about him, because that's my son 🤰🏼my baby. my labubu. my angel. ugh i cant talk more about him because i will start chocking up.

peyton, if you're reading this, you have no freaking idea how good the second gen of this series could be if you ever release it from your basement. like the van x sadierhys baby girl tether 👀 yeah i'm sat!!

i'm also sat for everything peyton releases next and i CANNOT WAIT to see what it is ( a dark academia perhaps?? ) !!!!

also, ethel cain being on the playlist >>>>> music taste on fleak.

[manas · Rating 5 out of 5]

➳ gucci version of blowjob and parks ☆

wow...ok. a banger for sure. i am so happy i found a book of peyton's that i enjoy after having flops back-to-back. please take everything with a bucket of salt. i will be going through the whole book and there will be spoilers. some‼️SPOILERS‼️are in this review. i will be going into the details of why this worked for me. my opinion is just that—MY opinion. if you don't like this book, i am VERY happy for you. please do not come into my comments are talk shit because i am not in the mood. this will only be a review of the book, NOT the author/fans of the series. i am not here to influence anyone so don't take this as a binding statement. if you have similar taste to me, you will probably enjoy this. but as always, read whatever you like. <3

for starters, if you know me, then you would know that i was most excited for the final book—book four—in this series. i couldn't wait to get toren & lily's story because i have been waiting for this perspective from the very beginning. they were the only reason i was even able to get through the rest of the series and girl, am i glad this was a hit. these are probably the hardest stories to tell. romance is a genre that already gets shat on by everyone and their mother, so when an author chooses to highlight the very real and personal struggles people go through on a day-to-day...i already knew people would be acting a mess. co-dependency is a trope i find cringey and melodramatic if done poorly. however, this book might be the best representation of this microtrope.

lily & toren are your stereotypical outcast misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. everything has always worked against them BUT that's why they work. their history, the past and the present, combined with their individual idiosyncrasy's is why their story flowed the way it did. honestly? one of my only complaints is how short this book was. i felt like we needed so much more of both their past and their present/future because they still had so much story left. i am not a fan of romances where both main characters are each other's "lifeline" or "other half"...this might be a personal prerogative of mine, but that trope is very sibling/twin coded, and i much prefer romances to flow more effortlessly. however, the antics 100% worked in this book. i don't think i would've liked this book otherwise. both toren and lily are two characters that are extremely broken and have constantly been let down by everyone. their parents? suck. their friends? suck. their mentors? SUCK. toren & lily only have each other—they always have. they are each other's home and while all of this is unbelievably corny...it was perfectly executed in this book.

toren's self-destructive tendencies are often painted as attractive and hot because he is unstable, emotional, and aggressive, but as someone who knows people like this...trust, it's anything but. this is probably the most realistic character peyton has portrayed in this series due to how often men's mental health and their overall state of mind gets ignored. i understand he's the pretty boy with the tats and the nice body. whatever, whatever. his temperament is all a facade that ultimately made his journey special. deep down, he is just desperate for people to be kind to him. i am actually so glad we have more authors that write complex men with layers to them because i am tired of the pretty boy being played off as the popular whore who is a bully until the girl from the wrong sides of the track humbles him. men can have character arcs and character development too. take notes.

lily. my poor baby. i love this girl so much. she balanced out toren's character perfectly and again, i am chuffed that we are moving away from the norms of typical tropes. in this book, lily was the one who was protective of toren's feelings because she knew that's what he needed. while she also dealt with the worst end of the stick, her affairs were vastly different from her counterparts. lily suffers a lot with depression and an ABUSIVE disgusting father, which made their dynamic very meaningful. there were so many things keeping them apart from each other, but it never felt like random shit she threw in for melodrama. this is actually such a realistic take on a second chance romance between two childhood best-friends. if i see anyone coming for her and calling her annoying...just block me. everyone is so quick to romanticize a man for "acting out" but can never give the same grace to a woman. i am tired, grandma.

one of the most special parts of this book is also the other relationships that toren and lily had. my absolute favorite was by far of toren and liam. they are the absolute cutest and we were robbed of more scenes of them. seeing this makes me wanna go back and try to pick up all the other breadcrumbs in the other books. i do wish we spent a little more time with them. when two characters have been so isolated, seeing how they fit into a wider group becomes part of the payoff. especially since toren was practically liam's older brother in this. it's so cute seeing how good he was to liam knowing he understood exactly how he felt. i am also partial to the relationship between toren and holden (i even shipped them, but don't tell anyone i said that)...and i hope he gets his own book one day. lastly, i did HATE unbound. like, an embarrassing amount. but i am a paloma blake stan and i love seeing how much she mirrors toren and her friendship with lily...gonna cry.

however, i gotta be a hater for a second and talk some shit. here are four things i would've preferred either we took out, or we changed completely because after a while, it was slightly irritating me.

1. holden shouldn't have fucked around with them.
2. toren's indian ethnic background should've been a MAJOR talking point.
3. clearer timeline of the plot unfolding.
4. character wrap ups of the already established side characters.

now, this doesn't affect my rating because it's not THAT serious which is why i'm not even gonna go into specifics about this, but it's just me ranting since not every book can be perfect. but i am so happy to have found a 6 star read after months of flops and more fucking flops lmfao...

the height difference being 6'6 and 5'0...GOODBYE. i need this trope to please go away because as a 5'9 woman??? that shit is too tall even for me. but i call for more tattooed MMC's who dedicate their body art to their women. more self-hating MMC's, and we need more nicknames that have nothing to do with the woman's hair color. you have no idea how loud i yelled when he didn't call her RED. doll is so cute. <3

anyways, this was so long for no reason. i miss you guys so much, though!

[rei ‧₊˚✩彡 · Rating 2 out of 5]

╰┈➤ 2 stars!

i had such high expectations for this book, but unfortunately, it just did not meet them. honestly, it didn’t even come close. this started off SO SLOW for me that i had to force myself to keep reading, hoping that things would eventually get better, and to be honestly speaking, i still don’t know if it did get better.

i’m a huge fan of second-chance romances because when they’re written well, you can feel everything in your bones. the longing, the regret, the love that never really went away despite everything that happened between them. unfortunately, i just couldn’t feel any of that here. there was so much push and pull between them that, at some point, i genuinely started thinking that maybe they were better off far away from each other.

lily and toren clearly care a lot about each other, at least based on what the book tells us. they definitely have each other’s backs, and i can see that they’ve been through so much together. i just personally couldn’t feel the depth of their love the way i wanted to. i wanted to understand what made them keep choosing each other despite everything, but their relationship left me feeling more frustrated than emotionally invested.

still, i’m hoping for the best for them because these two have already been through SO MUCH just to be together. i wouldn’t want them to go through the same pain all over again, especially with all the bullshit they had to endure because of her dad. they deserve some peace, at the very least.

the book started on a very angsty note, and at first, you don’t really have a clear idea of why they’re acting the way they are because their past hasn’t been fully revealed yet. i didn’t mind that part since i understand that the story was building up to something. BUT ONCE THEY STARTED INTERACTING AGAIN, IT FELT LIKE EVERY OTHER INTERACTION WOULD EVENTUALLY LEAD TO THEM HOOKING UP. and that got really annoying for me because why was he always nipping her neck?! 🫩

i said this with unbound, and i’ll say it again: the spicy scenes felt so unnecessary to me. they always seemed to come out of nowhere, and i just couldn’t understand what they were adding to the story. one moment, they’re mad at each other, clearly struggling to deal with their feelings, and the next thing i know, they’re banging each other against a wall. LIKE???? CAN WE TALK FIRST BRO??

and no, don’t come @ me saying that hate sex is a thing because i KNOW about that shit. i understand the appeal of hate sex, especially when there’s unresolved tension between two characters, but for me, these scenes just weren’t doing it. the tension wasn’t translating into the kind of chemistry that would make me invested in what was happening. instead, it felt like the story kept using sex to move their relationship forward when there were so many other things they needed to work through.

and once the first explicit scene happened, it felt like there was always some mention of them being turned on or wanting each other. ALSO, WHY IS HE ALWAYS NEAR HER FUCKING THROAT?????? ISTG 😭😭😭 i swear, at some point, i started noticing it so much that it became distracting.

i also didn’t like how unstable lily and toren’s relationship felt. i know they’re both traumatized and dealing with their own issues, and i’m not expecting them to magically have everything figured out. healing is difficult, and i understand that their past affects how they approach their relationship. BUT THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH PUSH AND PULL I CAN TAKE BEFORE I START LOSING MY MIND.

toren, especially, had me questioning EVERYTHING. he would bring himself close to her, make it seem like he was finally ready to let her in, and then pull away again. AND FOR WHAT????? JUST MAKE UP BOTH OF YOUR DAMN MINDS ALREADY, PLEASE! it’s not for my sake but both of yours!

i wanted to see more of them actually working through their issues instead of constantly going around in circles. at some point, all that back-and-forth stopped feeling angsty in an entertaining way and just became frustrating because nothing was happening. it’s just there for the “angst” factor.

and don’t even get me started on them getting married. 😂 i’m sorry, but WHY ARE WE GETTING MARRIED WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER THINGS THAT NEED TO COME FIRST??? like, have you considered therapy? (ik lily got it at the end but idc because they still got married before considering it) actually talking through your problems? figuring out how to have a stable relationship before deciding to spend the rest of your lives together????

i get that they love each other and that they’ve been through so much, but love alone doesn’t automatically fix everything. the whole it’s “him and her forever” thing would’ve been much more satisfying to me if i had actually seen them put in the work to build a healthier relationship. instead, the marriage felt premature, considering how much unresolved baggage they still had between them.

overall, this was a pretty disappointing read for me. i went into it expecting a second-chance romance that would make me feel everything, but i ended up feeling more frustrated with the characters and their decisions than invested in their love story. i wanted the angst to hurt, the yearning to get to me, and their reconciliation to feel earned. sadly, it just didn’t land the way i hoped it would.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, and the author for the e-ARC in exchange of my honest thoughts.

・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・

pre-read:

starting the last book of this series 😩 i genuinely can’t believe this is the last book because it only feels like yesterday when i started reading this 🥹 i’m so excited for this one even though it’ll probably break me (in the best way only). i saw the playlist and with all the ethel cain’s song, i just know i’m gonna love this one!! 🩵🌟

[maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m mourning this book 💔 brb

_____

Am I going to survive reading this book? time to find out 😼

also i genuinely don’t like finishing a series and i always avoid reading the last book in a series for that reason which is why it took me like 4 months to finally open this book😭 anyways, I’m really excited and scared for this story.

_____

ITS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFEEEE!!! GOT THE ARC😩😩 really tempted to not care about my finals and just read this right now
______

I’m always going to be amazed with this cover🤩 it is STUNNINGGGGGGGGG!!!

Prepare to be sick of me, never going to shut up about this series. Like I don’t think I have ever felt this much love and excitement over a series😩

ANOTHER SECOND CHANCE FROM MY QUEEN PEYTON!!!!😭😭😭 and with depression rep😭 I don’t think I’m going to survive this one😭 2 books in 1 year!!😭😭 also Toren and Lily’s story is so interesting! like all their crumbs in unbound is giving me life😭

[cat]

・❥・⁀➷ 𝕡𝕣𝕖-𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕

october 20th- i'm about to disappear for the next 6 hours and binge read this. I'll talk to y'all when I resurface
✌🏼🙂‍↕️

october 15th- if you need me you can find me crying in the corner😔i never got an email saying this arc was declined, so after waiting and waiting, i finally went to check NetGalley myself only to realize it apparently broke and a huge handful of the arcs i requested over the summer have somehow been deleted as if i never even requested them. this was literally my MOST anticipated arc of the year 💔

june 18th- AHHHH THIS COVER?!?!
OCTOBER??? Be serious right now. 😭 I’ve been waiting for Toren’s story for what feels like an eternity.
First love??? Second chance??? IM SATTTT UGHHH
I’m waiting. STARVING. 😭😭😭 We are absolutely about to be unwell when this drops. I need a fast forward button immediately

[veerali · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

i don't think gatekeeping toren's ethnicity was a great idea but apart from that i have a lots of thoughts. RTC!!

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really put me through all the emotions, it's been a while since I cried so much reading a book.. It made me feel seen in a way I never really did before and that is something I never take lightly..

I listened to the audiobook and I think that made it hurt more, it had a much heavier impact.. The narrators did such an incredible job and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook!! It was perfect.

Lily is a character I felt an unbreakable connection to, similar to me in so many ways.. Seeing yourself in a character and seeing that character find the happiness and love she deserves is such a hopeful experience and I will always have a special place in my heart for her. Her struggles, the way Toren always seen her, was there for her, the friends they made that became like a family, it was such an amazing thing to witness. Toren was her obsession, her safe place, but he was never a magical cure for her struggles and I'm so grateful for that. Romances tend to always portray it like that and that's simply not how it works, so seeing it done right here made a part of me heal a little..
I adored Toren, it broke my heart seeing his self-destruction tendencies, the way he never believed that he'll be chosen and then seeing him find his place in a team that had his back, in a family that truly loved him, in a girl that was a part of of him since he was just a boy, it made me so happy..

I'm going to get a little personal, but I simply don't know how to describe the way this book made me feel without it.. As someone that has the same struggles as Lily, I probably experienced this book a little different than most would, that feeling of loneliness, the isolation, the dark pit that is sometimes so hard to climb out, it's such an accurate representation and even though I spent basically the whole book crying, I'm so grateful for the pain, because it made me feel less alone. It was a really hard book to get through, it took some time and I struggled quite a bit, because I felt too much, but I'm so happy I did, it helped, it helped so much..

I'm going to be honest, I didn't truly experienced the romance side of this book, it kind of faded away in the background, because I was so focused on them and everything they went through. That isn't a bad thing, I loved them both so incredibly much, but my focus was more on them as individuals, less on them as a couple. They were messy, a little toxic, their lives so incredibly interwoven together, but for them, that was exactly right. They needed each other so desperately and they needed to choose one another, so I think everything that happened, no matter how strange, made perfect sense.. They were soulmates, every part of one integral for the other.

"You and me, forever."

I loved all the other couples, I really need to read their books. The bond Lily and Paloma had was so wonderful and Holden was the best!! He played an important role and I wish we got more of him. Harris and his wife were absolutely amazing, there's no words to describe how much I loved them, they never gave up and were always there for Toren!!
I hated Lily's father with a fiery intensity, he's the perfect representation of how you should never be.
The epilogue was so beautiful, so heartwarming, it felt like the warmest hug!!

This is the first book by this author I read, but it will not be my last. She gained a loyal fan, now and forever!!

*Thank you to Netgalley and to Hodder & Stoughton Audio for providing me with an ALC.*

[naz · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑽𝒂𝒏 𝑮𝒐𝒈𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎.

Okay, okay, okay, don't get me wrong, I ENJOYED THE BOOK, but there were some things that, as a reader, I wasn't able to do a double take on. Before I get into the nitty gritty, I do have to say that the depression representation in this book was elite. As someone who has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and had a past where my feelings were dismissed by others, it felt really close to home how Peyton described Lily's depression. Another thing I loved was Toren's protectiveness and how, deep downnnn he's just a softie, even if everyone else thinks otherwise (even I did before reading his story).

The world that Peyton has created is one I adore and, to be honest, would love to read 35224 more books about. I can't wait to see what else she has in store now that the series has ended.

Both Lily and Toren, throughout this book, were very complex characters. If you've read the rest of the series, their characterization kind of follows the same methodology as that of the other characters. We had snippets of Toren in the other books, which, duh, made me need his book NOW. Toren, the emo boi who loves too hard but is also freaking tall and massive and plays hella good hockey. Best of both worlds? I ADORED HIM most of the time (lmao). Meanwhile, Lily, agh, she is so fragile and adorable, and idk why I imagine she dresses like Blair from Gossip Girl. She's timid but obsessive and possessive over Toren.

I WILL HAVE MINOR SPOILERS BELOW, SO PLEASE BE AWARE.

Hmmm, okay, now for the reasoning behind why this was a 3.75 for me. I loved both characters, but at the same time, I didn't click with some specific things. Starting off with Toren's bullying towards Lily at the beginning and kind of throughout the book, it's not prominent, but it's enough that I was like, "Um, Toren, honey, don't you love this girl?" And her response being, "Don't be mean," while she pouts and bites her lip... um, no-no from me. SOME READERS MIGHT LIKE IT! But her responses and the descriptions of her body language in the book made her seem like a little girl. Which, technically, makes sense because she was isolated and didn't know too much about the outside world (it's explained in the book), but still... it was a weird take. That also applies to Toren... he took care of Lily, but a little too much? Like laying out her clothes on the bed and saying, "I'll make it better." It felt like he was being protective but almost in a weird daddy way FOR ME. I know this might not be the case for other readers, but Lily had a lot of "little girl" personality traits that I feel took over the rest of her personality a little bit too much.

I do believe that their trauma was the reason behind why they acted the way they did, but yea, I definitely think this was a good book it just wasn't my fav!

ranking from fav to least: unloved, unbound, unsteady & undone

⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.
𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 ꪆৎ ˚⋅ the last book of the series?!? i'm not ready.

[nat]

˖꩜ .ᐟ𓂃࣪˖ pre read

(sooo look who finally learned how to make this) MY BABIES ARE HOMEEEE….. KINDA 👹👹👹

i’ve been waiting for toren and lily’s book for AGES. no like you don’t understand, i’m so excited for this book i could EXPLODE.

i genuinely cannot wait to read it, but i have an exam to get through and i want to give this book my undivided attention. oh i know they will endddd me i’m so excited 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️ i can’t wait to cry my heart out !! 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"There's not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where Toren Kane and Lily LaBlanc aren't tied together. True soulmates who would find each other, no matter what" 🌌❤️‍🔥🎨🏒💜♾️

oh where do i even start. this book is EVERYTHING to me. this book may have been my favorite in the series, which is crazy bc I thought it'd be almost impossible to top unbound. i have been waiting for tor's story since book one and let you tell you it did not disappoint, it did break my heart 100 times over though 😭 seeing him finally get the love and family he deserves was so beautiful, it had me sobbing multiple times, and don't even get me started on tor & the harrises😭😭❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

lily and tor are truly soulmates, in every single way possible. their love was so pure and consuming, i could read 1000 books about them. they were so deep and angsty but also SO fun and freaky, im obsessed

and lily & paloma my babies 😭 their friendship healed me, i love them SO dearly. same with tor and holden, the way holden kept showing up for tor no matter what🥹 & paloma & tor's "reluctant alliance" (aka they were friends who wouldn't admit it) two sides of the same coin they are

i am so sad to be saying goodbye to this series & these characters that i have grown to love so so much, but they will always have a special place in my heart ❤️‍🩹

thank you so so much netgalley for this arc!!!

[carolina (semi-hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toren has spent our entire lives believing Van Gogh is my highest obsession, but it's him. It's always been him.

Thank you so much Atria and Netgalley for the e-arc 🫶🏻

I can’t decide if I want to live inside this series or inside Peyton’s mind (possibly both?). Undone made me appreciate the whole series so much more because of the way everything connects. There are so many invisible threads that tie the 4 books together, and the way it all comes together in the final book is brilliant. It’s fitting that art is such a big part of Undone, because, to me, it’s like Peyton has been painting a beautiful masterpiece since Unsteady and we get to see the final result in Undone. A true work of art.

Toren and Lily’s story annihilated me. At a certain point, I had a huge lump in my throat and my chest hurt because it was hard to breathe. Their story is so raw and I didn’t just read it, I lived it. I felt every word in my soul. I hurt when they hurt. And my god, did this book hurt me. I felt Toren and Lily’s loneliness like a heavy coat on my shoulders. They were alone before they met, abandoned and unloved, and they became each other’s safe space. They saw and understood each other in ways no one ever had. The world saw a weird girl and an angry boy, painting them in shades of grey, but they saw each other vividly. Vibrant bursts of colour. A girl who lived and breathed art, longing for freedom, and a boy with a heart bigger than his chest, masking his pain with anger.

Toren’s reputation preceded him and everyone assumed the worst of him. They saw a hot temper, bloody fists and a sour mouth and labeled him a villain. The mask was painted so perfectly that nobody cared to see the little fractures in it. The sorrow, disappointment and loneliness that hid deep inside a boy who only wanted to feel loved and accepted. My heart wept for him. He got so used to being abandoned and feeling unwanted that when someone showed him signs of love or affection, he ran away and didn’t trust it.

Like two sides of the same coin, Lily also got a label assigned to her, as if that was all she was. A weird and awkward girl. Nobody but Toren saw the fire burning inside her. Her dad did his best to stifle the flame, keeping her home and away from everything. Like a princess locked in an ivory tower. She struggled with depression, often feeling unmoored and apathetic, not wanting to get out of bed, and it broke my heart. I hated how her father made her feel like her interests and passions were irrelevant and stupid, how he made her feel childish and inadequate. How could he look at her and not see the wonderful, brilliant girl she was? A girl with a beautiful mind, a heart filled with dreams and never ending talent. I felt so protective of Lily and I just wanted to hold her in my arms.

There were parts of Toren and Lily’s story that made me feel seen. I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t belong anywhere and I know how hard it can be to form connections with others. What comes so easily for some, is a challenge for others and if only people were more empathetic, perhaps it wouldn’t feel so hard all of the time. One of my favourite parts of this book was seeing Toren and Lily find people like that, who made them feel like they belonged. I absolutely adored their journey together, but it was beautiful to see them independently form connections with others. Holden, Paloma and Coach Harris played important roles in Toren and Lily’s life and made sure they knew no parts of them were unlovable.

The love between Toren and Lily is hard to describe with words. It felt like a living, breathing entity. A deep seated need to burrow deep inside the other person, to lay curled around their heart because it’s the only place that feels safe and loving and like home. From the moment they met, their souls connected and formed an indestructible bond. They lived 4 years apart and not even that distance was enough to break their connection. Their romance was deliciously angsty and brimming with tension and it had me screaming inside! They are soulmates in every universe, they were made for each other (and they match each other’s freaks!!) and seeing them find happiness and love filled me with so much happiness. They’re so deserving of everything good.

I already wrote so much but I feel like I could keep going. I love this book (and series) so much. I think Peyton’s mind is brilliant and it’s clear how much she cares about her characters. They’re all so alive in my mind because she makes them feel so human. I felt so many emotions while reading these books, they all feel so raw and emotional - so much pain and sadness, but also tenderness and love. They’ve made me feel comforted and seen. Reaching the end of this series is incredibly bittersweet but I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. It was perfect!!

The first time I held Toren Kane's hand, I thought I'd died. I was seven and it felt like my heart was exploding.

Talking about Lily used to feel like speaking through a mouthful of broken glass. Now... now it just feels wrong. Like my body rejects the thought of sharing even my memories of her.

Van Gogh is... special to me. It's personal, even if it's all l want to speak about most of the time. As a child, his art made everything loud in my brain go quiet. I couldn't get enough of it, couldn't see enough of it. It's just the same now.

Lily and I had found each other as children. She's just as odd and strange as she was that first day. We've fought before, but it's never been real or hurtful—always more to rile her up, to pull her from the numbness she so often sunk into, even unknowingly. But we've always had that innate trust in the existence of each other.

Can she see the threads of our history tangled up and wrapped tightly around us both? Can she see the one that feels like a leash perpetually pulled around my neck on a lead held by Lily fucking LaBlanc?

Toren Kane doesn't expect anything for himself because he's been so unbelievably disappointed by everyone around him his entire life. The dreamer he was as a kid is gone, buried so deep beneath walls of anger and fear. But I can still see it.

We lived in haunted houses, full up with ghosts that made us unwanted. Except to each other. The problem was where my ghosts wanted desperately to get rid of me, hers wanted to sink their claws deeper, to never let her go.

"You and me."The words melt me, my voice soft as I say, "Forever.”

I want this. Family. Friends. Lily and me, not alone and entirely reliant on just each other. I want a loud home, big family breakfasts. Maybe this is the beginning.

[Hoda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly i wanted to DNF so bad but i pushed through so i can freely hate it and not wonder if it got better at the end because it did not!✋🏻 there might be spoilers so 🤷🏻‍♀️ i was so hyped for it because the last book made me excited for Toren story but omg this was just no.

The FMC while i was completely trying to understand where she is coming from and how her behavior is so childish all the time it got to a point i just couldn’t!!! Like yes i understand that her father was locking her in and all that but i just couldn’t because there was no character development whatsoever like yes she said she wanted independence but also fully depending on Torn? Make it make sense!! Letting her dad treat her that way and her fiancé but fighting guys that try and hit Torn? Girl if you got it in you then just stand up for your own bullies 😭

The mmc no because he got everything i love in mmcs 😭 he is a biker and has tattoos and blushes and also some kind of a math nerd but he also was so annoying 🌚 the way his only sentence for the first 50% whenever something happened that needed him to talk was “ i need to go” like i get it honestly what he went through but being this rude omg it didn’t make me pity him or feel sorry for him as the author intended but only angry and annoyed at him.

romance the way they went from hating eachother to suddenly being on a date to loving back eachother got me so confused bro and also the way he didn’t respect her wishes like she expressed clearly that she doesn’t like people knowing about her ear thing and he still went and told his friend and then her roommate when she told him the first time that it hurts her because it’s not his business to say and he still went and did the second time like it’s nothing😭😭 idc about his intentions this is her thing to say not his!!! And omg the smut scenes???? Especially the one with holand in it like WTF WAS THAT???? Ugh no… and they were literally alot like less touching and fucking and more talking and solving the problems like adults plsss???

plot i guessed it half way through the book but like the marriage thing? Did we forget that they are still college students? Or like why there was no proper explanation for the way her father treated her like that or her mother? Like he kept saying im protecting her and im protecting her okay but from what like even before this toran thing happened her father was still fucking suffocating so protecting her from what??😭😭 ugh it flopped in so manyways and it feels good to get some of this out but ugh so disappointed tho 😭🌚

[Emma.catherine · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Boy, oh boy, did Peyton deliver 🥹

After reading the first three books in this series a few months back, I have been waiting to hear Lily and Toren’s story - a second-chance romance between the new assistant coach's daughter x the hockey team’s bad boy 🖤

I’m not always a fan of this particular romance trope but let me tell you: THIS is how you do a second-chance romance 🙌🏽

‘Undone’ was so much more than just a romance. Peyton cleverly weaved together themes of depression, childhood trauma, and abuse into an emotional, heartfelt read that reminds us of the importance of feeling loved and seen in this cruel world.

My heart was absolutely SHREDDED and HEALED 10 times over 💔 ❤️‍🩹 ❤️

Toren Kane has a reputation. He’s trouble and dangerous both on and off the ice. Determined to make it to NHL, he turns to Waterfell University hockey team for his chance at redemption. But now the new assistant coach is Christophe LaBlanc, Toren’s former coach and dad to his childhood best-friend - Lillian (Lily) LaBlanc. And he knows all of Toren’s deepest, darkest secrets…Lily has been forced to make the move with her dad after dropping out of Harvard. She is struggling big time, suffocating under her father’s control and her deep-set depression which she is determined to keep hidden alongside her desperate need to paint…When these childhood best-friends, and first loves meet once again they can almost believe it’s not real. Scandal, secrets, tension, and trauma bubble at the surface…In this grand finale, Peyton effortlessly ties together the threads that have run through all four books creating a masterpiece well worth reading.

My sweet Lily 🥲 I honestly feel so protective of her character and just wanted to wrap her up in a big hug. Known as the weird girl, locked away by her stifling father, like a princess in a tower, nobody truly saw her but Toren. Her father angered me so much, it broke my heart witnessing how he treated her, how he made her feel childish and stupid. How could he not see the quiet beauty in this girl? I can’t even explain how much I related to her struggles with depression. I felt her loneliness, her anxiety, numbness, and trauma. Peyton conveyed SO much emotion through Lily’s character that it made me stop and nearly brought me to tears on many occasions.

Toren’s reputation preceded him throughout most of this series, and I will admit, like everyone else I assumed the worst of him. He kind of scared me before, closed off, grumpy, and cold-hearted was how he came across. I was so wrong 😭 Beyond the hot temper and ‘violence’ was a kind, gentle soul who ached with sorrow, abandonment, and loneliness. He just felt unloved. Peyton did a really good job on his character development, providing a genuine, raw, and honest explanation for his personality and behaviours. I went from disliking a villain, to loving this gentle giant.

The love between Toren and Lily was undeniable, unquestionable, unconditional. These two were literally meant to be, no questions asked. I could FEEL the connection. It was a tangible, living thing. Seeing how they found a safe place of refuge in each other both in adulthood and childhood was so special. The deep-seated peace they felt with each other was so evident and it far surpassed romance. Don’t get me wrong, the romance was top-notch, but the connection between them was just indescribable.

“There's not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where Toren Kane and Lily LaBlanc aren't tied together. True soulmates who would find each other, no matter what.” 💘✨

Both Lily and Toren’s stories made me feel so seen 😭 And when they both finally realised that they weren’t alone, it was so special. I love how Peyton created this spark of hope for each of them, recognising that it wasn’t some magical cure for mental illness, rather a connection, a start. I know exactly what it’s like to feel like you don’t belong, and how hard it is to make connection with others. It seems to easy for some, yet all my life it has been a major challenge, and it was so reassuring to see that reflected so accurately here. In the end, they found their people which gives me hope and courage to believe that I still have a chance at finding mine 🥹

After reading the in-depth stories of all the characters in this series, it was so heartwarming to see them all brought together in this finale. I also ADORED the addition of Holden in this book, he was an absolute sweetheart; I wish we could have seen his own story. Witnessing all these characters went through gave me a real sense of appreciation for each of them and I felt a genuine love for them all in this final piece. It is a real bittersweet moment 🥲

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed not only this book but the entire series. Moreover, I have to congratulate Peyton on her writing skills because the growth from book one til now is truly remarkable 👏🏽 She has created such a diverse, beautiful, heartfelt cast of characters that I have come to love. The emotions she conveyed through each of them is astonishing and I genuinely felt so much through them. I hate that this is the end of the series but I can’t wait to see what she creates next…I will be reading it for sure!

4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

[EM · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

There’s not a world that exists, in the multitudes out there, where Toren Kane and Lily LaBlanc aren’t tied together. True soulmates who would find each other, no matter what.

And just like that, we’ve come to the end of the series. 🥹❤️‍🩹

Undone brings us Lily and Toren’s story, two people who, on the surface, couldn’t be more different, yet somehow understand each other in ways nobody else ever could. Lily is the strange girl who has no friends, isolated from everyone around her and trapped under the weight of an asshole father. Toren is the scholarship kid from the other side of town, a boy who comes across as violent, dangerous, and one massive walking red flag. But beneath all that anger and darkness is someone who is hurting, too. On paper, Toren is the kind of character who makes you want to keep your distance. He's violent, dangerous, and carries so much anger that it's easy to see him as nothing but a walking red flag. Meanwhile, Lily is fragile in the ways that matter, a girl who has been made to feel small and alone by the very person who should have protected her.

But Peyton Corinne doesn't simply give us a dangerous boy and a broken girl and call it a love story. She allows us to see the pain beneath their defences, the loneliness behind their behaviour, and the ways their pasts have shaped who they are.
And watching these two find their way to & healing each other? MY HEART.

Let's talk about Coach Harris and Sahara.
These two wonderful, selfless human beings deserve the entire world. The way they welcomed Toren, loved him, and became the family he desperately needed was so incredibly touching. Sometimes, family isn't about the people you're born to but the people who choose you, stand by you, and love you even when you don't know how to love yourself.

The found family trope was executed SO WELL. And that is exactly what this series does so beautifully. Watching Freddy, Ro, Paloma, Bennett, and everyone else come together, with precious Holden as the sweetest little addition, had me feeling all sorts of emotions. 🥹 There's something so beautiful about watching a group of people who have their own scars and struggles slowly become a family. The little moments, the unwavering support, the love that extends beyond romantic relationships — ALL OF IT.
I was genuinely emotional reading about how they became this big, chaotic, loving family. These characters have come so far, and seeing them all together felt like coming home. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to them.

The author weaves together themes of depression, abandonment, trauma, and the desperate need to feel loved and understood. Despite the heaviness of these themes, the story never loses sight of the fact that healing isn't always straightforward, and love isn't some magical cure for everything that hurts.

Undone was an emotional, touching conclusion to a series that has given us so much more than romance. It gave us characters who feel real, relationships that matter, and a reminder that sometimes the family we find can be just as important as the one we were born into.

[elise ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡ (uni hiatus)]

AHHHHHHHH IM SCREAMING!! my most anticipated release and i got the arc!!!!! i cannot wait to read this soon 🥹 i know lily and toren will be my roman empire 🤭💫💐 so so grateful !!

[charisse ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

˗ˏˋ 5 stars ⟡ ݁₊ .

literally didn't expect to cry so much, like crying during the prologue is insane work,

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧• toren kane
it was heartbreaking to get into his head. the way he puts up this facade of being strong and tough but in reality he's just feeling too much and doesn't know what to do with it.. honestly he deserves so much better and the way that his coach treated him pmo so bad.. and like even though he went through so much, he's still always there for everyone. i'm just so glad that he had holden even tho tor kept telling him to fuck off but holden stayed regardless. and like also the way that he's "reluctant allies" with paloma

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧• lily lablanc
she's a character that resonated with me a lot, and i just want to give her a big hug! she's honestly such a sweet girl! the way that she struggled so hard being friends with paloma in the beginning made me feel so seen! i loved that it ended up working out and they're besties with sadie and ro. the way that she lacks confidence in herself and is constantly seeking for acceptance because of how her father controlled her broke my heart so much. i just loved how everyone from the friend group accepted her and let her know that she belongs there!

anyways can we just talk about the epilogue??? it was literally soo sweet and such a full circle moment seeing all of the characters come together in their lil found family group. I LITERALLY NEVER WANT TO LEAVE WATERFELL U!!

also the way that i NEEEED a book or novella for holden?? literally atp i'll read whatever peyton writes. 🙂‍↕️

⤷ thank you to netgalley, atria and peyton corinne for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶˗ˋ୨♡୧ˊ˗︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶

if i could rate this book infinity stars, i would.

lilytoren is my fucking roman empire asfgbjk-! not even going to talk about how much i cried and what i went through while reading this.. i think i need like at least 10-15 business days to process the heartbreak that i went through bc of these two ❤️‍🩹

anywayss that epilogue was SO GOOD too! i literally love everyone from waterfell u sm and i don't wanna leave 😭

full rtc!!! (when i can actually see through my tears & stop my heart from breaking)

︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶˗ˋ୨♡୧ˊ˗︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶

₊˚⊹♡ pre-read ♡⊹˚₊ ↴
08/08/2026 — the atria gods have finally answered and i have the arc in my hands 🤭🙂‍↕️ byeee- dropping everything to read this right now!!

09/06/2026 — I NEEEED TOREN AND LILY!!1!2!! PLSS ATRIA GODS 🕯️

[Sam Sellner · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️🥹

MY BABIES.

I’m so sad that this series is over and I don’t know how I’m supposed to move on. I literally cried halfway through knowing we were getting closer to the end.

This is hands down my favorite hockey romance series. I love every single one of these characters with my whole heart. I went into Unsteady expecting a fluffy, cute hockey romance, and boy, was I wrong. I never expected to become this emotionally attached to fictional characters.

And now onto Toren and Lily…
This book has my entire soul. It was emotional damage from beginning to end. Toren and Lily are truly soulmates. From finding each other at seven years old during the darkest moment of their lives, to finding their way back to each other as adults… THIS is how you write a second chance romance.

They both carry so much trauma from their pasts, and watching them work through those things and learn to open up to each other again was absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful. These characters felt so incredibly human and raw. They’re complicated, messy, misunderstood, and deeply emotional but absolutely perfect.

Peyton Corrine wrote these characters so beautifully. Being inside Toren and Lily’s heads and finally understanding what they had been through made me see them differently. They both have dark pasts, but deep down, they just want to be understood and loved. Their story wrecked me.

Peyton tied the ending together perfectly. Getting to see all of these characters again and watching them become this found family honestly healed something in me. I love them all so much, and they deserve the world and more.

I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to say goodbye to this series. Toren and Lily have joined my list of favorite couples.

Peyton Corrine’s writing is incredible, and I will read anything she writes. Me and Peyton Corrine’s books. Forever.

[Jenn (The Book Refuge) · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Peyton Corinne is truly one of those authors that I only compare to herself. With each story she crafts, my respect for her grows. She pulls me into these characters lives in such an integral way, it's impossible to get them out of my heart and soul.

I have been itching to learn the full breath and weight of Lily and Tor's story for years now. It's been sitting at the back of my mind with each book in the series and I knew that Undone was going to crack my heart open for them. I also know there was a reason the whole series was named after THEIR BOOK, and not the first one. It all clicks into place here.

Lily was someone that I felt deeply protective over. I think I started to feel that in Unbound, as Paloma feels it too. There was a lot of Lily I came to understand through Paloma's eyes but it's not until we get into Tor's head that we can ever fully appreciate her. He may think he's built up a wall. But it's 1000% all bravado and lies. Lillian is in his soul and literally inked into his skin. It's never felt right how they were torn apart, and now that she's at his school, in his class, in his rink, it's only a matter of time. They are magnets, they are meant to be.

Then there is LeBlanc. Lily's dad. Tor's coach... just human garbage. Ugh... he was such a drain on all the energy these two create together. I think the author does such a good job showing that. These kids may actually be adults. But he has control and influence over both of their lives and he's broken them in different ways. It hurts to see. It's falling and sickening.

Truly, the only small complaint I had in this whole book, was that I wanted a more satisfying exorcism of him from their lives. One that included Lily getting to say something to her dad's face. It was all left to Tor to handle and maybe that's good, but it left me wanting for that one.. last scene.

Overall, this series was stunning. Peyton Corinne has cemented herself in my heart and on my bookshelf for all time. I can't wait to see what she writes next. Brava, madam, brava!

4.5 Stars
3.5 on the spice scale

CW: Suicide of a parent (child found them), Mental health episodes, accidental overdose, Toxic Parent, child abuse, physical abuse by a coach

*Thank you to Atria Books and the author for an ARC of this title.*

[Masha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Best book in the series.

Thank you Netgalley as well as the author for providing me with this ARC, in exchange for my honest review. This book was amazing, heck the whole series was jus wow!! and I thought I loved the last book the most but this one went even above and beyond that. I am literally so sad this series is over. After reading last book I was awaiting Lily and Toren's story so much and it definitely delivered. I wish Peyton had more books/series for me to read because her characters, her writing, all of it is chef's kiss. The way Lily always took care of Toren and vise versa. I just...I am not sure when I will get over this book but it will be a while.

[asra⭑.ᐟ (hiatus) · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

★★★★
ꕮ .🌌 ݁˖ [ 4.5 stars !! ] ⟢

rtc?





pre-read

*insert the loudest screaming known to humanity* I HAVE IT IN MY HANDS OH MY GOD FINALLY




goddamn that cover is hot.

[Lex.ᐟ · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

I think this was just too dramatic and that kind of overshadowed the angst that I loved about books 2 & 3. I would have loved this a lot more if they didn’t spend over half of the book avoiding each other but still seeing each other briefly. Like- I feel like they were barely together at all until the end… one or the other would show up and scream at each other and leave, then to come back a few hours/days later ?? I feel that they did not spend time together AT ALL CONTINUOUSLY. I was so excited because I liked the trope even though I’m normally not into childhood bffs… but man… their interaction in the last book is what made me look forward to this and I feel like there was barely any romance.

The way it was written genuinely made me take longer than I would with books this size in general. Like I had to put the book down because it was so sad and they were not making any progress.

Final thoughts: I really wanted to love this one 🤧

[justine ⊹ ࣪ ˖ (back-ish?)]

𑣲⋆

pre-read : edelweiss loves me today ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚ i received the alc omg i really need to get book 3 done.

[cyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book had a lot of things I really liked and a lot of things i didn’t which is honestly how I feel about it this entire series. The book had a great premise as do all of the books in the series but they all lack execution. The story jumped from moment to moment getting rid of any tension that could possibly be built. The romance didn’t hit because we barely got to see any development. For two people who had known each other since childhood they had no spark in my opinion. Their backstory also just felt so cartoonishly evil that it was hard to take serious. It felt like every possible thing that could go wrong for them went wrong and it got to a point. Lily’s father felt like a supervillain and a lot of his plot line made no sense. It’s hard to review this without spoilers so I am going to get into minor spoiler territory here. The arranged marriage plot line made NO SENSE considering these are college students in a modern timeline. It wasn’t for monetary gain and the reasoning made no sense. Then the “marriage” between Toren and Lily also came out of nowhere and did not pack the buzz that it was going for. The scenes with Holden also went nowhere. I loved his character honestly and I was not at all opposed to him being involved but the scene with he had with Toren and Lily also went nowhere. Toren had more tension with him than he had with Lily so i don’t understand the point of adding that in. This book while being fun to read was honestly a huge disappointment for me. Fans of the series would still probably enjoy but for me personally I wouldn’t recommend.