Feels strange giving out 5 stars like they're candy, but I'm on a winning streak here with all these Claire Kent novels 🥰. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's set in the same post apocalyptic world as "The Last Light."
This story follows Faith and Jackson. They run a community in New Haven, a farmland that Faith's parents used to run before the apocalypse happened. Faith's parents took in orphans and miscreants to do a decent living working on their farm, and Jackson was one of them. Now that the world has collapsed and most of the original members of New Haven are dead, Faith has taken on the mantle of running the place alongside Jackson. As a result, she has had to harden up and become business-like at a young age, not allowing herself to show vulnerability. She butts heads often with the gruff Jackson, but ultimately they are a team and trust each other. Faith has also started a friends with benefits relationship with Jackson, but she's sure that he has no feelings for her, since they never really talked it out...
This book was considerably darker than "The Last Light." Unfortunate things and deaths occur on page to characters our protagonists care about. I actually preferred that, since this is supposed to be a dark post apocalyptic story! There was violence and sad things that happened, but it wasn't overdone or torture porn.
Faith, our heroine:
I was a bit more torn on how to feel about Faith compared to Layne, the heroine in "The Last Light." Faith wasn't terrible or anything... she had her good moments where she made reasonable and logical decisions, but she also had her moments of some pretty braindead decisions 🤦♀️. I understood why she did them, but they were definitely ones that had me shaking my head as I read it. She definitely needed Jackson a lot more than Layne needed Travis in "The Last Light." At least in that book, Layne saved Travis just as much as Travis saved Layne. I suppose that's fine, as not all book couples have to have the exact same relationship dynamics. While our heroine Faith tried to be a hardass, I liked that she was still sweet and a softie inside. I know some people might be irritated with how dumb she was being about Jackson's obvious feelings for her, but I love oblivious heroines 😂. Faith had such a blind spot to how Jackson felt about her, and kept being like "oH hE obVIOUslY jUSt tHiNKs oF mE as A fRIeNd 👁👄👁." I love that she had Jackson fuming and chasing after her.
Jackson, our hero:
Jackson was such a dreamboat 🥰. It was obvious to me from the start that he was afraid to spook Faith away when he finally got to have her with the silent friends with benefits relationship, and that's why he never talked things out with her. I loved how jealous and possessive he was even from the start of the book. It was also so cute how in tune he was with her moods, and he would observe her and try to read into her behavior. Poor guy kept getting a heart attack whenever Faith delayed coming into his room at night for sexytimes, thinking she was done with him 🤣. I was squealing when she would go to his room and he'd be naked and ready, huffing about how it took her long enough. This man was adorable, and I actually prefer him over Travis, the hero from "The Last Light." He was much more possessive and aggressive. The only thing I wished was that his previous girlfriend didn't die, and that he instead broke up with her to pursue Faith. I know the author tried to imply that his feelings for his previous girlfriend were less emotional and deep, but he still confirmed he was sincere about her. He only got attracted to Faith after his previous girl died. He and Faith grew up together, and I'm a sucker for the "bickering childhood sweethearts" trope. Maybe I'm twisted, but I wanted him to have always been attracted to Faith, and just didn't understand his feelings for her. Then voluntarily left his previous girlfriend. Alas, this book didn't give the same confirmation that "The Last Light" did where the hero has a choice to go be with the OW, but chooses the heroine.
One small criticism I do have is that I wish we weren't thrown into the story in the middle of their friends with benefits relationship. I wish the story showed how it started - it sounded very hot, with them arguing and getting to the peak of tension, then animalistically having sex 🥵🔥🔥. I like reading about how the relationship started in romance novels, instead of starting from the middle.
All in all, this was a very interesting read, and I was super happy that we got cameos from Layne and Travis. They're so adorable, and it's good to see updates on their situation!
Safety:
* Heroine is NOT a virgin - she slept with a couple people casually many years back.
* Hero is NOT a virgin - he had a girlfriend he would go outside to have sex with. She died during a supply run outside of New Haven.
* No real OM drama. A young teen at New Haven has a crush on her, but only Jackson notices and gets jealous about it. Heroine doesn't notice or believe it.
* No real OW drama. The hero's previous girlfriend died before this book starts. He was never as emotional or affectionate with her, and he confirms his feelings for the heroine are much stronger. However, he was sincere towards her, until she ended up dying.
* No cheating
* No condoms, they use the pull out method until they decide for babies.
* HEA with no epilogue