Abbi Glines was one of the first authors whose books I loved and got me into the new adult/contemporary romance genre. I’ve read quite a lot of her books before but I haven’t read from her in a while mostly because I was starting to not connect with her stories nor her characters, although I’m glad I took a chance and read this one. I actually started reading the first book, Lyrics of a Small Town, but DNF’d it because I got a bit frustrated with the characters especially regarding the OW drama. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about that book, I’m here to talk about this one which I actually sorta kinda enjoyed… for the most part.
I think Bryn is one of Abbi’s better heroines to date (Della is still my favorite though). Yes, she has her flaws and like most of Abbi’s other heroines, still has that betraying body syndrome (don’t they all 🙄), but it tolerable…ish. She actually sorta held her own with Rio and wasn’t that much of a pathetic idiot when he was around. Only when he started to really pursue her did her BBS start lol. But still, it was kinda bearable. I still liked her and admired her strength, her tenacity, and her complete love & devotion to her nephew, Callum. Their relationship and interactions were actually one of my favorite parts of this book. Rio, on the other hand, frustrated me and got on my nerves in the first few chapter (like during the first 40%) because of his actions and inner thoughts regarding Bryn. But of course, no matter how much he tried to picture her as screwed up and how much he tries to convince himself he’s better than her (eye roll), his attraction towards her wins out. I only started liking him after he decided to screw his inner turmoil and pursue Bryn. After that he was pretty much a swoon-worthy guy. He was a stand-up guy to for being there for both Bryn and Callum no matter what was thrown their way (like the death of Tory). He was also super protective and hella possessive of Bryn, and I couldn’t even blame him. I feel the drama thrown towards the end was kinda unnecessary and was only there for extra drama purposes, but a jealous and possessive Rio is always a welcome sight so I didn’t mind it too much lol. Overall, I think this was a great small town friends-to-enemies-to-lovers somewhat second chance romance, if that’s what you’re looking for. Just don’t get too excited about the ending though… cause it’s hella weird. Like an epilogue that’s 5 years ago LOL welp, there’s a first time for everything I guess 🤷🏻♀️ It also didn’t even involve the H and h but rather her ex bf lololol like I said… weird. Anyhoo, still enjoyable to me so whatevs!
**MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW**
Safety Gang:
-CW: sexual abuse (off page), physical abuse & verbal abuse (flashbacks), death of a sibling, drug use (side characters), overdose (side character), death of a parent (flashback), traumatic childhood (both MCs), public nudity (h works as topless waitress at a strip club)
-Safe sex: condoms were used at first but disregarded later on; both clean (h was a virgin but not on birth control and H was tested and never had sex without condom before)
-H age 22/23, h age 21
-No cheating
-No sex/intimate scenes with other people
-Some OW drama; women would flirt with H sometimes and the h would see and cause jealousy, but doesn’t cause major drama, if anything it turns the H on every time. Also, the H has this casual hookup who he made plans to go out and sleep with when he was trying to get the h out of his head, but didn’t go through with it
-OM drama; h’s boss in the strip club wants her and was trying to date her, which cause major jealousy from the H and they have this random scene wherein the boss talks dirty to her and tried to seduce her and she wasn’t quite sure whether she was turned on or horrified…? Lol. Also, the h’s cheating ex bf randomly shows up towards the end wanting her back, creates some drama and jealousy for the H as well (apparently he was claiming to be Callum’s dad since he cheated on the h with her sister gross)
-HFN ending with no (legit) epilogue (like I said, don’t get too excited about the ending since it’s hella weird. Ended quite abruptly and I definitely needed more than that for a HEA. The "epilogue" was 5 years ago that involves a random scene between the h, her sister, and her ex bf -- so darn weird I tell ya)