I’ve read this book twice and you need to read it once. Luna has had a hard life but the life she built is hers and it deserves so much praise. She is so strong willed and I love watching her be a badass. Rip is his own brand of scary big dude who hides his soft spot for her because he can’t treat the only woman at the mechanics shop differently.

They morph into “friends” but how she didn’t realize the minute he started calling her “baby girl” that things were different, I don’t know. Or. OR when he slept on her couch because she couldn’t leave the house that she made hers. Ahhh. 

The slowest of burns, but damn so good. 

I'd say this is one of Mariana's best build-ups when it comes to character relationship. The scenes where the FMC and MMC interact have such a nice slow, realistic tension. You clearly see the MMC go from tough to soft, and I'd say there were plenty(!!!) of interactions between the two characters that made the relationship seem realistic and REAL.

The backstories of both characters were so real and raw, I think Mariana did such an excellent job fleshing out realistic characters with real problems/trauma and making them so special to watch grow. 

I will say, that if you are a person uncomfortable with age gaps, I'd skip this one. Similar to Kulti's age gap, the FMC is 26 or 27 (can't remember) and MMC is 41. It's not awful, it made me scratch my head a few times, personally, but I think it can be looked past. I think unlike some of her other works, the dynamic didn't seem uncomfortable (No "old man" jokes.. like Hands Down... ick for me personally). 

I think all side characters were super interesting and fun when they made appearances. The sisters, Mr. Cooper, and Miguel were all some of my favorites.

For others interested in the Mariana-verse, spoilers in case you want to skip:

We had a reference to the Reapers from Under Locke, and the Maio house from Hands Down.

Overall, I'd really recommend this book to those who love these tropes:
-Age gap
-Grumpy x Sunshine
-(Adoptive) father figure
-Independent, successful FMC

Man, the way my eyes bug out of my head when Mariana slips in a “baby girl” half way (or more) through the book. Gets me every time.

I really liked this one! This has a lot of god tropes: grumpy x sunshine, workplace romance, enemies to friends to lovers, touch her and you die, age gap. The list goes on. Slow burn though which isn’t my favorite, but only Mariana could make me read a ~500+ page book where I wait until about 90% in for them to bang. 

I would sell my soul for Chapter 28