I really wish I liked this book more than I did, and to be fair - the parts I did enjoy I had fun with! - but the other issues just took me so far out of the book that overall the enjoyment was tainted. 

Now, I want to be clear. I in no way believe or want to imply that victims of assault cannot see themselves in romance novels, or that they don’t deserve to see themselves finding love and happiness in them. I’ve read romance books where the main character had been assaulted and didn’t end the book feeling as off about it as I did in this one. (The Ice Planet Barbarians book focusing on Tiffany I think does this fairly well in both addressing her trauma and having the physical relationship move in a realistic - and sexy - way.) So, believe me when I say my issues don’t stem from a main character having a specific trauma.

I think the biggest issue with this book is the dramatic tone shifting between Tess’ trauma after her assault - and the schloppy romance “spending days in bed having sex” plots. Having both be directly next to one another feels wrong, and there is a specific scene where Tess relates - in explicit detail - her trauma, and then immediately after her and the guy she’s with have marathon sex where, it’s explicitly stated, she doesn’t have any issues or triggers to avoid. And this book is filled with these wild tone shifts, where it can’t figure out a happy-medium between fun romcom lightheadedness and the seriousness of the assault, and the end result leaves the reader feeling overall uncomfortable even in lighthearted scenes. 

Also, I think the scenes where Tess is dealing with her trauma kind of verge from storytelling and flowing in a plot, to “character says the best and most correct thing” here, and in many ways it felt less like a conversation happening and more like “this is a good character because they are saying the correct thing, regardless if this is how a conversation between people works,” type of deal. It wasn’t the biggest issue I had, but it was very noticeable during the conversation where Tess gets with her love interest. He says something to make her think she can’t trust him, and then he barely says anything to get her to trust him, and suddenly she does? And then they’re having marathon sex with no issues? (Also, the sex scene itself was underwhelming, which is fine but I did find it odd that the male love interest has a whole internal monologue about not wanting Tess to think she has to force herself to come, but when she does being like “I’m so happy she trusts me like this.” I will admit to being like, “Huh?” during this part.)

I also felt some of the descriptions to be odd, with similar ones being used for loved interests as well as men who we think may attempt to assault Tess. 

These quotes are taken from a digital ARC copy, and may not be in the final product. I had only highlighted them in my copy because the first description made me a bit uncomfortable, which was only confirmed when the second description happened and I was like “Wait, wasn’t this almost exact thing said about a love interest?”

“...with every aspect of this hulking brute of a man. He was easily a foot taller than she was, thick with muscle…” - a scene describing a sexy romp within the world of the books this novel is about.

“He was big - like, linebacker big…” - a scene of a man trapping Tess in a hallway and potentially wanting to force himself on her. 

Finally, this doesn’t really mean anything, but the brief interludes of the characters and scenes within the books this novel is about really took me out of the story. The writing style in these books was very Harlequin-style, trashy romance and every scene we were forced to read of this world just made me wonder why on earth these books would be popular. The plots and storylines shown, as well as the writing, in these “books” made the popularity of these books make no sense to me, and I could not understand how the main character not only read all 3 books but regularly re-read them for enjoyment. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book and found the plot and romances to be fun and typical within a romance novel - nothing too surprising in one way or the other - and didn’t have an issue with any of it. However, the constant tonal shifts between Tess falling into bed with her love interest for days on end, and then having a complete 180 while she deals with her trauma and it becomes very serious, severely limited the enjoyment I felt while reading. The overall feeling was a kind of lukewarm, mildly uncomfortable mix that made the romance feel weak, and also made it hard to simply accept some of the sillier plot going on in the background. It’s not that this author didn’t handle the assault and trauma with care, but that it felt like an entirely separate book that was simply mashed together, rather than a cohesive story. Also, this is entirely just me, but if I wasn’t already going to give this 3 stars because of the overall mess of the book, I would have had to seriously consider knocking off a star <i>anyway</i> because apparently one character is named for a stupid Taylor Swift reference, and I’d like to go one single time reading an urban fantasy romance without having to deal with a stupid and unnecessary Swift reference. For once.