I have a lot of feelings about this. Let's start with the audiobook itself. The girl was cute. The guy was pretty bad. He had a weird accent that didn't sound like a Maryland accent. And he kind of sounded like Alec Baldwin. And I like Alec Baldwin, but I don't find him particularly sexy. So it was hard to get into this. But I digress.

Let's talk about the romance. It was bland at best. It was one of those they just feel an inexplicable pull toward each other kind of things. Which can work if you then expand on the romance, but I never felt like the relationship was developed at all. I kept asking myself, Why does she even like him? I liked him in the previous three books, the goofy, lovable friend. But I couldn't get why she'd want to date him.

Then for Braeden, who supposedly is a relationship-phobe, I didn't get what was so special about Ivy to him that made her oh-so-different than the other girls. I just didn't feel anything between them. So I wasn't really rooting for them. I was just supposed to believe they had this undeniable chemistry, and I was like, "Okay."

I also do NOT understand why women are interested in men like Braeden, WHEN MEN LIKE TRENT ARE ACTIVELY PURSUING THEM. Yes, I've read Junkie. Yes, I know Trent is gay. No, Ivy does not know that at this point and neither does Trent. So this is irrelevant. He is a sweet, precious angel who treats her with respect. But why go for that when you could have a guy who calls you a slut. -insert upside down emoji here-

Now let's talk spoilers.

I want to stab Braeden omfg. So a naked photo of Ivy is posted online. She is violated and humiliated. And Braeden's first response is to rush right on over to Ivy's house to scream at her and ask her how she could do such a thing. Yeah, real nice. And then. AND FUCKING THEN. HE CALLS HER A SLUT! HE FUCKING SAYS, "You're a slut." TO HER! THE GUY WHO SLEEPS AROUND AND "HAS FUN" WITH TONS OF GIRLS, HAS THE AUDACITY TO CALL HER A FUCKING SLUT.

Okay, fine. He's upset. I literally just read a post that was like, "Fictional characters do problematic things and it's okay because they're human and humans are flawed." Okay but... HE NEVER FUCKING APOLOGIZES FOR CALLING HER A SLUT.

He calls her a slut and Ivy yells at him to get out, but then she's all, "Oooh I miss Braeden. I hope he can forgive me. Wah wah oh Braeden." LIKE NO. FUCK THAT. YOU CAN SLEEP WITH WHOEVER YOU WANT TO SLEEP WITH. AND HE HAS NO RIGHT TO CALL YOU A SLUT, AND HE SHOULD APOLOGIZE AND GROVEL FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS!!!!!!!!

Fuck that noise.

I also just.... don't like MF romances as much as MM ones and that's fine. I know that obviously there can be abuse in MM relationships and this may be sexist of me to say. But I can't stand the way male protagonists treat female ones half the time. Like when they act like jealous monsters. Okay, spoilers again. Like when he thinks she's in bed with Trent. And he shows up to her dorm, believing she and Trent have just slept together, and tries to barge in. And when she's covering herself up with her blanket because she doesn't want to be exposed, but he thinks he has a right to see what she's wearing (if anything) underneath her blanket and basically rips the blanket off her to the point where she falls to the ground. Yeah, real sweet and romantic. Again, I know it's probably sexist of me because it probably wouldn't bother me if one guy did this to another guy, but men treating women like this... no. Just. Fuck that. Seriously. FUCK THAT.

At least Drew is FINALLY in the next book. <3