This book, while short and fast-paced, encompasses most of the major tells of a society quickly falling under a totalitarian regime.

While I don't think it adds new depths to the genre, it does have a very clever and creative spin on language restrictions. The choice to make it an epistolary novel was the best way to convey the changes happening to this society and its people.

I won't lie, at times it felt a bit farfetched to me, but again, not much can surprise me coming from humans in positions of power, so...

As a non-native English reader, this was challenging towards the end but I actually loved it, even if my brain hurt a little lol. Special mention for the word Mellifluous that I had never heard before. And to "Spinal-defectives" for becoming my new favorite insult for cowards.

Lastly, my thanks to @notlizlemon for including this book in the Fictional(?) Dystopian Societies Quest because I don't know if I'd ever have stumbled upon it otherwise.

I might read the French translation at some point to compare both 🤔

In short

I don't want to write a lot because I don't want to waste anymore time with this one but we all know wolves don't have alphas, right?!? This has been debunked for who knows how long. All this toxic male behaviour disguised as protection had me side-eyeing so hard while reading. Koen's behaviour towards Serena was uncomfortable to read to say the least.

The author's choice of "I have no idea how to solve the main issues of the book therefore I won't" was the last nail in the coffin for me.

If there is one thing that I know I’ll get from a book by Tal Bauer it is: Gay and Angst.

Hi 👋 I’m mariangello, and I’ve never read a sports romance with football.

This had a bunch of it! And video games! Like Red Dead Redemption (2 probs)™️, and Playstation4™️ The personality of the characters are definitely: “Video games and football” “Wine and cellphone data towers” “French and ballet” “Ranch and football”

And yet I still enjoyed it? Mmmmmmmostly.

The story is great when you get to the forbidden romance aspect of it, and the angst is ANGSTING- I love secret touches, yearning, glances, and “omgdoeshefeelthesameaboutme?causeiwillthrowitallawayforhim”

But other times the story felt jolting and random, descriptions and plot points were sometimes out of place and I was wondering who was where, or doing what. I liked the main characters and I will STAN COLTON forever, but I truly was scratching my head at times with the amount of airtime spent on the other pair (Justin and Wes) who already got a WHOLE book (like, they just wouldn’t leave the main stage, ya know??) the friend group/family was ENMESHED (and a bit unusual tbh)

Anyway, I appreciate this perspective from the author, I liked the concept of a TEXAS football team, dealing with a gay age gap romance in a new way. It also allowed for a nice exploration of what it means when your entire life’s goal gets torn away from you in an instant, and how you discover other parts of yourself you didn’t know were there.

The pacing was off for me though, and it wasn’t as seamless of a story and plot - sometimes I just had to “breeze through and not think too much”. I did ultimately root for the main couple and thought they were sweet together, but the dynamic was interesting for sure.

And COLTON DESERVES BETTER 😤🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️