I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Tropes, etc: Age Gap, Friends with Benefits, Infidelity POV: Single, 3rd Person 3rd Act Breakup?: Yes Song Association: "Hits Different" by Taylor Swift | "Doors" by Noah Kahan Notable Quote: “I could have you for my whole life, she thinks, if you’d let me, if you wanted me—”

Brief Summary: Lili, a 22 year old student, meets her match in a man twice her age who is her opposite in almost every way. When he begins breaching her carefully constructed walls, Lili must decide if she can overcome her fear of potential loss to pursue a life with Aleksandr.

Vibe Check: Academic, Moody, Sexy

FMC Is: Stubborn, smart, passionate MMC Is: Caring, hardworking, absolutely smitten Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪

While Reading I: Cried and cried and cried. And also giggled at the banter.

What Kept Me Hooked: Lili & Aleksandr’s undeniable chemistry, how down bad that man was, just Aleksandr as a whole tbh

Room For Improvement: There was so much information about Lili’s thesis! Like a truly mind-numbing amount. It didn’t really benefit the story and was just sort of boring unless you’re really into economics. Personal preference but I would’ve loved an epilogue!

Final Thoughts: I have a LOT of thoughts about this book. I was so excited to receive this ARC because, as a Darklina, I had heard about the story. The banter and the connection between Lili and Aleksandr were so, so good. I truly love them together, and for the first 70ish%, I was POSITIVE that Games would be one of my favorite books of the year—maybe of all time. But then the last 30% hit and…I honestly can’t even think about it without it making me angry and anxious (like I literally couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about it). Don’t get me wrong, I understand the narrative choices that were made and they made sense for Lili’s character! I just didn’t like them. I could’ve moved past it if there had been an epilogue, but there wasn’t, so I finished the book feeling like I was sort of in limbo despite a mostly optimistic ending.

Overall, the writing is fantastic—I can always tell when an author started in Fanfiction because their writing is leagues better than 90% of traditional authors and this was no exception—and the story is compelling, BUT be aware that you aren’t getting a sunshiney romance novel when you pick this one up.