This book was deeply frustrating. I actually did see some potential for an entertaining read but there were some aspects of the book that made it much more rage-baity than I think a romance probably should be.

I truly believe that this book could have been decent if there were a few key changes:

• if it had been shorter - no one needs a 540 page contemporary romance book, I'm sorry, and some of the hand-wringing, ultra-possessiveness of the MMC, and back-and-forth could have been cut;
• if there had been, idk, just a lot less endorsement of patriarchal viewpoints that went unchallenged;
• if the relationships with the family and friends had been explored just a tidge more, as those characters were larger than life, but the relationships between them and the main characters felt very shallow and tenuous, despite us being told that they were very close;
• and most of all, if the early scenes that started the book had been cut - I really think that their age difference was not that big a deal in the current timeline, but in the past ones, it read so icky, and honestly, it was unnecessary. The story would have been just as impactful if she had had a crush on him when she was younger and he knew but wrote it off because she was too young, but then when he saw her at the cabin, he was suddenly attracted to her/saw her in a new light/whatever.

Edited to add: if anyone can teach me how to have my bullet points actually show up on web, that would be so cool. I've googled it and it just is not happening 😭

For me, even though there were some definite missteps in the way the dads acted/behaved (see note about patriarchy above), the dad chats, Hot Boi (and that croissant setting, my god), and the Spencers/paranormal podcasting storyline definitely made the book bearable. If we did not have those, I do not know if I would have made it through.

My last quibble is really with the editing. Not just due to the length and the content issues, but word usage being repeated. I have two examples that stood out to me. One example is that there was a page when a character's internal monologue used the word "jackass." Maybe like 2 paragraphs later, a character spoke the word "jackass." My issue here is that they were talking about two different things, the characters and the issues themselves were totally unrelated. It was just a little jarring to me when there are so many words that could have been used. If this was the only thing I noticed, I wouldn't bring it up. But my second example I think is worse because it was throughout the book and once I noticed it, I couldn't unsee it. It occurred pretty much only during scenes when characters were horny and/or drunk (and honestly I do think that people pay close attention to language used in intimate scenes), and it was the ULTRA FREQUENT (edited to add: I went back to control+F and see if I was exaggerating and I guess I will say maybe, bc it occurred 9 times in the book, which I think was noticeable to me bc it is not that common a word, but maybe that is just me) use of the word "husky" to describe a character's voice. With nary a pet to be seen in this book. Unforgivable!

Justice for huskies! Be the husky you wish to see in the world!

But anyway, while there were moments in which I was entertained, there was never a moment when I thought, "This is actually not bad for what it is," and that's a big warning sign, because, believe it or not, I did briefly have that thought with Cash, of all books.

This is a really long review to essentially say I hated this book. Not only are the plot and characters awful, but the writing and craft are also terrible. The single star is given to credit that I was compelled to finish the book (not only to get that sparkly flamingo badge but also) to see the end of this train wreck. It was so bad I couldn't look away.

I hate the MMC. I am not moved by how hard it is for him to be a trust fund nepo baby and I don't think not having sex in the past 6 months is an excuse to be an asshole. The author clearly never would give a FMC license to be an asshole because she hadn't recently had sex; it's clearly a heavy burden for a male character to bear to exist without women tending to their sexual needs. The MMC was not "sweet" for apologizing for being mean. He actually knew her sore spots and took advantage of them. The FMC was reeling from infidelity of a previous relationship and the MMC blithely taunts her with other woman drama. The MMC is attracted to her "walls" (i.e. emotional boundaries) and, to my interpretation, was enticed by the idea of crossing her boundaries. Nothing redeeming to me about this man. Also, his songwriting and lyrics were genuinely terrible and I had to look away from the book from my secondhand embarrassment.

The FMC was so naive and so infantalized by everyone around her. I didn't really like her but she was too wronged by everyone for me to deserve hate (no matter how tempting it is to just despise her). Dealing with the MMC in any way demonstrates a serious lack of critical thinking, but she was 20 and recently wronged by another merit-less man. The MMC shows her his lack of care for her feelings and wellbeing, and everyone around her tells her actually he's just so into you, he's horrible to you! This is classic "boys are mean to girls they like" but published in 2026. Enemies to lovers is so off the rails in the whole industry, and Kennedy isn't the only one doing this, but the lengths the author goes to explain it away is infuriating.

The age gap situation. The FMC confesses a crush on him when she was 16 and he was 20. He kind of made fun of her to let her down. Then, we skip to dry humping when she was 18 and he was 22, and him lying to her about remembering this episode (alcohol is the excuse for everything in this book). In the present day, she is 20 and he is 25. This age difference is concerning but not essentially problematic if not for the prologue scenes and the way the MMC treats the FMC. The MMC is constantly talking about babysitting and "watching" out for the FMC, including as a favor for her dad and she is sarcastically calling him Daddy. He calls her "kid" multiple times, but is masturbating to instagram pictures of her in a "slutty" bikini. She's in college and trying to prove to this 25- year-old man she's an adult and can handle his drama and moodiness and lust. She's a tease to him just by existing. The dynamic makes the age gap honestly disgusting and predatory to me.

The writing was just pitiful. The author prioritized churning out lust and sexual details rather than any semblance of plot continuity or depth. This story realistically needed 250 to 300 pages, and it's a travesty in editing that it exceeded 500 pages. The scenes were tired and the language repetitive. I also have not read the previous related series so I wasn't interested in the dad group chat. I hated the third act breakup premise and execution. The ending just depressed me.

If you like Republican propaganda books of college-aged kids hooking up, you're going to love this book. Heavy warnings for copious sexism and misogyny, paternalism, cheating, other woman drama, normalization of cheating, questionable consent and stereotypical college rape culture, and miscarriage, and it's all awful. I will never be reading an Elle Kennedy book again.