A very pissed-off rant incoming because this book irritated me beyond belief.

This entire book was basically Riley desperately chasing after a man who gave her absolutely NOTHING in return. The whole plot is her running after him while he keeps pushing her away because of his ✨trauma✨. And listen, I usually love flawed characters. I love angst. I love emotional baggage. This man was not that. He was a manchild with the emotional intelligence of a brick wall, and somehow everyone around him acts like he's this great tortured hero.

And don't even get me started on the classic double standards. Apparently they've both been in love with each other since forever, but Riley has spent years acting like no other man exists while this guy gets to do whatever he wants because ✨trauma✨. He literally got married to someone else in a whim then divorces (in the past), acts possessive towards the fmc, judges her for being a sex columnist, and generally behaves like a sexist jerk, yet somehow I'M supposed to root for him?

Riley drove me insane too. I hate calling women doormats because people throw that word around way too easily, but what else am I supposed to call someone who keeps running after a guy who is actively treating her like garbage? The man rejects her, insults her, humiliates her, pushes her away, and she's still there begging for scraps of affection. Girl, STAND UP.

And the breakup? Don't even talk to me about the breakup. She literally defends him in front of his horrible mother and his response is to humiliate her in front of her. Then they spend a five hour car ride home in silence. FIVE HOURS. Not one meaningful conversation. Not one attempt to fix anything. Nothing. At that point I wasn't rooting for them to get together, I was rooting for her to leave that manchild stranded at a gas station.

Then comes the deadline. She gives him one very clear chance to step up. He doesn't. He completely misses it. Doesn't reach out. Doesn't do anything. Because, once again, he's a giant manchild who expects the world to revolve around his feelings. But then her brother basically hold his hand through a self-pity session, he writes a love letter, and suddenly we're all supposed to forget the previous 300 pages of nonsense.

And Riley takes him back. Of course she does.

Not after he changes.

Not after he proves himself.

Not after he earns forgiveness.

Nope. She takes him back because she loves him.

The side characters somehow made everything worse. Their boss was insufferable, like why are you in their personal business all the damn time? The friends were ridiculous. Why were they acting like that letter was the most romantic thing ever written? Why were grown adults crying over it? Why were they telling her they'd leave their own boyfriends for this man? Were we reading the same book???

And that's not even the worst part. One of their friends has a second-chance romance with her ex-fiancé in another book, so okay, I understand a little teasing here and there. But these people bring up Emma's ex CONSTANTLY. Which good friend does that? Who sees their friend trying to move on and decides to make jokes about their ex every chance they get? Are we being serious right now?

By the end I hated literally everyone. The romance sucked. The conflict sucked. The character development sucked. The grand gesture was laughable. And somehow this book still had the audacity to act like I should be swooning.

I hated this book so much that I finished it in a single day out of pure spite.

additional half star only for Larry and Wesley’s one sided devotion to Lionel the tortoise