320 reviews for:

In the Gray

B.B. Reid

3.87 AVERAGE

adventurous tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"Love doesn’t always appear in black and white. It gets messy, it gets gray, and sometimes it will even make you abandon your morals completely."...That was in the author's note at the end of this story and I can completely agree that is the message you will learn at the end of this book.

Coming in, I was a little afraid to read this because of the other reviews, and people mainly seemed to be appalled after reading. However, THIS IS A GOOD BOOK! You would think the 16-year age difference between the MMC & FMC would be the shocker, but the book doesn't heat up until you're at least 75% through. Now could I keep the same mindset after the challenges Atlas and Rowdy faced? Absolutely not, but this is their story not mine.

In the end, I'm glad the results worked out in their favor, and they got to continue their love and get their happy ending. However, I will say your childhood best friend being your children's grandfather is crazyyyyy...lol. I'm excited to read more of B.B. Reid's catalog.
challenging dark funny fast-paced
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jazmine17's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

I didn’t like the age gap in the story
dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The writing was fast paced and engaging but I was not down with some of the overall themes. The age difference was cringe and Rowdy was just outright abusive. Not all of the events in the book seemed necessary. The book could have probably been shorter.
dark tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Not sure how I feel about this 😭 

Why was Rowdy so damn aggressive 🙃 This man was so unhinged but he ended up growing on me at the end. 

I didn’t like the whole plot twist that Atlas could’ve been his daughter, that was gross 😷 But it did keep me invested in the story. 

I loved how strong willed Atlas is even though she’s only nineteen and I really loved that she didn’t change that about her. 

I just feel like it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger because we know Rowdy isn’t her dad but we know her dad is Joren and he did not like Atlas at all when he first met her, did they ever get past that and start a relationship???

Now I say this book definitely has some gray areas but I still ended up enjoying it nonetheless! 


I don’t know how to feel about this book. I had several wtf moments. The level of toxicity throughout was at times just unnecessary. The plot twist (that I saw coming a mile away but hoped we would avoid reading) was disturbing. The MMC was so immature it was unbearable at times. The age gap was constantly thrown in our faces.

The book had one or two scenes that I found funny but it was overpowered by the violent, childish, toxic masculinity of the MMC.