Scan barcode
tarrareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
🌶🌶🌶
——————
"𝙄𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙁𝙡𝙞𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧."
Ok, I went into this book completely blind. All I knew was that it was dark, a hockey romance and had a shopping list of trigger warnings. Tick, tick and a big ol’ tick!! This book was fantastic. I truly felt all of the emotions from the characters. It did feel like a bit of a puzzle at times, trying to piece together what happened. The only reason I gave it 4 stars was because…
SPOILER ALERT
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Lachlan found Lyla aka De-lil-ah way too easy. I feel like the angst of that scenario could have been prolonged and we could have delved a little deeper into the past as well as into the three years she was MIA but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨
✨️ Hockey Romance
✨️ Dark Romance
✨️ Possessive MMC
✨️ He Falls First
✨️ Revenge
✨️ Anti Hero
✨️ Reformed Playboy
✨️ Touch Her and D!e
Graphic: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Cursing, Rape, and Stalking
melissaslibraryy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Pregnancy
beckyremillard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Stalking, Car accident, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, and Grief
shaykay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
It's one of those books that's hard to explain and is a good one to go in as blind as possible. However, it is a dark book; you must look up the trigger warnings before picking it up. So, in the first half, we are in a college setting. We're seeing the two main characters meet, but it's the end of their college careers. Lachlan is getting ready to go pro and is an open book, but Lyla has a lot of secrets and is very guarded. But we see these two meet and fall for one another. But then we do a time skip, and suddenly, it's about four years later, and Lachlan has achieved all of his goals and is working on finding Lyla. We learn all of her secrets during this reunion, and the book gets dark. The book is mysterious and tense, but we don't learn just how bad it is until, towards the end, the truth starts coming out. I wish there were more books in this world.
Initial Read
I need to read more Clare Conteras books! This one was amazing, and it's one of those books you feel wrong about loving so much because it's super dark. So I picked it up right after Conteras was announced to be at Sweetgrass next year because it's been on my radar since it got some traction on TikTok. Still, it was just sitting on my KU TBR. I'm so glad that pushed me to pick it up. It's hard to explain this one because it spans over a few years, and it's split into two parts. So, in the first part, we are with Lyla and Lachlan while they are in the last semester of college. He's a pretty big hockey player for the school and has plans to go pro.
Meanwhile, we know quickly that something is going on with Lyla, but we need to know what. It's initially played off like she's just a big homebody, but we soon learn what's happening with her. But these two hit it off really fast, and we see it go from 0-60 super-fast between them. It was so much fun, but things with Lyla hit a whole new level, which caused her to run away and start over. She literally vanishes, which starts part two. We see her in this new life she's created, and she's flourishing but living at the same time, she's been keeping everyone an arm's length away.
Meanwhile, Lachlan went pro and has been living out his ice hockey dreams. But he never forgot about her, and she was always the one that got away. Eventually, he finds her, and we see the whole truth emerge. It is insane just how much she's gone through over the years. By the end of the book, we do get a HEA because this is standalone, but we tie up everything to the point where she finally gets to live a happy, carefree life with him, and it's just amazing. This is another one I need to reread. I bought the physical copy to take and get signed, and it would be fun to annotate it since I have the physical copy now.
Graphic: Car accident, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Rape, Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Murder
hereiskyra's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Rape and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder and Violence
what_karla_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Grief, Rape, and Car accident
ddaliia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Murder, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
drishthings's review against another edition
edit: i finished the book for funsies i just skimmed thru it but ye
eh guy was a total asshole and no grovelling
Graphic: Car accident, Violence, Rape, and Stalking
befreckledreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
smalleststorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Sexual violence and Violence
Moderate: Rape