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redhairedashreads's review
4.0
4 stars - It was really good
When a prickly SEAL rescue diver comes to Safe Harbor to help with the cold case Holden and Monroe are working on, Holden finds himself offering to become his roommate when his RV breaks down and he needs to stay long term. As Holden gets to know the prickly SEAL he finds himself falling for the hurt man who is learning about his sexuality and to love again.
This was a very enjoyable story that was filled with a lot of emotions. Holden uses humor to disguise his insecurities and chronic pain, but with Cal he reveals his true self. I like that we are finally getting to see the real Holden and that he finally starts showing his true self to his friends by the end of the book. Cal is a veteran who has PTSD, survivors guilt and is struggling with the loss of his best friend. He is also a very independent man who struggles with asking for help so we see him spend a lot of this book struggling with his need for closeness but fear of losing it again, which is understandable coinciding what he went through.
These two had a beautiful relationship that was all about comfort and healing, but also some steamy sex with bondage. I love that this relationship was all about consent, asking for what you want pleasure wise, and exploring your sexuality since it's relatively new to Cal. It was just a beautiful relationship that showed that consent is key and I loved how Holden let Cal set the pace for the sexual aspects of the relationship.
Overall, this was a very good addition to this series. I really loved this couple and look forward to seeing what will happen next after that epilogue. Also, I am very interested in seeing what will happen with the cold case next.
TW: chronic pain; PTSD, survivor’s guilt, and insomnia; death of a friend during a dive mission discussed; grief; death of parents mentioned;
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
piperclover's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
3.25
I was really excited for this because I love anything by Annabeth Albert and I liked the first book a lot but unfortunately this fell pretty flat for me. It's not bad by any means. I still had a good time reading this but it wasn't quite as good as I hoped.
I really enjoyed the pain play and nipple play even though I wish there was more of both. I like the mutual discovery of kink.
Holden is a cool character and I appreciate how his disability impacts him. It's neat that he still does have some mobility even though he doesn't use it often because he deals with chronic pain. I've never read a book where the character is in a wheelchair but still has use of their legs so it was nice to have that. I thought it was handled really well because it's never used as A fetish or trauma porn or anything like that, he just exists as is.
The biggest problem I had was that I really saw through the formula in this book which made it feel really shallow and perfunctory. Maybe that's because I'm also listening to Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert so I can really take note of the formula similarities and it stands out pretty egregiously here. I also didn't really remember the murder sub plot from the first book so when this book started talking about it and about what Monroe was doing regarding that case I was really lost until quite a bit in.
I really enjoyed the pain play and nipple play even though I wish there was more of both. I like the mutual discovery of kink.
Holden is a cool character and I appreciate how his disability impacts him. It's neat that he still does have some mobility even though he doesn't use it often because he deals with chronic pain. I've never read a book where the character is in a wheelchair but still has use of their legs so it was nice to have that. I thought it was handled really well because it's never used as A fetish or trauma porn or anything like that, he just exists as is.
The biggest problem I had was that I really saw through the formula in this book which made it feel really shallow and perfunctory. Maybe that's because I'm also listening to Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert so I can really take note of the formula similarities and it stands out pretty egregiously here. I also didn't really remember the murder sub plot from the first book so when this book started talking about it and about what Monroe was doing regarding that case I was really lost until quite a bit in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
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