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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Original Read Date: 06/19/25 - 06/20/25
Rating: ⭐️⭐️ .5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: afraid to love, captive (prior to the book starting), childhood friends to lovers, dual timeline, kidnapped (prior to the book starting), neighbors, slow burn, “teach me”, trauma healing
POV: first person, dual pov
Plot: 2.75
Character Development: 3
Romance: 2.5
Ending: 2.5
My opinion: I read this book after reading Still Beating and those books couldn’t be more different from each other. I was hopeful this book would show us more of Oliver’s time in captivity but it turns out it wasn’t all that bad, just lonely so that wasn’t an exciting plot point. There are a few things throughout the book that were interesting like why was he taken, who is the masked man in the comics he drew as a child, plus a few other things but these are so spread out and take so long to answer that it was almost boring getting there. The relationship between Oliver and Sydney wasn’t something that drew me in. There was too much push and pull - which typically I don’t mind, but in this book it drove me crazy. On top of that I just didn’t enjoy how everyone interacted with Oliver. Most people acted as though captivity stunted his mental development when that wasn’t the case. It was just overall frustration in many different places.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️ .5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: afraid to love, captive (prior to the book starting), childhood friends to lovers, dual timeline, kidnapped (prior to the book starting), neighbors, slow burn, “teach me”, trauma healing
POV: first person, dual pov
Plot: 2.75
Character Development: 3
Romance: 2.5
Ending: 2.5
My opinion: I read this book after reading Still Beating and those books couldn’t be more different from each other. I was hopeful this book would show us more of Oliver’s time in captivity but it turns out it wasn’t all that bad, just lonely so that wasn’t an exciting plot point. There are a few things throughout the book that were interesting like why was he taken, who is the masked man in the comics he drew as a child, plus a few other things but these are so spread out and take so long to answer that it was almost boring getting there. The relationship between Oliver and Sydney wasn’t something that drew me in. There was too much push and pull - which typically I don’t mind, but in this book it drove me crazy. On top of that I just didn’t enjoy how everyone interacted with Oliver. Most people acted as though captivity stunted his mental development when that wasn’t the case. It was just overall frustration in many different places.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Oliver is such a sweetheart, he’s adorable! Overall I really enjoyed the story and I love Jennifer Hartmann’s writing, she hooks you and has you needing to know what will happen next. The big reveal at the end, ngl I wasn’t a huge fan of - felt unnecessarily triggering. I did love the story and the relationship between Oliver and Sidney though.
audiobook review: loved Sidney, didn’t particularly like Oliver’s narrator
audiobook review: loved Sidney, didn’t particularly like Oliver’s narrator
emotional
tense
medium-paced
This book had so many things going for it. It had mystery, childhood friends to lovers, slow burn, traumatic pasts and even a writing style that felt unique and engaging. I was READY to fall in love with this one.
But holy AIRBALL, did we drop it.
The MMC is the heart of this book. He was missing for 22 years, hidden away underground and cut off from the world. Watching him rediscover the world was endearing and even occasionally funny. He carried this story and their entire fucking romance.
I usually root hard for a flawed female lead. I'll give her more grace than most but this one had me rooting for the OTHER WOMAN in the story. We've got a man who was literally imprisoned underground for two decades and SOMEHOW he's doing all the emotional labor of their relationship. H'e bringing vulnerability, effort, even growth and she's leaving her fucking doors unlocked after a LITERAL home invasion where they didn't catch the guy because 'it's fine'. Spoiler alert. It was NOT fine.
Then there's the 'finally together' moment. And after all that, what should have been this meaningful moment between two friends who found more in each other, we got generic, factory standard smut. It was NOT a culmination of two broken people finding solace in each other (though neither did their entire relationship so IDK why I was surprised). Their entire relationship was just lust. Shallow lust-seriously shallower than a kiddy pool. More like a splash pad.
This could have been something really beautiful. The bones were there.
But holy AIRBALL, did we drop it.
The MMC is the heart of this book. He was missing for 22 years, hidden away underground and cut off from the world. Watching him rediscover the world was endearing and even occasionally funny. He carried this story and their entire fucking romance.
I usually root hard for a flawed female lead. I'll give her more grace than most but this one had me rooting for the OTHER WOMAN in the story. We've got a man who was literally imprisoned underground for two decades and SOMEHOW he's doing all the emotional labor of their relationship. H'e bringing vulnerability, effort, even growth and she's leaving her fucking doors unlocked after a LITERAL home invasion where they didn't catch the guy because 'it's fine'. Spoiler alert. It was NOT fine.
Then there's the 'finally together' moment. And after all that, what should have been this meaningful moment between two friends who found more in each other, we got generic, factory standard smut. It was NOT a culmination of two broken people finding solace in each other (though neither did their entire relationship so IDK why I was surprised). Their entire relationship was just lust. Shallow lust-seriously shallower than a kiddy pool. More like a splash pad.
This could have been something really beautiful. The bones were there.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
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