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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
dark
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Stalking
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Vomit
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Everything I enjoyed about the first book - plot with substance, character development, actual romance where I believed in the couple - was completely missing from this book.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
** CAUTION: These are my reading notes and, therefore, contain approximately one million spoilers**
Overall # of Stars: 3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 cute!
Seemed like the exact same plot of Eyes on Me (which as a reminder, I hated, lol)
But I LOVED how the conversation around sex work was validating and focused on wanting to improve safety and working conditions - YES YES YES!
🥰 nickname: Lo 😍
Source: library 📚
*Recommended by: Devin 👯♀️
✅ Star crossed lovers
✅ Mine
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lauren
Junior (Nico) Trocci
Alec
Stefan
Greg
Dumped some guy named Tommy Marchetti’s car into the river
I was glad he was gone, because it freed up one of the last hurdles standing between me and his daughter.
Lauren Marchetti.
They were in HS together, one grade apart, and something went down between them that was so bad she transferred schools? It’s all very vague.
Tommy beat Junior, was like stay tf away from my daughter
I was done fucking around. I was done waiting. I’d spent nearly a decade keeping my distance from Lauren, and god help anyone who tried to get between us this time.
😍😍😍
Lauren is a sex worker!! The representation!! 😍
Lauren had been trying to meet the councilwoman [Marion Blackwell] for months, hoping to secure her vote on a new city ordinance aimed at making sex work safer.
Oh lol Junior blackmailed her so Lauren could get the meeting
And he’s her #1 fan 😍
Lauren’s roommates
Ryan (they/them)
Taylor (she/her)
And Walter their giant dog!
L’s favorite sub: NT95
I wanted her to crave me, need me.
Was it manipulative? All kinds of messed up? Absolutely.
I didn’t give a single, solitary fuck.
Junior is going to… church? Lol
His mom and Alec are already there
Lauren arrives w her gma
All the dumb church peeps are gossiping abt her
Were these motherfuckers talking shit about Lauren? My Lauren?
Oh damn, this is their first time seeing each other after TEN YEARS
Okay and to clarify, her father is *missing* not dead
I love how he calls her Lo
The tEnSiOn 🫑
Ryan already knows the Junior lore bc they met when L transferred to their school senior year
But she has to catch up Taylor on it all:
In HS she was obsessed w Junior
One night he kissed her and 1/2🌶️
They hooked up for weeks
Her “bff” Kelly was also obsessed w Junior and found out
Took pics of L’s journal detailing everything and POSTED THEM TO IG WTF
Couldn’t return to school
And Junior denied that they’d ever hooked up
*but I wonder if this was bc L’s father threatened and beat him
Kelly was eventually caught w pot in her locker and how much you want to bet Junior framed her
Ryan is like we’re going to the club tonight to help you meet someone
L walks Walter and sees a guy on a motorcycle w a helmet…
We find out from J’s POV that it’s him 😎
Also something shady is going on w Alec but we don’t know what
Ofc J put a tracker in L’s purse
Oh wait ok L&co aren’t just at any club, they’re at a kink club
He needs a membership to get in…
Calls his dad’s tech guy Mack
Uses fake ID to get in
Wearing a mask
Finds L on 2nd floor via the tracker
🌶️
Then reveals himself as NT95
Asks her to meet him at the arcade from their teen years to reenact a scene from her diary?
🌶️
They both agree they don’t want anything serious moving forward
She invites him to Velvet
He texts her at the v last sec saying he’s tied up and going to be late 😫
Damn, his dad is trying to lure him even deeper into the family business
He finally leaves and goes to Velvet
Immediately kisses her, scoops her up
Mine.
🌶️
Their landlord keeps jacking up the price of their rent on their play club
Junior doesn’t think it adds up, is going to look into it
They talk about his tense rx w his dad
They get into a fight
Next morning back at church
They hook up in the confessional lol I’m here for it
🌶️🌶️
L is worried he’s ashamed of her for her work?
Josh tells J to bring her to their low key engagement party this weekend. No other troccis are invited
When they get back
🌶️
He gets called away every single time they’re together
This time for a stake out trying to find a new mysterious bookie
It’s TYLER!?
They’re in business together now? I don’t really get it
But Junior bought Patrick McKinneys gambling debt
L’s mean sister tells her that their father was last seen with Nico Trocci (J’s dad) and L flips her shit
Goes to his apt and attacks him w a taser!? He’s like yes I had a hand in his disappearance but he’s alive, shows her proof
Both apologize
He’s gives her the deed to the Velvet
She’s like don’t go, I want you to use Velvet as a way to get out of your dads clutches
He finally tells her the real reason he had to pretend like they weren’t together in HS: her dad threatened him and his dad threatened to hurt her
She’s like omg wtf
🌶️🌶️
So anticlimactic 😫
Two weeks later
Family dinner and Lauren is coming with!
Moira “It took you two fecking long enough.” 😂
Omg Nico literally strangled J in blind rage for saying he’s leaving the mob
Aly, Josh, J, L all debriefing
No more family dinners obvs
Josh made a contemplative sound. “Maybe we start having our own family dinners instead.”
Aly beamed, looking to Lauren and me. “What do you think?”
“I like it,” Lauren said. “Nic?”
I grinned. “I’m in.”
🥹
Two months later
Ugh this entire storyline is basically “Eyes on Me” (which I hated lol”)
Bc guess what? They’re performing in front of everyone just like in that book
Epilogue
Cute!
Third family dinner
Aly & Josh
Nic & Lo
Ryan & Ben
Taylor & Jackson
Tyler & Stella
It seems like author is teeing up Tyler and Stella’s story next!
Overall # of Stars: 3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 cute!
Seemed like the exact same plot of Eyes on Me (which as a reminder, I hated, lol)
But I LOVED how the conversation around sex work was validating and focused on wanting to improve safety and working conditions - YES YES YES!
🥰 nickname: Lo 😍
Source: library 📚
*Recommended by: Devin 👯♀️
✅ Star crossed lovers
✅ Mine
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Lauren
Junior (Nico) Trocci
Alec
Stefan
Greg
Dumped some guy named Tommy Marchetti’s car into the river
I was glad he was gone, because it freed up one of the last hurdles standing between me and his daughter.
Lauren Marchetti.
They were in HS together, one grade apart, and something went down between them that was so bad she transferred schools? It’s all very vague.
Tommy beat Junior, was like stay tf away from my daughter
I was done fucking around. I was done waiting. I’d spent nearly a decade keeping my distance from Lauren, and god help anyone who tried to get between us this time.
😍😍😍
Lauren is a sex worker!! The representation!! 😍
Lauren had been trying to meet the councilwoman [Marion Blackwell] for months, hoping to secure her vote on a new city ordinance aimed at making sex work safer.
Oh lol Junior blackmailed her so Lauren could get the meeting
And he’s her #1 fan 😍
Lauren’s roommates
Ryan (they/them)
Taylor (she/her)
And Walter their giant dog!
L’s favorite sub: NT95
I wanted her to crave me, need me.
Was it manipulative? All kinds of messed up? Absolutely.
I didn’t give a single, solitary fuck.
Junior is going to… church? Lol
His mom and Alec are already there
Lauren arrives w her gma
All the dumb church peeps are gossiping abt her
Were these motherfuckers talking shit about Lauren? My Lauren?
Oh damn, this is their first time seeing each other after TEN YEARS
Okay and to clarify, her father is *missing* not dead
I love how he calls her Lo
The tEnSiOn 🫑
Ryan already knows the Junior lore bc they met when L transferred to their school senior year
But she has to catch up Taylor on it all:
In HS she was obsessed w Junior
One night he kissed her and 1/2🌶️
They hooked up for weeks
Her “bff” Kelly was also obsessed w Junior and found out
Took pics of L’s journal detailing everything and POSTED THEM TO IG WTF
Couldn’t return to school
And Junior denied that they’d ever hooked up
*but I wonder if this was bc L’s father threatened and beat him
Kelly was eventually caught w pot in her locker and how much you want to bet Junior framed her
Ryan is like we’re going to the club tonight to help you meet someone
L walks Walter and sees a guy on a motorcycle w a helmet…
We find out from J’s POV that it’s him 😎
Also something shady is going on w Alec but we don’t know what
Ofc J put a tracker in L’s purse
Oh wait ok L&co aren’t just at any club, they’re at a kink club
He needs a membership to get in…
Calls his dad’s tech guy Mack
Uses fake ID to get in
Wearing a mask
Finds L on 2nd floor via the tracker
🌶️
Then reveals himself as NT95
Asks her to meet him at the arcade from their teen years to reenact a scene from her diary?
🌶️
They both agree they don’t want anything serious moving forward
She invites him to Velvet
He texts her at the v last sec saying he’s tied up and going to be late 😫
Damn, his dad is trying to lure him even deeper into the family business
He finally leaves and goes to Velvet
Immediately kisses her, scoops her up
Mine.
🌶️
Their landlord keeps jacking up the price of their rent on their play club
Junior doesn’t think it adds up, is going to look into it
They talk about his tense rx w his dad
They get into a fight
Next morning back at church
They hook up in the confessional lol I’m here for it
🌶️🌶️
L is worried he’s ashamed of her for her work?
Josh tells J to bring her to their low key engagement party this weekend. No other troccis are invited
When they get back
🌶️
He gets called away every single time they’re together
This time for a stake out trying to find a new mysterious bookie
It’s TYLER!?
They’re in business together now? I don’t really get it
But Junior bought Patrick McKinneys gambling debt
L’s mean sister tells her that their father was last seen with Nico Trocci (J’s dad) and L flips her shit
Goes to his apt and attacks him w a taser!? He’s like yes I had a hand in his disappearance but he’s alive, shows her proof
Both apologize
He’s gives her the deed to the Velvet
She’s like don’t go, I want you to use Velvet as a way to get out of your dads clutches
He finally tells her the real reason he had to pretend like they weren’t together in HS: her dad threatened him and his dad threatened to hurt her
She’s like omg wtf
🌶️🌶️
So anticlimactic 😫
Two weeks later
Family dinner and Lauren is coming with!
Moira “It took you two fecking long enough.” 😂
Omg Nico literally strangled J in blind rage for saying he’s leaving the mob
Aly, Josh, J, L all debriefing
No more family dinners obvs
Josh made a contemplative sound. “Maybe we start having our own family dinners instead.”
Aly beamed, looking to Lauren and me. “What do you think?”
“I like it,” Lauren said. “Nic?”
I grinned. “I’m in.”
🥹
Two months later
Ugh this entire storyline is basically “Eyes on Me” (which I hated lol”)
Bc guess what? They’re performing in front of everyone just like in that book
Epilogue
Cute!
Third family dinner
Aly & Josh
Nic & Lo
Ryan & Ben
Taylor & Jackson
Tyler & Stella
It seems like author is teeing up Tyler and Stella’s story next!
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Still unclear what the objective was for this book. By the end, I was still waiting for the climax and plot to form.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One new interesting sex scene for me, few good laughs, lots of misunderstandings led to disappointment.