A review by matelliii
Ashes of You by Catherine Cowles

1.0

I've read books about single dad x nanny before, so this aint my first rodeo. But, for some reason, this book kinda gave me the ick? Maybe because the power imbalance is way too huge between the two characters. First is the age gap. Then there's the boss x employee. And, finally, the freakin rescuer x survivor. It screams problematic, tbh.
It just gave me the impression of a reverse Stockholm syndrome and im trying to find a term for it but the closest thing I got is "Rescue Romance Syndrome". Cos here's the thing, the only connection I see between Hallie and Law is that moment when they first met. And when they met again, suddenly there's deep attraction? Their whole relationship is just defined by that moment when he rescued her. Aside from that connection, what else? what made them bond? cos all I saw is trauma bonding, lol. Maybe there’s the kids that connected them, sure. But aside from the kids and the trauma, what else?
I like Lawson's character and throughout the whole series we established him as someone who's this reliable figure. So I couldn’t help but think that maybe the only reason he felt attraction to Hallie is because of his blind need to protect her AGAIN from past traumas. It screams "savior complex" to me.
I really dont want to psycho-analyze this relationship but I just could not help it, not when there's trauma and mental health issues being a prevalent part of the story. *sigh* Sorry but for a final book that supposed to end this series, this book just disappointed me.