A review by 00leah00
In the Black by L. Dreamer

4.0

“In the Black” was a sweet second chance slow burn romance. Lilly Tan and Michelle Mitchell (Mitch) met in junior high and were high school sweethearts. Due to unfortunate circumstances and sadly, miscommunication, they end up breaking up when Lilly leaves to go to graduate school. “In the Black” starts off when Lilly comes back to their hometown to oversee her sick aunt’s bar.

I thought this was a really great second chance romance. There was just the right amount of information without a ton of flashback scenes to grasp how special their relationship was. They don’t just jump right back into a relationship once they see each other again either, which I really appreciated since it’s been ten years since they were together.

This was a well-paced slow burn, which is one of my favorite tropes. Lilly and Mitch aren’t over their feelings 10 years after they’ve broken up. They try their hardest to remain friends when Lilly comes back to town. They’re both hurt and too scared to move forward too quickly. They also both have regrets and guilt associated with their breakup that they haven’t really dealt with in the time they’ve been apart. Not to mention, Lilly has a life and a girlfriend back in Atlanta, where she moved to for graduate school. Lilly and Mitch had great chemistry and I was just so sad for them and all the time they missed out on.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and am excited to read more from Luci.