salmasalehk797 's review for:

Paid in Full by Brea Alepoú, Skyler Snow

4.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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I actually enjoyed this way more than I thought I would after the 1st book. Here's what I loved about this book:

• I loved Giancarlo and Ash so much; their chemistry and banter was amazing. They're cute and precious together. They have thier flaws, of course, but I loved that about their characters too.
• The character development in this was great. I enjoyed seeing Ash grow into being his own person and standing up for himself. I also liked how Gin admitted and owned up to his flaws and mistakes and tried to fix/makeup for them. Also, him admitting that he's not coping well with his mental health issues and that he needs help was unexpected for such a character, which is why I loved it.
• The possessiveness in this book is amazing. It fits the narrative and story so well, which makes it even better. Not to mention, Gin and Ash had an actual relationship going on, making Gin's possessiveness over Ash hot. They had dates and movie nights and inside jokes. It just made it all better.
• Also, may I just say, the spice was spicy 🥵. It was everything I expected and more.

However, as much as I loved about this book, I had a few issues with it.

• Sometimes the pet thing was weird and icky. Namely when it was in discussion of Ash. When others like Bonito where a part of it. It was just fine and actually funny when it was an inside joke between Gin and Ash. However, when it became an actual thing were he did treat and think of him as a pet, it was just nasty.
• At some point, Gin calling Ash kid became icky too. It just made me feel a certain way that I did not like.
• Gin dismissing Ash's trauma the way he did,
  after he (Gin) found Ash giving his father money behind his back,
  irked me. I can't really explain it, but Gin comparing his trauma from going to prison to what Ash went through his whole life rubbed me off the wrong way. I know that he admitted how wrong he was and apologized to Ash, but it was just still blech. There just wasn't enough groveling in my opinion. 
• Lastly, the pacing felt off at certain points. For example, if the pacing was consistent, there would've been enough time at the end for Gin to properly grovel (not whatever we got).