A review by cheri_champagne
Yanni's Story by N.R. Walker

3.0

**CONTENT WARNING** This book contains a protagonist (and side-characters) that is recovering from sexual assault and physical battery from a significant other.

Firstly, apparently my library-borrowed audiobook was an abridged copy, and three hours was missing. A lot of issues stemmed from this, as in those hours, new characters were introduced and apparently big character development and plot events happened that I never got to read, which made me confused for most of the second half of the book. I'll have to let my library know that their copy isn't very good.

That aside, my feelings about this book can be divided into two categories: 1. Yanni's growth, recovery, and simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming story, and 2. The ick factor.

I found Yanni's journey to reclaiming his power beautiful and heart wrenching, and everything it should be. It was very slow, but absolutely necessary for his growth. I got a little choked up several times, particularly when it came to Peter's instinct to help him, and in Yanni's lovely interactions with the Landons.

That, however, is pretty much where my good feelings about this book end. The relationship between Peter and Yanni was ok, but whenever the "Daddy" and "Boy" endearments/roles were brought into it, I cringed. I don't think that there's anything wrong with this kind of romance, but I hear my kids call my husband daddy all the time, and in my brain, the sexy stuff just wasn't working. Maybe I can re-visit it when my kids are way older and don't use that word anymore. For the time being, though, this book just isn't for me.