A review by ravensandlace
What We Deserve by Lizzie Stanley

5.0

Title: What We Deserve

Author: Lizzie Stanley

Genre: Romance

Format: eARC from author

Series: Wishbone Tattoos (#1)

Star Rating: 5 stars

tw: mentions of school shootings, injury, abusive relationships, gun violence, infertility, teen pregnancy, infertility, assault, burns

A special thank you goes to the author, Lizzie Stanely,  for providing me with a copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

On Threads, I put out a post asking indie authors to send me books that they wanted me to hype up for them. Needless to say, that was a huge success and I was so happy that it was. I found a lot of fantastic books to add to my tbr, even though my tbr is already ridiculously long. Lizzie, the author of this book I’m writing a review on,  sent me this book and then asked if I wanted to read it. I said of course! And let’s just say, this book was amazing! I was obsessed with this book. I love my little tattoo crew. I will protect them forever.

I related to Emily on a very personal level. I, too, dealt with an emotionally abusive relationship. I understood why she blamed herself and how hard it is to build yourself back up from that. Even making new friends after a relationship is hard. Everybody is always telling you that you should be over it by now but the effects of that abuse linger with you for a very long time. You never truly recover from it either. That’s why I was so patient with Emily. I have been in her shoes before. I’m glad Emily was able to find love again and a lovely support group of friends who understood that she has been through a lot and needed a lot of love and patience.

I enjoyed the multiple POVs which included Leo, Dean, Eli, and Sadie along with Emily. I adored Leo and I hope he gets his own book one day. He just had a fun energy about him and I appreciated how protective he was of the group. Speaking of the whole group, they were just amazing. They were all cognizant of all their needs but also made sure they didn’t overwhelm themselves and burden the others. They understood each other's triggers and made sure to make everyone feel safe in their tattoo shop. 

Overall, this was an amazing book and I was so obsessed with it. It was my January book of the month. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book, which I have in my possession right now and I really need to get on it. This is sure to be my favorite series of the year. I highly suggest this book to everyone because I feel it has a little bit of something for everyone.