dnf at 35%

i really wanted to like this book, but i think it wasn't for me. i liked the fmc, plus the smut and dirty talk were top tier, but the grown ass man behaving like a tortured, troubled teenager with mommy issues was just too much.

"i need the release she gives me and i don’t fucking care if it becomes a crutch for me. her body and her moans tame me."

he was using a girl 17 years old his junior simply because he had attachment issues with his ex wife, the so called crazy woman who manipulated him. and although i'm not negating that she did, as it's clearly obvious the nature of their past relationship, 1. the crazy ex/other woman is a stereotype that needs to be stopped and 2. he claimed that if she asked sooner, as in before he started "seeing" the fmc, for a sexual relationship he'd gladly go back to it, as it's been stated that after 4 years of divorce he's continued to have sex with the ex he repeatedly faults for everything...

"i know she wants another go, but having another intimate relationship with her is not even on my mind anymore. if she came to me with this proposition sooner, sure, i would’ve obliged— but now i know it wouldn’t have been good for me."

and he has some serious anger issues; if the route this book took would have included a subplot of him going to therapy i'd actually have enjoyed it.

"i say with more force. i can feel the annoyance and the anger bubble up again and it reminds me again why she’s here."

he texted the fmc after having his ex wife over for dinner - which of course ended badly, don't know what he was expecting there -, to make him forget, and has the audacity of acting like a man baby when she asked what was going on. then proceed to have sex with her for the first time...

"fuck. i haven’t smiled like that, even with laura from sex. i brush the idea of my ex away from my mind as i walk back into the kitchen and wipe the towel along her pussy."

and that very same chapter, the one where the 23 year old girl came to the rescue of the 40 year old man throwing a tantrum over his ex, ended with:

"what was once deemed as a way to get a release from the anger i felt, has soon become an addiction. not just to her sex, but to her presence. her aura. the feeling i get when i’m around her."

yet he doesn't know a single thing of substance about her, not even her last name. they've only met 4 times prior to this encounter and 3 out of all the instances ended in sexual gratification (included their first encounter). plus, the forbidden aspect wasn't tangible. the reader knows why their relationship might be deemed forbidden, but up until when i stopped reading at 35% nothing actually come of it. no illicit hiding, nor consequences, the characters themselves weren't even aware of the forbidden ties between them.

*i was sent an arc by the author in exchange for a honest review