please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
POV: dual 1st person POV
spice: several open-door spicy scenes
TWs: anxiety, cheating, death of a child (recounted), depression, drug addiction, grief, mentions of homeless youth, homophobia, mentions of overdose and rehab, parental abandonment, religious trauma, mentions of suicide, toxic masculinity, troubled pasts, vomit
Kink CWs: 69, breeding kink, dirty talk, docking, Dom/sub dynamics, oral, lingerie, mirror sex, praise, rimming, snowballing, spanking, switching
standalone: book 2 of Unframed Arts series (can be read as interconnected standalone)
final thoughts: What. A. Ride. After running from their past and present, they give into their mutual attraction Von and Alec fight hard for their HEA, but it’s well deserved. I never knew where the story was going to go- were they going to heal separately, together, or not at all? - and was left feeling every emotion as I was reading.
This book was such a rollercoaster and hot everything I love in a hurt/comfort contemporary novel. There is a 3rd act breakup which had a grand gesture and groveling- YAY! I feel like there is never enough groveling in novels, but this book did the characters and the situation justice

read this book if you love
😬 angst
🧑‍🎨 blue collar MMC (artist)
🍿 celebrity
🥵 dirty talk
💏 fake dating
🏝️ forced proximity (same living arrangements)
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 found family
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
😡 grumpy/sunshine
🤫 hidden secrets
🩹 hurt/comfort
😏 kinky
🌈 LGBT+ representation
💞 mutual pining
🥰 nicknames
💤 nightmare comfort
🔀 opposites attract
😜 jealous, possessive MMC
🙏 praise
🤜 rivals-to-lovers
💓 slowburn
⚽ sports romance (soccer)
💔 third act breakup
🌍 world building