My reading year has had a rough start, and it was such a joy to dive into this book and remember that I do, in fact, love to read!

Instead of flying through this like I normally might have, I slowed down to really savor the experience. I'm glad I did, because there is so much heart in this story! Along with fantastic characters who feel like real people, interactions that feel genuine and relatable, and a compassionate portrayal of grief.

Within the first few pages, I had already laughed out loud multiple times, and this continued throughout. This is a rare occurrence for me, and I relished in it! It's not quite as rare for me to tear up during a touching scene or to get turned on during a steamy scene, but it must be noted that those did both happen here. Usually, I might be complaining that there wasn't enough smut or that it didn't happen early enough in the book, but this does the slow burn so well that I have nothing to complain about. I completely understood why Mac and Daniel were both hesitant, and the tension built beautifully before we got to their sex scene. Plus, once we got there! HELL YEAH is all I'll say about it! Hell. Yeah.

This is a fantastic debut, and I'm really excited to read what's next.