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now_booking's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
2.75
This was in its way cute…. but also maybe not for me. The premise is that Kaliyah and Houston are long-time close friends who have feelings for each other, but don’t take their friendship there because Houston is somewhat of a f-boy in relationships. When tragedy occurs, they’re forced to re-evaluate their relationship. But the path to true love has never been smooth.
This was brutal and emotional as one can expect from this author. There were similar themes of love and family and loyalty and support that have run though all the books I’ve read from this author so far. I liked the romantic relationships portrayed between Kaliyah and Houston and between their relatives and their partners. With hindsight, I may not have started this book first but may have sought out a Dallas or Illyon book first as sometimes this book referred to characters like I was expected to know who they were perhaps from an earlier book in the series. In that sense, it would be easier if the books were grouped based on how they’re interlinked in a timeline for those of us who like to read in order as the world is built. That said, I was sort of able to skip over the people I didn’t know and follow the main point of the story. I think if you’re used to reading haphazardly or out of order, this won’t signify at all.
The part of the book that bothered me most I think is how young and somewhat immature the male characters were and how they (and their world) in my opinion, had a skewed perspective about what being a man was. There just seemed to be a lot of wasting of Black lives in this for me. The situation between Houston and Walker for example just seemed really sad and unnecessary to me- like two kids playing at life and death in a playground. To me, the whole disagreement was juvenile, the response was childish and reactive like a hot-headed tantrum, it kind of made me see Houston as a kid that needed a lot of growing up and maturing. Overall, this was fine, not my favourite from this author because of the characters, but the plot was interesting and I found it difficult to put down.
This was brutal and emotional as one can expect from this author. There were similar themes of love and family and loyalty and support that have run though all the books I’ve read from this author so far. I liked the romantic relationships portrayed between Kaliyah and Houston and between their relatives and their partners. With hindsight, I may not have started this book first but may have sought out a Dallas or Illyon book first as sometimes this book referred to characters like I was expected to know who they were perhaps from an earlier book in the series. In that sense, it would be easier if the books were grouped based on how they’re interlinked in a timeline for those of us who like to read in order as the world is built. That said, I was sort of able to skip over the people I didn’t know and follow the main point of the story. I think if you’re used to reading haphazardly or out of order, this won’t signify at all.
The part of the book that bothered me most I think is how young and somewhat immature the male characters were and how they (and their world) in my opinion, had a skewed perspective about what being a man was. There just seemed to be a lot of wasting of Black lives in this for me. The situation between Houston and Walker for example just seemed really sad and unnecessary to me- like two kids playing at life and death in a playground. To me, the whole disagreement was juvenile, the response was childish and reactive like a hot-headed tantrum, it kind of made me see Houston as a kid that needed a lot of growing up and maturing. Overall, this was fine, not my favourite from this author because of the characters, but the plot was interesting and I found it difficult to put down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Misogyny, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, and Suicide
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