A review by marygg3
Black Knight by Rina Kent

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Now we're talking.
I liked it, I totally flew through it and I'm already getting everything prepared for the next one.

This one was a bit more serious though. The difficult aspects of mental health struggles, body image and a toxic relationship with food on one side; alcoholism and toxic coping mechanisms on the other... I liked how Rina Kent went about these issues, never romanticizing them, never skipping over the actual work it takes to heal and always making the character, and not their partner, responsible for their own growth. Xander said it better than me:

I'll heal, like I'm sure you will. I won't fix you and you won't fix me. We’ll just hug each other like we used to do in the past.

And Kim, oh God, my sweet girl is all grown up now. I loved her arc and how much stronger she is now. The importance of asking for help and talking through her feelings was a hard lesson for her, but she made it.

I might be broken, but I’ll pull myself together. I might have fallen, but I’ll get up. There’ll be a day where I look behind and say I survived.

And survive she did, they both did.

Now, the main issue was so convoluted I got really scared for a second there, but everything turned out well and the romance was truly romancing from the get go, so I'm not complaning. Also, it was refreshing to have two main characters that were both virgins; I was starting to get sick of the glorification of FMC virginity.
On to the next one, for I can't wait to see inside our new couple's brains.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings