Now this is how you do an age gap relationship! I really enjoyed this book! I took two side characters who I really liked and expanded on their lives in a cool way. 

I was at first worried with the age gap, but I felt that the author did a good job at exploring the dynamics of age gaps, power dynamics, and acknowledging how abuse can occur. The sex scenes were...intense in this book, but again the scenes made sense for the characters and added a lot to their relationship. I do wish that there had been more of a "relationship" section before the epilogue, but I understand that having an official relationship was not really the plot of this story. 

I also liked learning more about Eric's and Kyle's friendships with Scott and Kip to see how their friendships are different. (Scott not being able to talk about sex is still very funny to me) Plus I love the characters in each book slowly becoming sus about Ilya and Shane and I really enjoy how the author brings back characters from previous books. I don't feel that those characters are just abandoned in the next book and its cool seeing how they all interact with each other while also knowing what they are like behind the scenes. 

This book felt very straightforward with what it was attempting to say and I think it succeeded! 

Definitely my least favourite of the series so far, which is a shame because there was a lot of potential here with the age-gap & setup with Kyle’s family abandonment issues. It just…never went anywhere meaningful. 

It was nice to revisit the Admirals & all the NY side characters, including Scott, Kip, & Maria (plus a couple  delightful cameos by one Ilya Rozanov), but the relationship between Eric & Kyle was so frustrating to read - so much could have been solved with a simple conversation! Instead we’re treated to frequent self-loathing and pages upon pages of internal dialogue by both mains. The lack of character development meant that I didn’t connect with, or care for, either lead, unfortunately.