oh wow, this book was looooongasss. it felt longer than necessary tbh and put me in a bit of reading slump. but this book did a reallllyyy good job at making me wait for the cobalt books and officially, i think ben might be my favourite cobalt brother. the end scene was cutessyy and after like 60% of the book, i started to enjoy it.

luna hale and paul donelly



THE LAST ‘LIKE US’ BOOK.
don’t touch me i’m emotional.

this hit the feelings perfectly, as did the other lunelly books! i really really enjoyed reading about their story, in a way that had me completely immersed in their world and their perspectives!
also, it’s the hales. i’m forever biased.

honorable mention, again, to luna and lo’s relationship! aaaand to seeing how lily has grown into the a stronger person. i’m proud of my lilo!!!

will i ever get over this series?
no.
am i ready for cobalt empire?
yes.



His stride towards me tilts my world on its axis, and I understand the phrase “weak at the knees” because of him, because my limbs want to turn to putty in his hands, because the mere thought of him touching me unbalances my physical hold on this universe.

-

We don’t end when the music switches. We keep going. We’re two glittery disco balls. Refracting light which pierces in every direction.

-

“He loves every version of me, and I love being with him, Dad. I love how he loves me completely. I love how uninhibited and mighty I feel when I’m with him. I could be a broken mess, and he’d still pick me up and try to love me back together. And he’s already done it. He’s already tried.” I blink away more tears. “Do you understand what that feels like?”

His eyes have reddened, and he nods slowly. “I’ve loved your mom at her weakest, at her strongest, at her most broken. And she’s loved me at mine. There’s never been a day where I haven’t loved her.”

-

“Godspeed, space babe.” He gives me a perfect Vulcan salute, and my heart soars out of my body. This is my boyfriend. Did I manifest him from one of my fics? Feels like it.

-

“Agreed,” Aunt Rose says frostily. My dad cringes at being on the same page as her. They act like mortal enemies, but I like to imagine they’re a ride-or-die pairing in disguise.

-

“Merry Christmas, you blue-eyed shameless motherfucker.” I grin. “Merry Christmas, Dr. Kale.” “Hale.” “Right. Maximoff Hale’s main man.” “Only man,” Farrow corrects and flips me off. I laugh, and as soon as he hears the noise, he’s laughing too. On our trek to the lake house, the air is lighter

-

Does a fairy die when you go on Lily Calloway’s shit list? Am I that fairy?

-

“Girl, you keep doing this to me,” I say in one breath. “What?” “Making me fall in love with you.” I’m still choked. Don’t know how I managed to say it at all, but I clear the ball out of my throat. “Don’t stop.” Very softly, she says, “I never will.”

-

Lo keeps staring. Keeps excavating. Then he says, “I care about you.” Those four words plunge inside me, and I shake my head, on automatic. “It bothers you that fucking much,” he says sharply. “To have someone care about you?”

-

Lo smiles at that. “You think we’re friends?” “Getting there.” My grin softens, remembering my goal. Be best friends with Loren Hale. It’s so close, I can taste it.

-

“See these.” She pointed at her narrowed green eyes with two fingers. “They have witnessed and predicted many romances, and they know love. I see yours, Luna. And my beautiful, radiant daughter once told me, ‘There are people in the universe who make you feel at home.’ And Donnelly made you feel like your galaxy is the happiest, most exhilarating place to be. That is love.”

-

“I’m not going to kill myself!!” Xander shouts at the top of his lungs. It punches me right in the gut, and I glance at his mom beside me. Lily’s eyes widen, and she cages her breath.

-

“All I ask,” Lily says, “is that you always treat Luna like she’s your moon, your stars, your entire galaxy, like she’s every fragile and mighty thing.” It’s the easiest thing anyone could ask of me.

-

“You have two sides. You’re snarky, then you’re soft and sweet.” Xander stares out the windshield, and slowly, his lips upturn. “I think that’s just a Sour Patch Kid.” “People do act like they’ve got a sugar-rush around you.” He laughs, the sound so bright in its rarity. It instantly makes me grin.

-

“My life would be…” I choke up, my nose flaring. “My life would be so dark without you.” Disbelief touches her. “You’re so full of light without me.” “I’ve lived to find you,” I breathe. “You are my light side, Luna Hale.”

-

“It’s been written in the stars,” she says with all the love of every timeline, of the past and present and our future. “And this—it can never be unwritten.” I’m almost knocked back. How could she know…? “You…?” “I remember.”

-

It’s nice to know that no matter who’s fighting with who, Jane and Moffy will always be the glue that brings us all back together. I think our parents would be over-the-moon to know

-

“Stay a week, a month, a year, the door is always open.” I smile more at Donnelly. His chest rises. He seems beyond touched, and he nods into a slow-rising grin. “Thanks, Luna’s mom.” “Lily,” my mom says. “You can always call me Lily.”

-

Ben smiles down at her, which starts to pull one out of Harriet. She smooths her lips like it’s a weird feeling. They quickly exchange numbers. “See you around, Fisher.” “See you, Birthday Boy.” It takes him aback. Shit, it takes me by surprise after today’s lack of b-day wishes.

-

How Xander and this girl could say nothing for a whole hour during study period, and every time their eyes met, the air would untense.

-

“I’ve loved you at your weakest, at your strongest, at your most broken. And you’ve loved me at mine.” I hold her cheek again, drawing back while I cry. “There will never be a day where I won’t,”

-

“Thank you for sharing your story with me, Donnelly.” “You can call me Paul.” His voice is raspy, choked. He clears it too. “Thanks for helping me love my name again.”

Dad comes around the desk, and he hugs me first—his love so mighty and resilient. And he shakes Donnelly’s hand and brings him into a hug too. Weirdly and beautifully enough, I’m not expecting an asteroid to crash down and crack open our universe just to swallow us into a black hole. I believe our future is very, very bright.

-

“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Lo mentions, and they all talk animatedly about how that is a viable contender to Guardians. But not Infinity War. This is the night. It’s the one where I completely, fully understand that I’m not going anywhere. That this is it. This is permanence.

-

“You’re the heart, Donnelly. Not just of the Yale boys, not just of SFO, but of the entire security team. As much as all of us didn’t want to share you, it’d be more selfish to keep you.”

-

Paul, For the past, present, and future. Loren Hale “We’re best friends,” Donnelly tells me with the flash of the card. “I believe it.” They even have inside jokes.

-

When the world ends. When this one chapter to our book closes. I’d like to think that those who know us best will say there was nobody like us. That we left this world how we lived inside of it. Fully, devotedly, lovingly. Strange and weird.

-

Donnelly looks to me, and love floods through his eyes and explodes in technicolor inside my heart. Some days this feels like a dream, to do what I love with the person I love, and I could pinch myself. But I don’t have to. Dreams this beautiful can’t really be dreams at all. I know. I believe.

3.5* rounding up. Even though this is the last book in the series and they wanted to wrap all the strings up, the book was way too long. Enjoyed the series immensely!

4.5 stars

Wow this was really good. The like us series is not a favorite for me from these authors (and that's ok!!), but I do love these characters and this was such an amazing ending and a beautiful way to wrap up Luna and Donnelly's story. I feel like I can't really process how I'm feeling but yeah, this was GOOD! It reminded me so much of how I use to feel reading the addicted series. Not that this was similar per se bc this is a different type of series/vibe but there was just something about the book, the essence of Donnelly and Luna, how character heavy this was...idk it just gave me those addicted feelings and I loved every moment.

There's so much that they do for the secondary characters too that just make so much sense. I can see the little sprinkle of hints they give and from what I'm seeing right now, they all really make sense with who the characters are and what they need from their life in order to be fulfilled/happy. Am I excited and dying for all the potential pairings in future books? Not necessarily, but there's time for that to change considering these pairings have barely gotten page time and it's something I'm sure will be explored more in their next series.

Some spoiler thoughts:

Spoiler

* The way Sam Stokes had a pretty big role in this book and I did not see that coming. And yet, we managed to make it 13 books, the series completed and not once had a scene with Maria in it *cue clown music*. Tbh I don't even really care anymore because I knew that she was never going to be a part of this series and probably won't be a part of anything they write in the future. I think that's why Sam's story line kinda surprised me.

* Ben is SO interesting. He's so complex and honestly makes me feel really sad if I think too hard about who he is, how he's changed and what has clearly impacted him throughout his life. I think he's a perfect character to start the new cobalt series and it makes a lot of sense. I'm not like 100% sold on Harriet as his LI; on paper they make so much sense and I can see how they will complement each other and how they could really connect bc of their trauma but...I don't know. We'll just have to see. Btw, I have NO idea why people are shipping Ben with Vada like ya'll...they're cousins. Doesn't matter if they are not biologically cousins, they were raised to think of each other in that way it would be kinda strange for them to be together imo. It's kinda baffling how many people want Ben to be with Vada.

* Which brings me to my next opinion: Vada and Easton. INCH-RESTING. Did not see that coming but could def be down for it. Easton reminds me a lot of Garrison and I feel like he's also got this like sad, complex life and history that will be interesting to unpack in a story.

* Xander and Spencer...idk lol. Another thing I didn't see coming, don't really know if they're meant to be end game or if KB just wanted to give Xander a nice first time that wasn't filled with trauma. I do like that she is deaf and it could be nice to have that type of rep in a romance book if they do decide to have them be together.

* Charlie and Roxie. They are the one ship that I am 100% down for. But even though I love the idea of them I am quite confused as to how they would work as a couple. Like, how she will be the perfect match for him and vice versa. I understand why Charlie is so intrigued by her (she's like this mess of oxymorons and contradictions and he loves that she is never what she is expected to be). But I'll be honest, it's also hard for me that we don't even have her parents book (and in their series, they're not even together or even potentially together). I need AE to be completed, to have that world tied up or jumping into the future with their book and learning about her family will be really confusing and depressing. It would be even worse if they just never talk about her family which is a possibility if they never actually complete the series...

*Also I loved the scenes when they were in NYC. That date night and Tom's bday scenes gave me sooo many AE vibes with the way they were like club hopping and just living like the night was forever young...I really enjoyed it and I could see myself loving the cobalt series if it keeps that type of energy

* Sad about how very, very little we get of Jane and Thatcher. I hope we see them more in the cobalt series but considering it takes place in NYC, I doubt it. I really do wonder why their characters kind of got majorly sidelined after their 2 books and get the least amount of screen time than perhaps any of the couples who have gotten books. Don't quote me on that but considering she's the first cobalt kid to get a book, you would think she would have as much screen time as Moffy but she really doesn't. I guess to be fair, no character gets as much screen time as Farrow and Moffy in ANY book. Period lol.

* I like Beckett and Jo together and I like Beckett and Leo together but I fear that this triad will be yet another that just does not click for me and will be skipped. I also dislike that it's yet another enemies/hate to love type of dynamic, even though I do find their banter funny. I do understand why it's like that based on the hints they give about Beckett but I just don't see how all three will go together. I feel like I will leave it feeling like Beckett loves Jo more, or Leo but never feeling like it's equal. Will Leo even love Jo? Why would he? lol Tbh, I was kinda digging the idea of Tom and Leo together, I actually feel like that would be angsty and drama filled-the ultimate cobalt betrayal which would be interesting to see play out (as long as they actually were soul-mates and ended up together--wouldn't be cool if Tom just did that and they weren't end game) but considering the tidbits they put out for Beckett and Leo, I don't think Tom will end up with him.

* Quinn and Frog! Thought I was over and done with the bodyguard romances but they are an exception. I really enjoyed diving further into their characters and I would LOVE to read their book.

While Jane and Thatcher are probably my favorite, Luna and Donnelly are a very, VERY close second and I know without a doubt that I will reread their books in the future over and over. I really do love them so much and I feel so proud of both of them for how they fought for their HEA. Honestly, no other couple deserves it more. This book was everything <3

This series has changed me. I think about these characters every day. I don’t even have words to express what these books have meant to me.

Wonderful, magnificent, the perfect ending for Luna and Donnelly