For us readers and fans of the Pretty Broken series, this book was long awaited. But instead of being included in that series, it's immersed in the universe of Black Diamond bringing a little bit of the angst and drama necessary to be treated at the resort.

I want to say that despite what I'm going to write below, I LOVED this story, I loved Aspen and although at times I wanted to strangle and shake Royal, I understood his struggle and I loved him even before he managed to get his head out of his ass. Aspen went through a lot, both went through a lot, and Royal was always there to protect him, or at least try to. They shared two decades of a deep bond, and he had always put Aspen first. But he kept a lot of frustration inside, a lot of anger, something he refused to acknowledge. What we'd call a deep denial. But this came to a head when Aspen decided to start living his life to the fullest, embracing all his parts (and it's absolutely amazing how he does it!!!) and Royal must face everything that provoked him, what made their "friendship" became VOLATILE!

Before I move on to the next thing, I want to say that what I read is an advanced copy, so probably the typos, mistakes, etc that I read have probably already been fixed. I do mention them because they caught my attention, and because it's the only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars.

As I said, the story of Aspen and Royal was expected since the third book in the series, Pretty Wrecked (Kingsley and Lis'story), gave some hints that there was some tension between the two. While it can be read as a standalone, as certain things overlap, obviously reading the series first is better. Furthermore, the author assumes that the reader knows what he's talking about, which might not be the case. Likewise, certain facts that I believe are important (situations that Aspen experienced and that continue to cause panic attacks to this day or the relationship with his on/off girlfriend, for example, plus certain conditioning that Royal has, etc.) are mentioned but not really explained, and it's confusing to understand what happened to them. I mean, it's not that you don't realize it, but it's more like it lacked a little more background to connect better with the MCs.

Another thing that catches my attention and that I noticed in the last books of this author is that he does not have the cleanliness in his writing that he has in other books. Some sentences are confusing to understand who said them, eg. For me (and those who have also read the PB series, as I said before) some data can be confusing too. For example, the ages of the protagonists. The story begins with Royal as a teenager when he meets Aspen again, saying that the latter is a couple of years younger (14), so when the story jumps around 20 years ahead, they would be 34 and 36. But... Also in the PB series it says that Kingsley is Aspen's older brother and that he is 33, and Lis is 22, which leads us to one of the conflicts in Volatile, where the media and fans emphasize that age difference, only that here Lis is 24 and Kings is 32. So...it adds to the bugs.

Finally, I would have liked more of the resort. I mean, it's the backbone of this Universe, and even though they go there to do anger management, and they tour the island and really, reaaaaally "ENJOY" it, for being that backbone, you don't see much of it.

In any case, please don't be guided by all that. It was just something that I had to tell. BUT whether you are fans of the previous series, fans of the author, or just interested in the description of the story, READ IT. It's WORTH it!

I was given an advanced copy and voluntarily wrote a review.