Still grieving the loss of his nephew and in need of a fresh start, Bohdi moves to Lansing to start a new job where he doesn't know people and isn't reminded of his loss every time he sees his family. This is when he comes across Brayden, who is his student, and he immediately feels a pull towards him, watching his own pain being reflected in him, and Bohdi finds himself eager to know more about what's going on with Brayden for him to behave the way he did.

This was one emotional rollercoaster. There were so many moments that I got really emotional for these characters and had to take a moment before continuing. The book deals with some heavy topics such as child neglect, dealing with addiction, and loss of a loved one (on and off page), among others, so do check the TWs. These topics were well dealt with and go into depth about how grief and addiction affect the family members. 

The curiosity to know more about Brayden and what he was dealing with initially pulls Bohdi in because he recognizes the signs from his own experience and can't help but want to reach out to help him out. He doesn't understand why he feels this way, but as the story goes on, Bohdi realizes that he might also have some romantic feelings growing for Brayden. 

It took a while for Bohdi to make sense of these new feelings he was feeling, and there was a lot of conflict he felt given how Brayden was his student and the 21-year age gap. He tries to deny and fight these feelings, coming up with excuses to stop it from going any further, but the tension only keeps growing between them until Bohdi can no longer keep his distance and decides that he doesn't want to.

My heart shattered for Brayden and everything he had gone through and was currently dealing with when it came to his brother. Initially he came off as rude and arrogant, but when we dive deeper into his story, we see how much he was hurting but turned that hurt into anger so no one could see him vulnerable. He keeps people out, and even with his best friends, there is still a line that he doesn't cross when it comes to sharing his deepest feelings. But Bohdi was persistent and gave Brayden a sense of calm and safety, and he found himself sharing parts of himself with him.

The bond between Bexley and Brayden was so precious and makes you wish there was a way to reach out to these two and help them out of their situation. You could feel the anger, frustration, helplessness, hope, guilt, heartbreak, and defeat that Brayden felt dealing with what his brother was going through and how it all took a toll on him.

Bexley gave his all for the sake of his twin brother, and reading everything he did and sacrificed for years so Brayden could lead a better life made me feel so helpless. The situation he was in and how much he tried to fight for Brayden's sake but was sucked into a life that he couldn't get out of makes you feel angry at the unfairness of it all. Watching Brayden try to help his brother and get through to him and do everything in his power to get him back like before was truly heartbreaking.

When it comes to the romance, there was some back and forth between them, both unsure if they were reading the signs right from the other and whether they should cross the line they couldn't come back from, but eventually they gave in and their relationship grew.

This book really showed us that we can't choose who we love, and sometimes we just love who we love. There can be a lot of reasons why everyone feels the relationship between Bohdi and Brayden was wrong, given their roles as teacher and student and also given the age gap. But these two were exactly who the other needed, and even though many didn't get it, the thing that mattered was that they knew what they felt and wanted from each other. I liked that Bohdi didn't try explaining himself to anyone and just said, "I love this man, and it doesn't matter who understands that, but it doesn't change what I feel for him." And he proved that with the way he was protective and careful with Brayden from the start and with the way he helped and gave Brayden what he needed even when he didn't know it himself towards the end.

The book gets a whole lot more emotional after the 55-60% mark, and I was stunned and heartbroken. It was a difficult journey for the characters.

Bohdi stood by Brayden's side and was truly his rock when his world completely fell apart. He supported Brayden through everything, never letting him bottle up his pain, and gave him the space to feel everything he needed to in order to process it all at his own pace by always being his constant and loving him exactly the way he needed. Even when Brayden's emotions got the best of him, Bohdi stayed strong for the both of them, and he helped him with his grief, knowing what kind of toll such a loss can take on a person.

Kay and Trayton were absolutely the best kind of friends a person needs, and I loved how much they loved and stood by Brayden throughout. They covered, defended, protected, and fought for him. Their bond was really something else.

I loved the hockey games that were included and how these matches throughout the book hold your attention and you are rooting for the Devil Hawks to win.

That entire epilogue had me sobbing hard at 2am and made me love Bohdi more.

The reason for not rating this 5 star was that

some conversations between Bohdi and Brayden when it came to their romance didn't feel like how a normal couple would converse. And some of the things Bohdi said to Brayden made it seem like he was maybe in his 20s and didn't come off as how a 40-year-old person might talk. Also, I understand that this is an ARC, so errors are kind of expected, but some of these errors felt a bit distracting, like in some places where even the names were interchanged regarding who was saying what, and that made me go back and forth trying to understand what was happening.

Thank you to PS. Black and Love Notes PR for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.