As the days grow shorter and the leaves start to fall, I was eager to dive into a book that promised a perfect seasonal read. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me, falling into a few too many pitfalls that left me cringing rather than enchanted.

From the synopsis, I expected a cozy fall romance with a bit of drama, but what I got was a story overloaded with toxic masculinity and an overwhelming dose of instalove. Normally, I'm a fan of the brother's best friend trope, and I can even enjoy an "alphahole" character now and then. However, this book took those elements and turned them up to a level that I found hard to stomach. I thought about DNFing this book so many times.

The portrayal of the brother and his behavior was a major sticking point. The toxic masculinity was so pervasive that it felt like it was being hammered into the narrative, and the fact that the family was seemingly okay with it made the situation even harder to digest.

While it wasn't my taste, it wasn't necessarily a bad book—it just didn't work for me.