I love Stella and Christian. I love them so much. But I hate what Christian did; it’s creepy as hell. I hate the whole act three breakup, and honestly, most of the very end of the book. It felt like Ana was trying to do too much, trying to turn a romance into a thriller, and it ruined the vibe of what otherwise would’ve been a perfect book.

I mean that, too. I was having such a blast from the very first page, and up till all of that crap started, I was convinced I had finally found another Ana book I loved as much as King of Pride.

Way to burst that bubble, Harper.

But, I’ll admit, the scenes with the whole crew were highly entertaining, and all of the epilogue and bonus scene stuff was absolutely adorable. As is the fact that he calls her Butterfly. That got me in the feels every time, without fail. 💚

I have to give Christian genuine kudos for respecting Stella’s boundaries after the breakup. He left her alone in every sense of the phrase, wrote about his feelings, even managed to turn the whole thing into a semi-romantic gesture in the end… I think that’s the most mature way a guy in this series has ever handled a relationship crisis.

(Yes, I’m looking at you, Alex.)

Also, on a less-than-impressed note, the fact that Stella was about to die and her ~big realization~ was that Christian would never drug or kidnap her like Julian did and so he’s The One… are you kidding me??? Girlie, that’s the absolute bare minimum in a relationship. The bar is so low, it’s underground. Sigh.

Final series ranking:

Representation: