jan35104974's reviews
281 reviews

DNF @44%

For being the first person welcomed into this family (besides Perry), River managed not to have a full-blown panic attack, which I applaud him immensely for. Aqua was so cute! The way he wanted to "keep" River was just so on-brand for him 😂.

I absolutely loved this take on the core four elements being hot yet incredibly sweet guys trying to save the world! While it was short, Perry and Aether were so adorable, and Perry’s humor while trying to figure out exactly who Aether was had me laughing.

This was honestly such a cute holiday read!
Jakob was such a little sweetheart from the beginning, and the fact that he basically had nobody in his corner until he crashed (VERY literally) into Reed's life, absolutely broke me. All he wanted was to enjoy the simple things that make Christmas special, and the way Reed was able to give that to him—while also accepting and loving him in the process—was everything 🥹.

DNF

I swear, these two had so much chemistry from the start (all thanks to a perfectly placed empanada). My favorite thing was how unbelievably sweet and vulnerable they could be with each other. I loved the way Ezekiel spoke to Alek—the words he used to express his love were something else. And Alek! The way his whirlwind of sass and slight brattiness matched Ezekiel was *chef's kiss*

Hands down, I absolutely loved Abi (I mean, who wouldn’t want their own big Russian golden retriever?). The way he basically worshipped everything about Tatum was so incredibly sweet. Yes, their relationship is a little unconventional, with a hint of Stockholm syndrome, but the intense love was definitely there—even if Tatum swears up and down, left and right, that it wasn’t. Abi truly showed Tatum he was capable of being genuinely respected in a relationship, and honestly, that’s pretty impressive coming from an alleged kidnapper.

I loved the dual POV format this book was written in because we got to see both sides of Ezra’s and Kas’s story and piece them together. Following Ezra in the beginning really drew me in, as he viewed Kas as so suspicious (even though he was equally suspicious himself) and wanted to understand why Kas was targeting people in town. As the story progresses, we learn that Kas can definitely be categorized as a dark person, but I just loved how Ezra turned out to be even darker. That dynamic added a whole new layer to their "relationship," which made it so much more thrilling to read.

Please, Beckett was so adorable! 
The way this big, burly man didn’t start a conversation with Will just because he was scared he wouldn’t know what to say—or worried that Will might not want to talk about his books with him. I can’t 🥹. The whole dynamic that Will and Beckett shared with each other was so incredible, and I loved how Will was just everything that Beckett didn't know that he needed. He truly understood him in a way that no one had in such a long time.

I was honestly worried that most of the story would focus on Henry hating himself, with Reed swooping in to ‘save’ him by helping him lose weight to become a different version of himself. But I’m glad that wasn’t the case. Yes, Reed was Henry’s personal trainer, but he genuinely enjoyed their conversations and laughed along with Henry’s jokes, which was so incredibly sweet. While this is a story about Henry losing weight, it was never about changing who he was inside. I also loved seeing him slowly regain his happiness throughout the book.