⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

If you would have told me, before reading this, that I was going to give this book 4 stars, I would have laughed at your face. 2 stars was my guess, maybe even 3, but 4? No way. This series and I, don't have the best of history. And honestly, I was in such a bad streak of books, what I least expected was Lauren Asher getting me out of it.

We finally have a book where the kid is actually important for the story and not only used as a potted plant, only moving when necessary. Cami was adorable and her relationship with Cal was very sweet and enjoyable, and I don't really like kids, so this is an achievement.

Reading from Cal`s perspective on his addiction deepens the story in a way I have not seen before with Lauren Asher books, it’s definitely her best written book so far (that I have read, of course). Although I think it's important to add that I did feel it was a bit romanticized in the end, his recovery felt very rushed in comparison with his struggle with alcohol through the book, so maybe if it would have focus more on that part instead of less meaningful scenes would have helped a lot.

A lot of people didn't like Lina, but I was fine with her, not my favorite character and needs more personality but I´ve read worse. I also understood her tiredness on dealing with addictions, and would have loved to read more about her sister, to not feel like she was just disregarding Cal´s feelings, but overall I understood she was trying to protect not only her, but her daughter from an alcoholic and not reliable person.

Even though I disliked Rowand and Declan in the previous books, I also liked to see some development in them. Even if this weren't their book, their appearance, including Iris and Zahra, was very welcome for me. The last part of the book was definitely my favorite, watching all of them get together and overcoming their respective trauma was more than I could have asked for.

The thing that stopped me from giving it the 5 stars was the length of the book. It was unnecessarily long. At one point I swear I thought I was at least at 60% only to realize I was at 35%. It does get repetitive real fast. And it took Cal up to 80% to go to rehab, even when he already expressed how much he wanted to become the man Cami and Lina deserved. And someone mentioned he was actually doing the recovery for them and not for himself, and I also stand by it. The whole “I'm doing it for me” was very sudden. Also, the entire town were dicks. I understand they were trying to protect Lina, but Cal was dealing with an addiction. Why keep kicking him when he was already on the ground, instead of giving him a safe space to heal? It only made it worse and no one acknowledged it.