“I wish I could re-write you out of my life, but all your pages are highlighted, dog-eared, and thumbed to death.  I can no longer read you, but you are still my favorite poem.”

What is it about bully romances that triggers me so deeply? Yeah these stories are relatable but, dear god, I feel like I’m being slowly ripped apart, limb by limb, as I read. It’s like there’s nothing redeemable until the very end. There’s no happiness only anger or envy or hate. All very strong, painful emotions. Why do I light myself on fire with these novels? I know. Because there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like them. That slow burn, the build up, the all-encompassing knowledge that everything turns out okay in the end; that’s what makes the story. That’s the punch line, the end game, the true gold. 

This one was hard for me. I’ve told you guys before, but just to reiterate, I have a reeeeeeeally difficult time with love triangles or “other women” in books. And the entire Adrianna thing in this story really threw me for a while. Especially the baby part of it all. Oooof. Way to almost destroy my faith in humanity with that one, Shen. I read the ending before I finished the novel because, with stories such a this, usually I have to. When things go from bad to worse, and I feel like there’s nothing left to hold on to, I usually need something redeeming and the happy ending does it for me. Having read Broken Knight before this, knowing Luna and Knight’s story, it really helped me get through the rough patches with Penn and Daria. They were many of them, can’t lie about that. 

I actually listened to this on Audible (my first audiobook ever!) while I was working and man if it didn’t make the day go by quickly! I was completely sucked into and invested in Penn and Daria’s world. This is a tragic yet utterly gorgeous tale of two broken humans that found connection with each other; regardless of if that connection appeared as love, hate, jealousy, or anything else, it was still the same strong emotional tether that tied them together. I hated this story just as much as I loved it. But I think that was the point, right? The characters aren’t always meant to be likable and lovable. They are imperfectly human in every single way. The choices they make and things they do created the world of the Hotholes and their families.  This story is meant to make you feel. Meant to make your insides feel ripped to shreds and then patched back up again. It’s about love and loss and regret and redemption. Fighting and fucking. Losing and winning. It’s damn near perfect, if I may say so. Shen never disappoints, ya’ll. SO here’s to another one of her greats ❤

“You were never a drizzle, Penn Scully. When I fell for you, you came beating down, and I felt you everywhere. You were hail.”