The Book High

My opinion is likely colored by the fact that this picture and this prompt were among my favorites this year, so I had high hopes for this story.

The content warning says "descriptions of post-violent-attack first aid and medical care; non-graphic discussions of off-screen sexual assault," and I was reassured by that warning. What it should have said is "GRAPHIC descriptions of post-violent-attack first aid"... We are told everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!) that Sebastian does for Daren to keep him alive and healthy as his body recovers. I felt that too much time (and WAY too much detail!) was given to Daren's recovery. I spent nearly the first 1/3 of the book sick to my stomach, trying to keep reading long enough to get to less horrific and heartbreaking stuff. (plus, impossible things like Daren's facial swelling going down just hours after the attack kept pulling me out of the story)

My next big concern was that I didn't really believe the romance. There was hardly any time given to whether Sebastian and Daren are developing feelings for each other, perhaps because Sebastian tries so hard to not think of Daren as a guy, but rather a patient. So by the time Daren finally comes on to Sebastian in a way Sebastian will accept, it's like there's no emotion there at all. Sebastian tried for so long to convince himself (and me) that Daren's advances were just "guys getting off" that I never became unconvinced of that, even once they became physically closer.

This impression was also aided by the fact that they never actually TALK about what's going on between them. They just jump from patient/caretaker to "guys getting off together" to fleeing the country together. Their relationship seemed more like a proximity-based thing than an actual care-about-each-other thing.

And after all of that, to have this not really end, but be the set-up for another work or a series was beyond frustrating.

Bonus star for being free.