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Through the Years #1
Close to You
Milow can’t speak. Her father took her voice before she ever had a chance to use it, leaving her trapped in silence and haunted by memories no one should ever endure. Every day is a reminder of what was taken from her, and every moment is a quiet battle to survive the shadows of her past.
When she arrives at a new foster home, Milow expects nothing. Just another place where she doesn’t belong and isn’t loved. But then she meets Ashby, her new foster brother, who has lived through his own hell. Somehow, he sees her, and without words or judgment, he understands her in a way no one else ever has.
Growing up together, their bond deepens into something unbreakable. Ashby becomes her protector and the one constant in her life. They spend years leaning on each other, but childhood doesn’t last forever, and that closeness starts to shift into something more complicated and intense.
As they grow older, the world gets crueler. The bullying Milow has endured her whole life never lets up, and it only becomes heavier. At the same time, the pressure on Ashby keeps building as school and swimming demand more from him.
Milow has to decide how much of herself she can risk in a world that has never treated her gently, while Ashby has to choose what he’s willing to sacrifice to reach his goals.
But after everything, they know one truth: no matter what it costs, they will always choose each other.
CLOSE TO YOU is an epic and emotional coming-of-age novel with a HEA that deals with heavy topics.
This book is not meant for sensitive readers.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Each book in this series focuses on a different couple and tells their story. All the stories take place during the same time period, so events in one book may overlap with those in another. You will encounter familiar situations, locations, or characters from the other books, but from the couple's perspective featured in the current story. Because the books share the same timeline and interconnect in this way, they are meant to be read in order (or, in the future, as tandem reads) and cannot be fully understood as standalone stories. Together, the books form a continuous, interconnected series.
That said... Milow and Ashby will get at least 1 more book!
When she arrives at a new foster home, Milow expects nothing. Just another place where she doesn’t belong and isn’t loved. But then she meets Ashby, her new foster brother, who has lived through his own hell. Somehow, he sees her, and without words or judgment, he understands her in a way no one else ever has.
Growing up together, their bond deepens into something unbreakable. Ashby becomes her protector and the one constant in her life. They spend years leaning on each other, but childhood doesn’t last forever, and that closeness starts to shift into something more complicated and intense.
As they grow older, the world gets crueler. The bullying Milow has endured her whole life never lets up, and it only becomes heavier. At the same time, the pressure on Ashby keeps building as school and swimming demand more from him.
Milow has to decide how much of herself she can risk in a world that has never treated her gently, while Ashby has to choose what he’s willing to sacrifice to reach his goals.
But after everything, they know one truth: no matter what it costs, they will always choose each other.
CLOSE TO YOU is an epic and emotional coming-of-age novel with a HEA that deals with heavy topics.
This book is not meant for sensitive readers.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Each book in this series focuses on a different couple and tells their story. All the stories take place during the same time period, so events in one book may overlap with those in another. You will encounter familiar situations, locations, or characters from the other books, but from the couple's perspective featured in the current story. Because the books share the same timeline and interconnect in this way, they are meant to be read in order (or, in the future, as tandem reads) and cannot be fully understood as standalone stories. Together, the books form a continuous, interconnected series.
That said... Milow and Ashby will get at least 1 more book!
545 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 17, 2026
1764 people are currently reading
17358 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 645 reviews
March 26, 2026
“I’ve got you. Always and forever, Milow.”
I can’t remember the last time I cried my entire way through a book like this. MILOW AND ASHBY ARE MY ROMAN EMPIRE AND MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS!!!! I never wanted this to end despite the emotional roller coaster it put me through. I want to live in this world with these characters FOREVER! Im so obsessed it’s not even funny I’m about to turn around and reread because I absolutely refuse to say goodbye. Oh my HEART IT ACHESSSSS.
Milow and Ashby are my new favorite Johnny and Shannon variant. And I don’t say that lightly.
This is an upper YA coming of age romance but let me tell you it is not for the weak it will rip your heart out and stomp all over it then slowly put it back together… but with that being said it does read a little bit younger so keep that in mind going in!
The shy girl with anxiety who wants to go about life unseen x the popular golden retriever guy who wants nothing more than to protect her is one of my favorite tropes!!
Milow is mute and her incredibly abusive father died when she was 6 and she was placed into the most loving home along with two other boys that were adopted into the same family, one of those boys being Ashby. Ashby who learns sign language at the age of 7 to communicate with her. And they form the most incredible bond and friendship that turns into more as they get older. These two have loved each other their entire lives and simply don’t exist without the other. These way Ashby is so patient and kind and caring and protective over Milow squeezes my heart. These two cherish each other so deeply I can’t handle it. Their relationship is so pure and with zero toxicity and it was so refreshing to read. Milow also gets severely bullied in high school so there are some very deeply upsetting scenes so prepare tissues. Ashby also breaks my heart and though we didn’t dive fully into his story, I’m already in pain for him.
The mental health rep was perfect with how the author depicted anxiety and PTSD. Milow also has skin picking disorder and my goodness ASHBY LITERALLY RESEARCHES IT SO HE CAN KNOW HOW BEST TO HELP HER BYE.
Also the found family and friend group don’t even start with me. I am so deeply emotionally attached to each and every one of these characters it’s not even funny. I NEED THE NEXT BOOK RIGHT NOW!! The way I laughed, cried, screamed, felt literally everything! Ugh I’m yearning for more!!! I’m so happy Ashby and Milow will be getting another book (though it does end with a HEA) because I need so much more!! And you can tell the author left questions unanswered on purpose because they have a lot more story to tell.
I miss them already 😭😭😭
“You have a beautiful mind, and even more beautiful soul, Milow.”
“I was in love with her. And even though I was only seven, I knew that was exactly what I felt for Milow.”
“I don’t want to use my voice. Not if you can’t. Not when yours was taken from you.”
I can’t remember the last time I cried my entire way through a book like this. MILOW AND ASHBY ARE MY ROMAN EMPIRE AND MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS!!!! I never wanted this to end despite the emotional roller coaster it put me through. I want to live in this world with these characters FOREVER! Im so obsessed it’s not even funny I’m about to turn around and reread because I absolutely refuse to say goodbye. Oh my HEART IT ACHESSSSS.
Milow and Ashby are my new favorite Johnny and Shannon variant. And I don’t say that lightly.
This is an upper YA coming of age romance but let me tell you it is not for the weak it will rip your heart out and stomp all over it then slowly put it back together… but with that being said it does read a little bit younger so keep that in mind going in!
The shy girl with anxiety who wants to go about life unseen x the popular golden retriever guy who wants nothing more than to protect her is one of my favorite tropes!!
Milow is mute and her incredibly abusive father died when she was 6 and she was placed into the most loving home along with two other boys that were adopted into the same family, one of those boys being Ashby. Ashby who learns sign language at the age of 7 to communicate with her. And they form the most incredible bond and friendship that turns into more as they get older. These two have loved each other their entire lives and simply don’t exist without the other. These way Ashby is so patient and kind and caring and protective over Milow squeezes my heart. These two cherish each other so deeply I can’t handle it. Their relationship is so pure and with zero toxicity and it was so refreshing to read. Milow also gets severely bullied in high school so there are some very deeply upsetting scenes so prepare tissues. Ashby also breaks my heart and though we didn’t dive fully into his story, I’m already in pain for him.
The mental health rep was perfect with how the author depicted anxiety and PTSD. Milow also has skin picking disorder and my goodness ASHBY LITERALLY RESEARCHES IT SO HE CAN KNOW HOW BEST TO HELP HER BYE.
Also the found family and friend group don’t even start with me. I am so deeply emotionally attached to each and every one of these characters it’s not even funny. I NEED THE NEXT BOOK RIGHT NOW!! The way I laughed, cried, screamed, felt literally everything! Ugh I’m yearning for more!!! I’m so happy Ashby and Milow will be getting another book (though it does end with a HEA) because I need so much more!! And you can tell the author left questions unanswered on purpose because they have a lot more story to tell.
I miss them already 😭😭😭
“You have a beautiful mind, and even more beautiful soul, Milow.”
“I was in love with her. And even though I was only seven, I knew that was exactly what I felt for Milow.”
“I don’t want to use my voice. Not if you can’t. Not when yours was taken from you.”
April 5, 2026
━━━━━━━━━━━━
❀post reading thoughts❀
(★★★★.5)
━━━━━━━━━━━━
while this is marketed as a clean YA book, and there is no explicit content, pls note that this is far from an easy read. there are themes that may be triggering to some. so please check your triggers before reading it
tw: sexual assault, domestic abuse, child abuse, anxiety, skin picking disorder, severe bullying
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Things will work out for you, Ashby, and I won't ever leave your side.] "I know," I said, smiling at her as I cupped her face in my hands. "But as long as I'm close to you, nothing else matters."
Okayyy. so i finally did it. i read my most anticipated release of the year. and i loved it. but i do have some thoughts.
this book has 2 parts and has over 53 chapters but it's very fast paced and written in a very simple language- so i don't quite think that it has any pacing issues.
b4 starting this, i was mentally prepared to sob my way throughout the book and i was right yk.
I rmbr starting this and sobbing and dry heaving while reading the first part. the first 10 chapters. to say that reading the first part was difficult would be a huge understatement. i was physically sick while reading it. my eyes hurt, my throat closed up and my chest felt heavy. and it got too much. so i had to physically put the book down. ohmygod. her biological father surgically removed her vocal cords when she was 4 so that she couldn't scream for help when he raped her- he was a doctor, and he told her that good obedient girls don't speak. and he told her that magic had taken away her voice. SHE WAS 4. SHE WAS 4. SHE WAS 4. imo, nissa kinda brushed over that part. like, he died in chapter 1. but what happened after that? what about her mother? and did she have no one else? and what about police investigation? after everything he put her through? her biological father (i refuse to call him 'her dad') kinda got the easy way out and i didn't like it :|
i do, however, think that part 2 lacked some of the emotional depth that i'd been expecting- bc after inconsolably crying my way throughout part 1, i was expecting more emotional depth. bc as much as i disliked binding 13, and found johnny intolerable, it still made my cry and my heart dropped at the ending.
you see, milow went through A LOT in her childhood. but there was no mention of her trauma until her past was revealed. so i felt like that was kinda downplayed. i wanted to see smth more raw and smth which felt real ykwim? also, she gave a glimpse of ashby's backstory- like, once or twice- and he hasn't had an easy past either- but that was it. a glimpse. ntg more. i do wish she had explored that fully. but i think that's why there's going to be another book of ashby and milow.
that being said, i still liked the anxiety and the mental health rep. (special mention- the part when ashby told milow that she can hold his hand whenever she feels the urge to pick her skin😭😭😭)
also, in the middle, the writing style dipped down slightly. there was some repetition so i do get where the criticism comes from and the dialogue started to feel stilted. and yeah i get it. milow is smart. i understood that the first 30 times they said it😭😭no need to repeat it time and again bruh. but it improved after that (esp around ch 35. and as promised by the author, ch 41 did make me cry- i was reading it with a hand over my mouth. that scene left me with no words. how can someone be so cruel?! milow forgave halie by saying that halie was hurt too. but that is not an excuse. that doesn't absolve her of what she did.)
that being said, i read the last 45 chapters in 3 hours. and this felt too short. ashby and milow deserve the world. these 2 need to be protected at all costs😭 i'm so in love w these two ydek.
so yeah i need book 2 rn.
ashby is one of the sweetest mmc's i've ever read abt. wdym he is caring and protective, matches outfits w her, learns sign language at 7 and researches abt skin picking disorder bc she struggles with it. his reaction when he found out that she can't speak ever again? ohmygod. ashby, my sweet boy🩷😭. emotionally intelligent mmc's >>>
i adored the friend group and found family part. it was so well done. but imo, the side characters could've been written w more depth. don't get me wrong- i do like gus, iris, wesley, evie, stan, scottie and jesper (i hope i got the names right😭🙏 i'm not that good at rmbring names ughhh.) but they all felt kinda one dimensional and i hope that she works on that part aswl in the later books of the series.
loose ends notwithstanding, overall, it's still very immersive. but do keep in mind that this book is not meant for everyone. i think nissa has potential to improve and i do have some high hopes for book 2 bc there were a lot of unanswered questions. and i desperately need answers.
also, i do get why some ppl compare this book to boys of tommen series. and while bot will have a special place in my heart and ik that no book will come close to redeeming 6, i also think that reducing this book down to just a BOT variant would be doing it a huge disservice.
━━━━
❀ quotes❀~
━━━━
---“I like her. I think I’ll be her best friend if she wants me to be.”
yeah so what's with 7 yo boys making me cry. first it was gibsie. and then ashby
---“I don’t want to use my voice. Not if you can’t. Not when yours was taken from you.”
---“The world doesn’t deserve you,” I whispered. Tears kept rolling down my face. "I don’t deserve you. I don't. But I’m so grateful that you let me be here with you, and that you trust me enough to stay by your side.”
---"The sun was rising outside, brightening up the room as the morning rolled in. But no matter what the world was doing, I only cared about Milow"
---“You always make me feel calm,” he whispered, drawing in a slow breath. “I can’t explain it. All I need is for you to be in my line of sight, and my heart slows down.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
*⁀➷ feel free to skip this part cs it has mentions of sexual and domestic abuse-
---"My eyes snapped to the door as the doorknob clicked. Fear rushed through me, for a moment thinking that it was Daddy coming to get me. He used to come at night, telling me that it was time to be an obedient girl, and I always went with him without a fight. Because if I fought, the owie-stick would hurt even more."
---"Daddy always said that I shouldn’t eat too much because girls weren’t supposed to eat a lot"
she's 6 yo bruhhh.
aaand that's the sound of my heart breaking. 💔💔💔
---"Only bad things ever happened in that room."
please this is breaking my heart and i'm only on ch 1😭
---"Maybe, with him being this tired, he wouldn’t put the owie-stick inside of me."
ohmygod. she's 6 here.
please
wtffff
i can't stop crying.
mind you, this is still chapter 1
---"I missed Daddy, but I didn’t miss the owie-stick. I didn’t miss the pain, and I didn’t miss the way he made me cry, even when he said he only did it because he loved me."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
side note
started- march 29
finished- april 01
━━━━━
❀pre-read❀
━━━━━
i've been waiting for months. but i finally got this book omg. i've heard some really great things about this book and it's rlly intriguing.
BUT i just finished taming 7 and i'm not fucking okay. irdk if starting this rn is a good idea but here goes ntg😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏
❀post reading thoughts❀
(★★★★.5)
━━━━━━━━━━━━
while this is marketed as a clean YA book, and there is no explicit content, pls note that this is far from an easy read. there are themes that may be triggering to some. so please check your triggers before reading it
tw: sexual assault, domestic abuse, child abuse, anxiety, skin picking disorder, severe bullying
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Things will work out for you, Ashby, and I won't ever leave your side.] "I know," I said, smiling at her as I cupped her face in my hands. "But as long as I'm close to you, nothing else matters."
Okayyy. so i finally did it. i read my most anticipated release of the year. and i loved it. but i do have some thoughts.
this book has 2 parts and has over 53 chapters but it's very fast paced and written in a very simple language- so i don't quite think that it has any pacing issues.
b4 starting this, i was mentally prepared to sob my way throughout the book and i was right yk.
I rmbr starting this and sobbing and dry heaving while reading the first part. the first 10 chapters. to say that reading the first part was difficult would be a huge understatement. i was physically sick while reading it. my eyes hurt, my throat closed up and my chest felt heavy. and it got too much. so i had to physically put the book down. ohmygod. her biological father surgically removed her vocal cords when she was 4 so that she couldn't scream for help when he raped her- he was a doctor, and he told her that good obedient girls don't speak. and he told her that magic had taken away her voice. SHE WAS 4. SHE WAS 4. SHE WAS 4. imo, nissa kinda brushed over that part. like, he died in chapter 1. but what happened after that? what about her mother? and did she have no one else? and what about police investigation? after everything he put her through? her biological father (i refuse to call him 'her dad') kinda got the easy way out and i didn't like it :|
i do, however, think that part 2 lacked some of the emotional depth that i'd been expecting- bc after inconsolably crying my way throughout part 1, i was expecting more emotional depth. bc as much as i disliked binding 13, and found johnny intolerable, it still made my cry and my heart dropped at the ending.
you see, milow went through A LOT in her childhood. but there was no mention of her trauma until her past was revealed. so i felt like that was kinda downplayed. i wanted to see smth more raw and smth which felt real ykwim? also, she gave a glimpse of ashby's backstory- like, once or twice- and he hasn't had an easy past either- but that was it. a glimpse. ntg more. i do wish she had explored that fully. but i think that's why there's going to be another book of ashby and milow.
that being said, i still liked the anxiety and the mental health rep. (special mention- the part when ashby told milow that she can hold his hand whenever she feels the urge to pick her skin😭😭😭)
also, in the middle, the writing style dipped down slightly. there was some repetition so i do get where the criticism comes from and the dialogue started to feel stilted. and yeah i get it. milow is smart. i understood that the first 30 times they said it😭😭no need to repeat it time and again bruh. but it improved after that (esp around ch 35. and as promised by the author, ch 41 did make me cry- i was reading it with a hand over my mouth. that scene left me with no words. how can someone be so cruel?! milow forgave halie by saying that halie was hurt too. but that is not an excuse. that doesn't absolve her of what she did.)
that being said, i read the last 45 chapters in 3 hours. and this felt too short. ashby and milow deserve the world. these 2 need to be protected at all costs😭 i'm so in love w these two ydek.
so yeah i need book 2 rn.
ashby is one of the sweetest mmc's i've ever read abt. wdym he is caring and protective, matches outfits w her, learns sign language at 7 and researches abt skin picking disorder bc she struggles with it. his reaction when he found out that she can't speak ever again? ohmygod. ashby, my sweet boy🩷😭. emotionally intelligent mmc's >>>
i adored the friend group and found family part. it was so well done. but imo, the side characters could've been written w more depth. don't get me wrong- i do like gus, iris, wesley, evie, stan, scottie and jesper (i hope i got the names right😭🙏 i'm not that good at rmbring names ughhh.) but they all felt kinda one dimensional and i hope that she works on that part aswl in the later books of the series.
loose ends notwithstanding, overall, it's still very immersive. but do keep in mind that this book is not meant for everyone. i think nissa has potential to improve and i do have some high hopes for book 2 bc there were a lot of unanswered questions. and i desperately need answers.
also, i do get why some ppl compare this book to boys of tommen series. and while bot will have a special place in my heart and ik that no book will come close to redeeming 6, i also think that reducing this book down to just a BOT variant would be doing it a huge disservice.
━━━━
❀ quotes❀~
━━━━
---“I like her. I think I’ll be her best friend if she wants me to be.”
yeah so what's with 7 yo boys making me cry. first it was gibsie. and then ashby
---“I don’t want to use my voice. Not if you can’t. Not when yours was taken from you.”
---“The world doesn’t deserve you,” I whispered. Tears kept rolling down my face. "I don’t deserve you. I don't. But I’m so grateful that you let me be here with you, and that you trust me enough to stay by your side.”
---"The sun was rising outside, brightening up the room as the morning rolled in. But no matter what the world was doing, I only cared about Milow"
---“You always make me feel calm,” he whispered, drawing in a slow breath. “I can’t explain it. All I need is for you to be in my line of sight, and my heart slows down.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
*⁀➷ feel free to skip this part cs it has mentions of sexual and domestic abuse-
---"My eyes snapped to the door as the doorknob clicked. Fear rushed through me, for a moment thinking that it was Daddy coming to get me. He used to come at night, telling me that it was time to be an obedient girl, and I always went with him without a fight. Because if I fought, the owie-stick would hurt even more."
---"Daddy always said that I shouldn’t eat too much because girls weren’t supposed to eat a lot"
she's 6 yo bruhhh.
aaand that's the sound of my heart breaking. 💔💔💔
---"Only bad things ever happened in that room."
please this is breaking my heart and i'm only on ch 1😭
---"Maybe, with him being this tired, he wouldn’t put the owie-stick inside of me."
ohmygod. she's 6 here.
please
wtffff
i can't stop crying.
mind you, this is still chapter 1
---"I missed Daddy, but I didn’t miss the owie-stick. I didn’t miss the pain, and I didn’t miss the way he made me cry, even when he said he only did it because he loved me."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
side note
started- march 29
finished- april 01
━━━━━
❀pre-read❀
━━━━━
i've been waiting for months. but i finally got this book omg. i've heard some really great things about this book and it's rlly intriguing.
BUT i just finished taming 7 and i'm not fucking okay. irdk if starting this rn is a good idea but here goes ntg😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏
Want to read
April 5, 2026
He broke down in her arms when he found out why she’s mute and can never use her voice again
OR
Her dad ripped her vocal cords so she couldn’t scream for help when he abused her
OR
Her dad ripped her vocal cords so she couldn’t scream for help when he abused her
Read
March 22, 2026A NOTE FROM NISSA
The Through the Years series will have multiple interconnected books, with each couple getting at least 2 books. And the way I'll be writing/publishing the books is very focused on the timeline! So, in Close to You, the main part of the book starts in summer and ends in winter. Milow and Ashby's story isn't over yet, and while they had a happy ending, there is still SO MUCH I have planned for them. It was impossible to fit everything into one book, which is why some things haven't been discussed yet. Ashby's past, for example.
The series follows each couple over time, with every book focusing on a (roughly) six-month period of their relationship. Each story captures a distinct phase, so you see how they grow, struggle, and change in that window. Together, the books build a longer timeline, letting you follow the couples "through the years." All the books will overlap in timelines, and there will be familiar moments from different perspectives.
So, when you feel like there are questions unanswered, know that they will definitely be answered in a future book.
Thank you for reading Close to You, and for loving and understanding my characters!
I can't wait to share more stories with you.
Nissa🩵
The Through the Years series will have multiple interconnected books, with each couple getting at least 2 books. And the way I'll be writing/publishing the books is very focused on the timeline! So, in Close to You, the main part of the book starts in summer and ends in winter. Milow and Ashby's story isn't over yet, and while they had a happy ending, there is still SO MUCH I have planned for them. It was impossible to fit everything into one book, which is why some things haven't been discussed yet. Ashby's past, for example.
The series follows each couple over time, with every book focusing on a (roughly) six-month period of their relationship. Each story captures a distinct phase, so you see how they grow, struggle, and change in that window. Together, the books build a longer timeline, letting you follow the couples "through the years." All the books will overlap in timelines, and there will be familiar moments from different perspectives.
So, when you feel like there are questions unanswered, know that they will definitely be answered in a future book.
Thank you for reading Close to You, and for loving and understanding my characters!
I can't wait to share more stories with you.
Nissa🩵
Want to read
April 3, 2026🎐⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⟢ I keep seeing this popping up all over my Goodreads feed, and now I really want to know what the hype is about. Honestly, the cover is gorgeous, simple but it just grabs you, and the artwork is stunning. From what I can tell so far, I’m already loving the two main characters, especially the female lead. I mean, she’s holding a book, so of course I’m sold. And apparently, everyone says it’s a childhood friends-to-lovers story, which is one of my favorite tropes. I’m ready to jump in because I’ve missed these kinds of stories.<𝟑 .ᐟ
March 20, 2026
➳ 4 ☆! 🫐 spoiler free + mini review
⤷ probably my fav book of the month so far! SO GOOD EVERYONE TRY ITT!
⋆˚࿔ 27th review of the year
₊‧꒰my thoughts꒱‧₊ 🦢
⤷ wow ok. i've been seeing this book a lot on booksta and was instantly intrigued! the cover is stunning and i love supporting new/debut authors 💌 this seemed right up my alley too. coming of age, EMOTIONAL romance?! sign me up. the author is also just the sweetest ever so i enjoyed reading her book 🥹 for 500 pages, i FLEWWWW thru this! her writing was very nice and there were parts where i teared up (happy and sad) i loved the first 100 pgs getting to see milow grow up. HER PARENTS. OH MY GOSH I LOVE THEM 😭
⤷ i wont say more bc i recommend going in blind, but PLEASE check tws!! anyway, i loved our two characters a lot + cant wait to read about other couples in this series! my biggest takeaway was milow and how she dealt with forgiveness. oh shes such a good example + role model i LOVE HER SO MUCH 😭
⤷ i recommend this to everyone! it is also 100% spice free. my only qualm is that there were some questions i want answered from their pov which i will put in the spoiler section below!
dont click if you havent read 💌
🫂| overall i hope more people read this so we can all yap! i also wonder if we'll get more of this couple as the series goes on?! i feel like there's MUCH more to say. 🙌
"i think the right people are worth standing in the storm for."
"she let it pass, like it wasn't worth the space in her head. it was fascinating seeing how she always chose calm over bitterness, and that quiet kindness of hers was exactly what made me so proud of her."
------------
₊‧꒰3.17.26꒱ ‧₊
⤷ HAPPY RELEASE DAY AHHH!!! im literally so happy i finally have my hands on this. funny story.. i thought this was a cute lil rom com. ITS NOT. but oh i am in for a treat 😭🩷 im alr flying thru it so fast. i cant wait to share more thoughts but just know... i may be recommending this to every single person soon 🧘♀️
⤷ probably my fav book of the month so far! SO GOOD EVERYONE TRY ITT!
⋆˚࿔ 27th review of the year
"she wasn't built to carry resentment. she felt deeply, but she never clung to hatred. there was too much love in her for that. too much compassion that stretched even toward people who never deserved it."
₊‧꒰my thoughts꒱‧₊ 🦢
⤷ wow ok. i've been seeing this book a lot on booksta and was instantly intrigued! the cover is stunning and i love supporting new/debut authors 💌 this seemed right up my alley too. coming of age, EMOTIONAL romance?! sign me up. the author is also just the sweetest ever so i enjoyed reading her book 🥹 for 500 pages, i FLEWWWW thru this! her writing was very nice and there were parts where i teared up (happy and sad) i loved the first 100 pgs getting to see milow grow up. HER PARENTS. OH MY GOSH I LOVE THEM 😭
⤷ i wont say more bc i recommend going in blind, but PLEASE check tws!! anyway, i loved our two characters a lot + cant wait to read about other couples in this series! my biggest takeaway was milow and how she dealt with forgiveness. oh shes such a good example + role model i LOVE HER SO MUCH 😭
⤷ i recommend this to everyone! it is also 100% spice free. my only qualm is that there were some questions i want answered from their pov which i will put in the spoiler section below!
dont click if you havent read 💌
🫂| overall i hope more people read this so we can all yap! i also wonder if we'll get more of this couple as the series goes on?! i feel like there's MUCH more to say. 🙌
"you dont have to be fearless. being scared or nervous is part of life. just dont let the fear make the decisions for you."
"i think the right people are worth standing in the storm for."
"she let it pass, like it wasn't worth the space in her head. it was fascinating seeing how she always chose calm over bitterness, and that quiet kindness of hers was exactly what made me so proud of her."
------------
₊‧꒰preview ᝰ.ᐟ꒱ ‧₊ 🫐
₊‧꒰3.17.26꒱ ‧₊
⤷ HAPPY RELEASE DAY AHHH!!! im literally so happy i finally have my hands on this. funny story.. i thought this was a cute lil rom com. ITS NOT. but oh i am in for a treat 😭🩷 im alr flying thru it so fast. i cant wait to share more thoughts but just know... i may be recommending this to every single person soon 🧘♀️
Did not finish
March 20, 2026i’m sorry, but i don’t think i can finish this book… i’m 33% in, and while the beginning was quite nice, i already find this book so obnoxious and insufferable.
the author reminds us of the fmc’s insane intelligence every two sentences. not to mention, these chapters are spent with everyone just glazing the fmc continuously in a way that doesn’t even feel authentic at all. the last time i had this was with violet from fourth wing. i’m sorry, but all this constant talk of how amazing the mc is BORES me. i would prefer that you show me!!! rather than tell me constantly oh my god. this kind of writing always feels to me like the author’s either self inserting themselves or is so bad at writing that they have to tell us in the boldest font just how perfect and wonderful their dear character is. stop trying to force me to like your protagonist from
the get go! why won’t you let me form my opinion myself??
not to mention the mmc is SOOOOOOO extremely worried about the fmc. while i like mmcs who worry and yearn for their love, when it’s this overdone it just feels so unrealistic to me. again it feels like they’re trying so hard to sell me their chemistry. stop knocking at my door, im not interested in hearing about our savior and lord jesus christ… i know some people like this and i respect that, but i personally strongly prefer more subtle romances, where you get butterflies and learn to love them through genuine and realistic build up. i don’t like perfect characters. i like flawed people.
my problem with the romance genre in general is that often, it just feels so…inauthentic. like you can often tell that romance authors try so hard to convince you of the pair’s chemistry and the characters in general, which is why romance books are always a hit or miss for me as i often feel like im being sold the characters personalities, stories and vulnerabilities rather than being shown. there is always so much potential which always gets executed rather tragically. unfortunately, this seems to be the case here as well, (of course i can’t speak about the entire book as i only read a third of this, but time is precious, so i’d rather be spending my time reading something i enjoy more.) i’m sad, because the plot actually sounded so amazing to me and it started out well enough, but when they were at this party and there was this common trope of the mean girls with “way too much make up on” and “boobs that looked like they were pushed up”, i got icked off SO bad. please, i beg you all to be more creative and stop shaming girls constantly for wearing make up and dressing freely. i’m annoyed by it because truly, the wattpad era is gone! stop this behavior dude. how about we be girls girls and look for more creative ways to display our character‘s struggles in social settings? of course there are textbook bullies sometimes, but come on. i’m tired of reading about fmcs who are so much better and nicer than all these other women…
i hope i wasn’t too mean, im not trying to insult the author or anything and i believe the author can definitely do some amazing work because clearly she has some amazing ideas - personally i did in some ways like stanley and scottie and also wesley and the mcs, though they were all quite one dimensional from what ive read, but to me, it’s just the execution that is lacking here.
the author reminds us of the fmc’s insane intelligence every two sentences. not to mention, these chapters are spent with everyone just glazing the fmc continuously in a way that doesn’t even feel authentic at all. the last time i had this was with violet from fourth wing. i’m sorry, but all this constant talk of how amazing the mc is BORES me. i would prefer that you show me!!! rather than tell me constantly oh my god. this kind of writing always feels to me like the author’s either self inserting themselves or is so bad at writing that they have to tell us in the boldest font just how perfect and wonderful their dear character is. stop trying to force me to like your protagonist from
the get go! why won’t you let me form my opinion myself??
not to mention the mmc is SOOOOOOO extremely worried about the fmc. while i like mmcs who worry and yearn for their love, when it’s this overdone it just feels so unrealistic to me. again it feels like they’re trying so hard to sell me their chemistry. stop knocking at my door, im not interested in hearing about our savior and lord jesus christ… i know some people like this and i respect that, but i personally strongly prefer more subtle romances, where you get butterflies and learn to love them through genuine and realistic build up. i don’t like perfect characters. i like flawed people.
my problem with the romance genre in general is that often, it just feels so…inauthentic. like you can often tell that romance authors try so hard to convince you of the pair’s chemistry and the characters in general, which is why romance books are always a hit or miss for me as i often feel like im being sold the characters personalities, stories and vulnerabilities rather than being shown. there is always so much potential which always gets executed rather tragically. unfortunately, this seems to be the case here as well, (of course i can’t speak about the entire book as i only read a third of this, but time is precious, so i’d rather be spending my time reading something i enjoy more.) i’m sad, because the plot actually sounded so amazing to me and it started out well enough, but when they were at this party and there was this common trope of the mean girls with “way too much make up on” and “boobs that looked like they were pushed up”, i got icked off SO bad. please, i beg you all to be more creative and stop shaming girls constantly for wearing make up and dressing freely. i’m annoyed by it because truly, the wattpad era is gone! stop this behavior dude. how about we be girls girls and look for more creative ways to display our character‘s struggles in social settings? of course there are textbook bullies sometimes, but come on. i’m tired of reading about fmcs who are so much better and nicer than all these other women…
i hope i wasn’t too mean, im not trying to insult the author or anything and i believe the author can definitely do some amazing work because clearly she has some amazing ideas - personally i did in some ways like stanley and scottie and also wesley and the mcs, though they were all quite one dimensional from what ive read, but to me, it’s just the execution that is lacking here.
Currently reading
March 23, 2026🫐 ⋮ pre-read ⋆₊˚ ⟡
so ready to dive into a brand-new childhood friends to lovers that will destroy me! 🤗
this time joins the depresso (less espresso) gang my lovely asia!! i can’t wait to share the pain with you and annoy you at every hour because in this book there are literally all my favourite tropes.
Currently reading
April 4, 2026pre read
me reading two emotional romances at the same time might not be my brightest idea but we roll. also, i coerced (forced,) my best friend to read this with me!! im so excited 💞😩🤭
me reading two emotional romances at the same time might not be my brightest idea but we roll. also, i coerced (forced,) my best friend to read this with me!! im so excited 💞😩🤭
March 20, 2026
★★★
── 3 stars !! ˚🗝 ⋆｡
⤿ spoilers marked┆ ⋆˙⟡
this was...boring.
which is weird bcs this was such an anticipated release for me and it just fell so short in every way 😭
i will admit the starting was great. intriguing even.
nessa really nailed the child voice, the immature thoughts and feelings of a little girl who didn't know any better to the T but idk as the story progressed, it just kept like ... declining? almost the same topics were repeated like every chapter, making it drag so much towards the middle, which then piled a ton of shit in the end.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚ milow
milow was great. i liked her a lot but i feel like her trauma was... idk, downplayed? it felt weird that she was abused for all those years and there was no mention of any flashbacks or any sort of trauma in part 2 until it was actually revealed which was weird bcs one does not forget shit like that easily. plus the whole thing with hailie really pissed me off bcs
˚⊱🪷⊰˚ ashby
ashby was well...bland. don't get me wrong, he was sweet and caring and protective and all, but i saw no real romance between them? is that weird since this was literally a romance book? his character honestly felt like a side character ngl and then all he ever thought about was protecting milow and looking at milow and everything milow. which sounds amazing for a few pages, sure, but please, we need characters to have a functioning brain that process normal life and thoughts apart from the fmc too. and then all his trauma.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚other characters
stan and scottie were cool but they had no real depth tbh. the whole point of stan was to be a goofy empty head kinda person and the whole point of scottie was being the girl that resisted him and it was...meh.
jesper was actually an amazing character, ngl. loved him the most.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚overall thoughts
i feel like the author was heavily inspired by binding 13, which was very evident in a few scenes and topics, esp ashby and stans bromancs which i could tell was heavily aiming for johnny and gibsie level of friendship but again... it fell short. same with scottie and stans relationship (which was probably aiming for gibse and claire?) like sure scottie and stan are gonna be a couple but we did not need to make half the book about them, which was exactly how it felt. there was no real point to most of the side characters as well bcs like i said, they showed no real depth.
the reason this was still a three star read is because it got me out of my (new books) slump and despite being bored a lot, i actually enjoyed some of it? lmao i probably sound crazy but yk those books that are nice to read but aren't perfect? it was kinda like that 🤭
overall, i genuinely believe that this book had so much potential to be great but its just that the execution of it wasn't great which was the main reason it fell short.
── 3 stars !! ˚🗝 ⋆｡
⤿ spoilers marked┆ ⋆˙⟡
this was...boring.
which is weird bcs this was such an anticipated release for me and it just fell so short in every way 😭
i will admit the starting was great. intriguing even.
nessa really nailed the child voice, the immature thoughts and feelings of a little girl who didn't know any better to the T but idk as the story progressed, it just kept like ... declining? almost the same topics were repeated like every chapter, making it drag so much towards the middle, which then piled a ton of shit in the end.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚ milow
milow was great. i liked her a lot but i feel like her trauma was... idk, downplayed? it felt weird that she was abused for all those years and there was no mention of any flashbacks or any sort of trauma in part 2 until it was actually revealed which was weird bcs one does not forget shit like that easily. plus the whole thing with hailie really pissed me off bcs
˚⊱🪷⊰˚ ashby
ashby was well...bland. don't get me wrong, he was sweet and caring and protective and all, but i saw no real romance between them? is that weird since this was literally a romance book? his character honestly felt like a side character ngl and then all he ever thought about was protecting milow and looking at milow and everything milow. which sounds amazing for a few pages, sure, but please, we need characters to have a functioning brain that process normal life and thoughts apart from the fmc too. and then all his trauma.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚other characters
stan and scottie were cool but they had no real depth tbh. the whole point of stan was to be a goofy empty head kinda person and the whole point of scottie was being the girl that resisted him and it was...meh.
jesper was actually an amazing character, ngl. loved him the most.
˚⊱🪷⊰˚overall thoughts
i feel like the author was heavily inspired by binding 13, which was very evident in a few scenes and topics, esp ashby and stans bromancs which i could tell was heavily aiming for johnny and gibsie level of friendship but again... it fell short. same with scottie and stans relationship (which was probably aiming for gibse and claire?) like sure scottie and stan are gonna be a couple but we did not need to make half the book about them, which was exactly how it felt. there was no real point to most of the side characters as well bcs like i said, they showed no real depth.
the reason this was still a three star read is because it got me out of my (new books) slump and despite being bored a lot, i actually enjoyed some of it? lmao i probably sound crazy but yk those books that are nice to read but aren't perfect? it was kinda like that 🤭
overall, i genuinely believe that this book had so much potential to be great but its just that the execution of it wasn't great which was the main reason it fell short.
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Currently reading
April 4, 2026┆ ⤿ ⭐️ ⌗ started: april 3
woah it's already april?! i can't believe we're a quarter into the year phew. i've been seeing so many reels and posts about this book + ellie loving it so ofc i had to give it a try!! i'm not ready to cry though.... so!
reading this with my best friend mads! 💌⭐️💗 i'm so ready to cry together
woah it's already april?! i can't believe we're a quarter into the year phew. i've been seeing so many reels and posts about this book + ellie loving it so ofc i had to give it a try!! i'm not ready to cry though.... so!
reading this with my best friend mads! 💌⭐️💗 i'm so ready to cry together
March 26, 2026
When he doesn’t want to use his voice because he found out her vocal cords were surgically removed by her abusive dad:
𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦," 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺.
"𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
[𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 ���𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺.]
5 stars! ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
(Spoiler~free)
I CANNOT.
This book had everything I NEEDED to get me out of this little reading slump I was in, and overall I have NO criticism on this whatsoever, because the more I think about it the more I’ve come to love these characters. 🥹🫶🩵🩵🩵
~‘𝘈 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.’
This book is for the Boys Of Tommen fans, who find comfort in the sadness but love a good found family trope with a good friend group 😭😭🫶
(Everything I neeeed)
Milow!!! 😩 My sweet girl.
She is one of my new favorite fmc’s I’ve read, already from the first two chapters alone I immediately said
“THIS GIRL NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS.”
And I stood by that the ENTIRE TIME 👏
And Ashby 💚💚🥲
The most gentle mmc I’ve read. 🫂
He’s the epitome of a hug as a person if that makes sense 😭
He STOOD by for Milow since they were kids and the way he is so patient, and is SO PROTECTIVE 🙏👏
Not only does Milow have her own traumas but so does Ashby, which I hope we could focus on more with the next book?? 👀 definitely want to know more about him 🥲
All the side characters I ADORED.
Also need to know more about Scottie & Stan. 🧍♀️💔
Because what.
I love love their dynamic and the complexity of it, I’m all ears for them and CANNOT wait for their book. 📖
💕i definitely connected with this book more, given the author Nissa Renzo, who’s the absolute sweetest person. I knew at some points she was writing these scenes from experience which only made me 100 times more emotional! And yet made me so protective and emotionally attached to these people 🥲🫶
Whatever she writes next, will be added to my cart no matter what 😩👏
DID NOT DISAPPOINT. PLEASE READ.
🌟Rating: 5/5
📚Age Rating: 16+ (check trigger warnings!)
🔥Spice: 0/5
🎧Playlist:
~Close To You~Gracie Abrams
~Seven~Taylor Swift
~Its Nice To Have A Friend~Taylor Swift
~Cowboy like me~Taylor Swift
~New Year’s Day~Taylor Swift
~Safe & Sound~Taylor Swift
~gold rush~Taylor Swift
~Sidelines~Phoebe Bridgers
~We’re Going To Be Friends~The White Stripes
~Take my Hand~Matt Berry
~Fix You~Coldplay
~Nothing’s gonna hurt you baby~Cigarettes after sex
~You’re Gonna Go Far~Noah Kahan
~We’ll Never Have Sex~Leith Ross
~Fine Line~Harry Styles
💌Favorite Quotes:
~[𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘈𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦.]
"𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸," 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴. "𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.”
𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦," 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺.
"𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
[𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 ���𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺.]
5 stars! ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
(Spoiler~free)
I CANNOT.
This book had everything I NEEDED to get me out of this little reading slump I was in, and overall I have NO criticism on this whatsoever, because the more I think about it the more I’ve come to love these characters. 🥹🫶🩵🩵🩵
~‘𝘈 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘰𝘰.’
This book is for the Boys Of Tommen fans, who find comfort in the sadness but love a good found family trope with a good friend group 😭😭🫶
(Everything I neeeed)
Milow!!! 😩 My sweet girl.
She is one of my new favorite fmc’s I’ve read, already from the first two chapters alone I immediately said
“THIS GIRL NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS.”
And I stood by that the ENTIRE TIME 👏
And Ashby 💚💚🥲
The most gentle mmc I’ve read. 🫂
He’s the epitome of a hug as a person if that makes sense 😭
He STOOD by for Milow since they were kids and the way he is so patient, and is SO PROTECTIVE 🙏👏
Not only does Milow have her own traumas but so does Ashby, which I hope we could focus on more with the next book?? 👀 definitely want to know more about him 🥲
All the side characters I ADORED.
Also need to know more about Scottie & Stan. 🧍♀️💔
Because what.
I love love their dynamic and the complexity of it, I’m all ears for them and CANNOT wait for their book. 📖
💕i definitely connected with this book more, given the author Nissa Renzo, who’s the absolute sweetest person. I knew at some points she was writing these scenes from experience which only made me 100 times more emotional! And yet made me so protective and emotionally attached to these people 🥲🫶
Whatever she writes next, will be added to my cart no matter what 😩👏
DID NOT DISAPPOINT. PLEASE READ.
🌟Rating: 5/5
📚Age Rating: 16+ (check trigger warnings!)
🔥Spice: 0/5
🎧Playlist:
~Close To You~Gracie Abrams
~Seven~Taylor Swift
~Its Nice To Have A Friend~Taylor Swift
~Cowboy like me~Taylor Swift
~New Year’s Day~Taylor Swift
~Safe & Sound~Taylor Swift
~gold rush~Taylor Swift
~Sidelines~Phoebe Bridgers
~We’re Going To Be Friends~The White Stripes
~Take my Hand~Matt Berry
~Fix You~Coldplay
~Nothing’s gonna hurt you baby~Cigarettes after sex
~You’re Gonna Go Far~Noah Kahan
~We’ll Never Have Sex~Leith Ross
~Fine Line~Harry Styles
💌Favorite Quotes:
~[𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘈𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦.]
"𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸," 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴. "𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.”
April 3, 2026
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦
╰➤PRE-READˎˊ˗
I think I accidently spoiled it myself by reading someone else's review of this book, and I'm only on the 3rd page but I already feel like I'm gonna shed a few tears...
──── ୨୧ ────
╰➤REVIEWˎˊ˗
Rating: ★★★★☆
Emotional: ★★★★☆
Spice: No spice
Tags: Mutism, Ableism, Child Abuse, Bullying, Sexual Assault
Wth? I feel like they left so many things out, which needed to be explained further. It was like they had started off with some serious sub-plots, but didn't give any further context or build it on. Which irritated me and I was wondering when they were going to explain all of this when I was nearing the end of the book... For example: Ashby's childhood or when he's going to tell Milow about it??? And about Hallie's situation at home?? Also what happened with Jasper and Lacey??? And Scottie's sickness???? The last one, I can excuse because it will be explained in the next book. But the rest of these, I don't think they could be explained in detail or not in Milow/Ashby's POV at least. So what was the point of starting them off?
──── ୨୧ ────
Follow for more reviews! 🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
╰➤PRE-READˎˊ˗
I think I accidently spoiled it myself by reading someone else's review of this book, and I'm only on the 3rd page but I already feel like I'm gonna shed a few tears...
──── ୨୧ ────
╰➤REVIEWˎˊ˗
Rating: ★★★★☆
Emotional: ★★★★☆
Spice: No spice
Tags: Mutism, Ableism, Child Abuse, Bullying, Sexual Assault
Wth? I feel like they left so many things out, which needed to be explained further. It was like they had started off with some serious sub-plots, but didn't give any further context or build it on. Which irritated me and I was wondering when they were going to explain all of this when I was nearing the end of the book... For example: Ashby's childhood or when he's going to tell Milow about it??? And about Hallie's situation at home?? Also what happened with Jasper and Lacey??? And Scottie's sickness???? The last one, I can excuse because it will be explained in the next book. But the rest of these, I don't think they could be explained in detail or not in Milow/Ashby's POV at least. So what was the point of starting them off?
──── ୨୧ ────
Follow for more reviews! 🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Currently reading
April 4, 2026— ⋆˙⟡ pre-read 𓂃˖ ࣪⊹
⤷⊹ started: april 3
happy april cuties!! 💐 i’ve seen ellie talk about this a lot, so obviously i had to check it out 🤭 this book seems like it’s going to break me and i can’t wait 😌 and ofc i'm reading this with my bestie har!! i love you so much babes and i can’t wait to yap about these two 🙈💗
⤷⊹ started: april 3
happy april cuties!! 💐 i’ve seen ellie talk about this a lot, so obviously i had to check it out 🤭 this book seems like it’s going to break me and i can’t wait 😌 and ofc i'm reading this with my bestie har!! i love you so much babes and i can’t wait to yap about these two 🙈💗
![Profile Image for asiaonlyreadstuffshelikes [semi-ia].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1769607453i%2F181489859._UY200_CR0%2C0%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
Currently reading
March 30, 2026‧˚ʚ 𝑝𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 ꒰𖦹｡🫐⋆°✰꒱
reading this with emmaaaa 🌷🤍 thank you for agreeing to this br with me, ily so much xx 💐
I'm so excitedddd to start it🤭 (let's pretend I'm not already a quarter of the book in...)
but yeah the plot sounds so interesting but painful at the same time and I can't wait I'm so curious! ✨
reading this with emmaaaa 🌷🤍 thank you for agreeing to this br with me, ily so much xx 💐
I'm so excitedddd to start it🤭 (let's pretend I'm not already a quarter of the book in...)
but yeah the plot sounds so interesting but painful at the same time and I can't wait I'm so curious! ✨
Did not finish
April 1, 2026DNF 30%
I give up… it’s so boring, with pointless details that don’t add anything to the story!
I give up… it’s so boring, with pointless details that don’t add anything to the story!
Want to read
March 19, 2026SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR. OH MY LORD.
A LIST OF EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT MAKES ME WANT TO READ IT:
WRITTEN BY ME, LYDIA
i. romance
ii. disability rep
iii. MMC IS A SWIMMER
iv. foster system rep
v. DISABILITY REP
vi. protector trope
vii. ROMANCE
vii. the cover
viii. abuse rep
ix. DISABILITY REP
x. language barrier
xi. found family
xii. mental health rep
xiii. cliffhanger
xiv. 500+ pages
xv. CAN I MENTION THE ROMANCE AGAIN??
stop i already want to cry bc i know its gonna be so good, so i better get this book soon 😭💗
A LIST OF EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT MAKES ME WANT TO READ IT:
WRITTEN BY ME, LYDIA
i. romance
ii. disability rep
iii. MMC IS A SWIMMER
iv. foster system rep
v. DISABILITY REP
vi. protector trope
vii. ROMANCE
vii. the cover
viii. abuse rep
ix. DISABILITY REP
x. language barrier
xi. found family
xii. mental health rep
xiii. cliffhanger
xiv. 500+ pages
xv. CAN I MENTION THE ROMANCE AGAIN??
stop i already want to cry bc i know its gonna be so good, so i better get this book soon 😭💗
March 29, 2026
’ love would be everywhere if it didn’t feel like standing in the middle of a storm. ‘
- 2.5 stars ⭐️ 🌀🪽
ugh this book was such a disappointment. i was so excited for it, like SO excited for it, id been following the author on insta for the longest time. but it was just so annoying.
the author emphasized how ‘sad’ this book was and how terrible the trauma the FMC had to go through was and it was honestly just not even. like it was so underwhelming. the only mildly sad part in this book was the flashbacks to when she was 6.
the romance felt so rushed, and the bullying honestly felt random and out of the blue. every other page was just them making out, or ashby feeling bad for milow or milow doing homework and sudoku puzzles. it was just so repetitive and annoying.
not to mention the writing. both that and dialogue was so cringey i couldn’t stand it. like ain’t no way in hell real people say that shit.
however, i did like the concept- it was unique, and for me personally it shone a light on how it feels to live with a disability and has lwk motivated me to try and learn sign language. it seems like an enjoyable and rewarding thing to learn.
i am excited for scottie and stans story though, i will not lie. and thats purely because scottie is the only remotely interesting character in this entire book.
overall notes: read at your own cost.
- 2.5 stars ⭐️ 🌀🪽
ugh this book was such a disappointment. i was so excited for it, like SO excited for it, id been following the author on insta for the longest time. but it was just so annoying.
the author emphasized how ‘sad’ this book was and how terrible the trauma the FMC had to go through was and it was honestly just not even. like it was so underwhelming. the only mildly sad part in this book was the flashbacks to when she was 6.
the romance felt so rushed, and the bullying honestly felt random and out of the blue. every other page was just them making out, or ashby feeling bad for milow or milow doing homework and sudoku puzzles. it was just so repetitive and annoying.
not to mention the writing. both that and dialogue was so cringey i couldn’t stand it. like ain’t no way in hell real people say that shit.
however, i did like the concept- it was unique, and for me personally it shone a light on how it feels to live with a disability and has lwk motivated me to try and learn sign language. it seems like an enjoyable and rewarding thing to learn.
i am excited for scottie and stans story though, i will not lie. and thats purely because scottie is the only remotely interesting character in this entire book.
overall notes: read at your own cost.
March 25, 2026
I rarely leave reviews, but this book just wasn’t it for me. It felt like a bootleg version of BOT, especially with the “two books per couple” format and the dated chapter headings, which didn’t really add anything to the story.
The dialogue came across as very surface-level and immature. It didn’t feel authentic. No teenager actually talks like that. Both the FMC and MMC were overly nice to the point where they lacked depth or real substance, making it hard to connect with them.
It was also hard to ignore how similar the characters were to BOT, Stan - Gibs, Hallie - Bella, and so on.
The dialogue came across as very surface-level and immature. It didn’t feel authentic. No teenager actually talks like that. Both the FMC and MMC were overly nice to the point where they lacked depth or real substance, making it hard to connect with them.
It was also hard to ignore how similar the characters were to BOT, Stan - Gibs, Hallie - Bella, and so on.
March 18, 2026
I saw the previews for this book on TikTok and couldn’t wait to read it. I have to say, it wasn’t what I expected. I loved the beginning as much as it pained me, but I really liked how we saw Milow grow up and goshhh when Gus found her and protected her at the fire station made me sob, like the way she walked in pyjama in a winter storm damn. BUT I did not like the romance at all. I think I expected a heavier book, especially concerning the MC’s past. I would have loved to see her growth through it all, not only her mutism but the fact that she had been sexually abused as well. At the beginning it was clearly mentioned how traumatic it was for her, but when the romance picked on it was totally brushed aside which I think made me step away from the romance (and the fact that they were both adopted in the same family and calling them mom and dad🙂↕️🤚). It was still good, but for such heavy topics, I think it could have been taken care of better. Loved looooved the friendships and little group they had going on, absolutely obsessed with Stan, literally my favourite character.
March 22, 2026
actual masterpiece i’m in love
March 30, 2026
"𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐃𝐇𝐃 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨."
girl shut your mouth...or your mind since you're mute. self-diagnosing people are my worst enemies and they should get a life if they have enough time to pretend they're psychiatrists.
This book was actually horrendous and it's time for me to not take seriously Marianna Moore's recommendations. Why am I doing this to myself? I. Need. To. Stop.
The main problem with this book is simply that it's not written well at all. It's not even the writing style, which is by the way non-existent, it's the fact that there are multiple solecism in the book. I'm not kidding when I say that every. Single. Sentence. is written in past tense. I mean sure, a lot of things mentioned happened in the past, but why are you using past simple for things THAT HAPPEN IN THE PRESENT?! I'm mad, okay. English is not my first language as you can see by my reviews and seeing native speakers using it totally wrong, especially in a book that they wrote and should've gone through multipe editing it's just so outraging.
The other thing that was really annoying when the sentences were segmented and it felt like the author didn't know that commas exist. I get it, you have to submit a certain word count to your editor or agent or whatever, but you don't need to write 5 sentences for something that could've passed for one. For example: waking up and getting to the kitchen to eat. Why do I have to read about this? What does it give to the storyline itself? I'll tell you what: absolutely nothing.
I won't even waste your or my time by writing about the characters. They horribly written, had no single personality and I'm waiting for the day when an author can write a teenager accurately. Sixteen and seventeen olds do not act like that and if you think they do, you're just delusional. Everyone was childish and immature as hell, they talked and acted like 10 year olds in love and I couldn't take anyone or anyone's problems seriously either. Thank God it's over!
100 pages in and i already regret doing it. you know me though, i never give up on a book that easily (most of the time)
girl shut your mouth...or your mind since you're mute. self-diagnosing people are my worst enemies and they should get a life if they have enough time to pretend they're psychiatrists.
This book was actually horrendous and it's time for me to not take seriously Marianna Moore's recommendations. Why am I doing this to myself? I. Need. To. Stop.
The main problem with this book is simply that it's not written well at all. It's not even the writing style, which is by the way non-existent, it's the fact that there are multiple solecism in the book. I'm not kidding when I say that every. Single. Sentence. is written in past tense. I mean sure, a lot of things mentioned happened in the past, but why are you using past simple for things THAT HAPPEN IN THE PRESENT?! I'm mad, okay. English is not my first language as you can see by my reviews and seeing native speakers using it totally wrong, especially in a book that they wrote and should've gone through multipe editing it's just so outraging.
The other thing that was really annoying when the sentences were segmented and it felt like the author didn't know that commas exist. I get it, you have to submit a certain word count to your editor or agent or whatever, but you don't need to write 5 sentences for something that could've passed for one. For example: waking up and getting to the kitchen to eat. Why do I have to read about this? What does it give to the storyline itself? I'll tell you what: absolutely nothing.
I won't even waste your or my time by writing about the characters. They horribly written, had no single personality and I'm waiting for the day when an author can write a teenager accurately. Sixteen and seventeen olds do not act like that and if you think they do, you're just delusional. Everyone was childish and immature as hell, they talked and acted like 10 year olds in love and I couldn't take anyone or anyone's problems seriously either. Thank God it's over!
100 pages in and i already regret doing it. you know me though, i never give up on a book that easily (most of the time)
March 26, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
Can someone let me know how I can inject a book in my veins while also wiping my memory so I can reread it? This book was absolutely amazing omg it was pure agony and pain but at the same time the cutest thing I’ve ever read. I felt every possible emotion I can from reading it. So let’s talk about it.
This books follows Wilow from childhood who had been in abusive household and then taken by a firefighter and his wife to raise her in their loving home. She then finds Ashby, who’s also fostered by the same family, and they start getting really close. While I do admit I was a bit hesitant about that part given that I don’t go for foster siblings it never felt weird or awkward in that sense at all.
The things I loved about this book was the found family trope being played out really well and how their friend group has amazing dynamics. I loved the lack of toxic masculinity in ways such as how the male characters aren’t afraid to cry or show support and affection to each other. The relationship between the two main characters was really soft and pure that it made me fall in love with them both. The different types of representations for bullying, selective mutism, mutism, skin picking disorder, childhood abuse, sexual harassment was all things I appreciate about this book and also the reason I would recommend it for upper YA.
The issues I had: Now initially when I was reading, those things slipped my mind because I was too busy swooning over the main couple but now realizing it changes the experience for me a bit. In the first half of the book a lot of trauma was presented and (while it’s not explicit) it just felt that in the second half ( when they’re older) we don’t get to see that impact? Wilow went through so much as a child and there was no ounce of ptsd other than her skin picking disorder when there was opportunity for so much more given it’s in first pov instead of it being downplayed. Another thing which I’m hoping to be explored more is Ashby’s background because he had such a traumatic childhood yet that wasn’t explored.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I have no idea how I’m supposed to wait for the next book to come out because I need it like yesterday.
Can someone let me know how I can inject a book in my veins while also wiping my memory so I can reread it? This book was absolutely amazing omg it was pure agony and pain but at the same time the cutest thing I’ve ever read. I felt every possible emotion I can from reading it. So let’s talk about it.
This books follows Wilow from childhood who had been in abusive household and then taken by a firefighter and his wife to raise her in their loving home. She then finds Ashby, who’s also fostered by the same family, and they start getting really close. While I do admit I was a bit hesitant about that part given that I don’t go for foster siblings it never felt weird or awkward in that sense at all.
The things I loved about this book was the found family trope being played out really well and how their friend group has amazing dynamics. I loved the lack of toxic masculinity in ways such as how the male characters aren’t afraid to cry or show support and affection to each other. The relationship between the two main characters was really soft and pure that it made me fall in love with them both. The different types of representations for bullying, selective mutism, mutism, skin picking disorder, childhood abuse, sexual harassment was all things I appreciate about this book and also the reason I would recommend it for upper YA.
The issues I had: Now initially when I was reading, those things slipped my mind because I was too busy swooning over the main couple but now realizing it changes the experience for me a bit. In the first half of the book a lot of trauma was presented and (while it’s not explicit) it just felt that in the second half ( when they’re older) we don’t get to see that impact? Wilow went through so much as a child and there was no ounce of ptsd other than her skin picking disorder when there was opportunity for so much more given it’s in first pov instead of it being downplayed. Another thing which I’m hoping to be explored more is Ashby’s background because he had such a traumatic childhood yet that wasn’t explored.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and I have no idea how I’m supposed to wait for the next book to come out because I need it like yesterday.
March 20, 2026
It’s a good book, but I can’t help feeling like it had so much more potential. The first part was incredible, but the second felt like a completely different story. It left me a bit uncomfortable, especially because the author introduced some very heavy themes and then didn’t really follow through with them, which made them feel more like shock value than anything else.
April 3, 2026
Sooo.. I’ll give this a 3.5 ⭐️
It’s a beautiful story and the characters are amazing and so sweet. It was very hard to read at times but now after finishing I feel like nothing actually happened? I’m not sure what the plot was? You got to follow along during the mundane lives of two teenagers with tragic origins and see them slowly accept and confess their feelings toward one another. But, and I’m sad to say this, it felt like the book was going nowhere. There was no twist, no struggle for something greater (if you don’t count the emotional struggle for all of them). I sometimes felt like Scottie and Stan had more going on and they weren’t even the main couple in this book…
That said, I still really enjoyed the book. It was heartbreaking and what happened to these characters are awful. And some parts of it hit really close to home so that made it even worse. I guess I, personally, needed something more/different for it to really make it something special in my eyes.
I also had a hard time seeing how kids (young adults) would act and behave the way they did in this one. The way they thought, talked and resonated wasn’t the way kids between 16-18 do… they felt so grown up and that also made it weird in my head lol 😅
It’s a beautiful story and the characters are amazing and so sweet. It was very hard to read at times but now after finishing I feel like nothing actually happened? I’m not sure what the plot was? You got to follow along during the mundane lives of two teenagers with tragic origins and see them slowly accept and confess their feelings toward one another. But, and I’m sad to say this, it felt like the book was going nowhere. There was no twist, no struggle for something greater (if you don’t count the emotional struggle for all of them). I sometimes felt like Scottie and Stan had more going on and they weren’t even the main couple in this book…
That said, I still really enjoyed the book. It was heartbreaking and what happened to these characters are awful. And some parts of it hit really close to home so that made it even worse. I guess I, personally, needed something more/different for it to really make it something special in my eyes.
I also had a hard time seeing how kids (young adults) would act and behave the way they did in this one. The way they thought, talked and resonated wasn’t the way kids between 16-18 do… they felt so grown up and that also made it weird in my head lol 😅
March 25, 2026
High school romance isn’t my fav thing to read but this was cute
April 2, 2026
2 ⭐️ I don’t know how it’s possible for a book to be too much and not enough at the same time, but here it is.
Read
March 30, 2026DNF 65% I was so bored!
I saw this book being hyped on TikTok but this just isn’t for me, I feel like it’s written for teenagers not someone who has teenagers.
Honestly if their ages weren’t mentioned and you were made to guess I would have genuinely thought they were like 13 instead of 17.
I saw this book being hyped on TikTok but this just isn’t for me, I feel like it’s written for teenagers not someone who has teenagers.
Honestly if their ages weren’t mentioned and you were made to guess I would have genuinely thought they were like 13 instead of 17.
March 18, 2026
“Always and forever.”
Love that is present in presence navigates the growth of every kind of love there is to exist. Being there for someone, no matter the situation, is a love unlike any other.
If I would choose to represent love in a physical form, I would choose the roots of a tree. Each root speaks of a type of love and this story holds the root of presence. Being there for someone, no matter the situation, is a form of love that navigates friendship. And what is friendship if not love.
The love between Milow and Ashby was rooted in the friendship that had grown over years, its strength and depth shown in the way Ashby always ran to her whenever he came home, in the way Milow found comfort in his eyes, in the way they broke down in each others arms.
From the moment they met, Milow and Ashby’s story spoke of warmth, healing, and so much love that it would fill a thousand sudoku books. Milow, despite her traumatic past, was so kind. And Ashby, through his struggles with swimming, chose to smile. Both carried a strength in their hearts that were leaden crammed with feeling.
Close to you is a story that we’ve all lived, being young and discovering things and experiencing emotions, it’s part of growing up. Anxiety is a quiet sort of entanglement that is unique to everyone but when seen, it’s a soothing type of comfort.
If a story of friendship and kindness speaks to you, I recommend Close to you. It comes out March 17th.
Thank you for the arc💘
Love that is present in presence navigates the growth of every kind of love there is to exist. Being there for someone, no matter the situation, is a love unlike any other.
If I would choose to represent love in a physical form, I would choose the roots of a tree. Each root speaks of a type of love and this story holds the root of presence. Being there for someone, no matter the situation, is a form of love that navigates friendship. And what is friendship if not love.
The love between Milow and Ashby was rooted in the friendship that had grown over years, its strength and depth shown in the way Ashby always ran to her whenever he came home, in the way Milow found comfort in his eyes, in the way they broke down in each others arms.
From the moment they met, Milow and Ashby’s story spoke of warmth, healing, and so much love that it would fill a thousand sudoku books. Milow, despite her traumatic past, was so kind. And Ashby, through his struggles with swimming, chose to smile. Both carried a strength in their hearts that were leaden crammed with feeling.
Close to you is a story that we’ve all lived, being young and discovering things and experiencing emotions, it’s part of growing up. Anxiety is a quiet sort of entanglement that is unique to everyone but when seen, it’s a soothing type of comfort.
If a story of friendship and kindness speaks to you, I recommend Close to you. It comes out March 17th.
Thank you for the arc💘
April 1, 2026
Edit : for me the book deserved the 2 star rating
It was an okay book especially for a debut author ( in the genre she’s writing in ) - but unfortunately there are many things I wanted from it . Overall I enjoyed the fact the fmc was mute ( but I wanted more from it )
Her life felt too perfect - the blurb advertised she’d experience bullying and she does but it’s the smallest part of the book. The couple felt like a Johnny Shannon knockoff ( which is fine ) but like yeah . The positive unlike b&k 13 the mmc isn’t like obsessed with wanting to fuck her . And there’s zero sex / sexual moments in this book (which is a plus )
For me unfortunately I don’t think I’ll read future books by This author due to how although It had trauma that worked - I wanted it explored more . The fmc was SA’d by her dad when she was younger ( THE FMC EXPERIENCES ZERO REPRECUSSIONS FROM IT) .
I wanted to see more into the mmcs past - what happened to him .
She had her vocal cords taken out ( she was aware she could never speak) but somehow her adoptive parents never even told anyone “ including her adoptive siblings “ that. She wasn’t selective mute but couldnt ever speak “ . No they waited until the mmc was 18 and the fmc was 16 to say yeah um “she can’t speak due to having zero vocal cords and her dad SA’d her .
I also wanted to see them through the years like not just when they were 6/7 and 16/ 18 . I wanted like to see them grow their friendship and it turn into love . The mmc was like 7 and then was like “she’s the girl for me “ but they don’t end up dating until like 70% in when they are in hs .
I liked the sign language rep - it’s rare to see it and I liked that everyone in the friendship group learnt it . And everyone in her family ( adoptive ) family learnt it for her too. I loved the friendship group . Even if I did think it felt “too perfect”
The mmc and fmc are adoptive siblings like they grow up together . They call their adoptive parents mum and dad . Now I mean they aren’t biological siblings so it’s not incest but …… - and what’s worse when the parents find out they’re together no one gives af. They don’t care .
the last 20% of the btw WTF. Like truly the last part felt like a huge mess of a book. Wtf does that other girl have wrong with her ? ( is she dying ) or what ??? Apparently it’s some heart thing but she’s “too young to have that “
for A ya book it wasn’t completely juvenile so I did enjoy that . But like I’m not gonna lie and say this was actually a good book - it was fast paced and enjoyable sure but for me it was slop . It was fine overall but I wish
Certain stuff was focused on more . This wasn’t extremely terrible I mean it’s ya after all ( a ya book is gonna have flaws it’s aimed at younger demographic after all. ) but like truly although this was an enjoyable quick read that’s all it can be .
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It was an okay book especially for a debut author ( in the genre she’s writing in ) - but unfortunately there are many things I wanted from it . Overall I enjoyed the fact the fmc was mute ( but I wanted more from it )
Her life felt too perfect - the blurb advertised she’d experience bullying and she does but it’s the smallest part of the book. The couple felt like a Johnny Shannon knockoff ( which is fine ) but like yeah . The positive unlike b&k 13 the mmc isn’t like obsessed with wanting to fuck her . And there’s zero sex / sexual moments in this book (which is a plus )
For me unfortunately I don’t think I’ll read future books by This author due to how although It had trauma that worked - I wanted it explored more . The fmc was SA’d by her dad when she was younger ( THE FMC EXPERIENCES ZERO REPRECUSSIONS FROM IT) .
I wanted to see more into the mmcs past - what happened to him .
She had her vocal cords taken out ( she was aware she could never speak) but somehow her adoptive parents never even told anyone “ including her adoptive siblings “ that. She wasn’t selective mute but couldnt ever speak “ . No they waited until the mmc was 18 and the fmc was 16 to say yeah um “she can’t speak due to having zero vocal cords and her dad SA’d her .
I also wanted to see them through the years like not just when they were 6/7 and 16/ 18 . I wanted like to see them grow their friendship and it turn into love . The mmc was like 7 and then was like “she’s the girl for me “ but they don’t end up dating until like 70% in when they are in hs .
I liked the sign language rep - it’s rare to see it and I liked that everyone in the friendship group learnt it . And everyone in her family ( adoptive ) family learnt it for her too. I loved the friendship group . Even if I did think it felt “too perfect”
The mmc and fmc are adoptive siblings like they grow up together . They call their adoptive parents mum and dad . Now I mean they aren’t biological siblings so it’s not incest but …… - and what’s worse when the parents find out they’re together no one gives af. They don’t care .
the last 20% of the btw WTF. Like truly the last part felt like a huge mess of a book. Wtf does that other girl have wrong with her ? ( is she dying ) or what ??? Apparently it’s some heart thing but she’s “too young to have that “
for A ya book it wasn’t completely juvenile so I did enjoy that . But like I’m not gonna lie and say this was actually a good book - it was fast paced and enjoyable sure but for me it was slop . It was fine overall but I wish
Certain stuff was focused on more . This wasn’t extremely terrible I mean it’s ya after all ( a ya book is gonna have flaws it’s aimed at younger demographic after all. ) but like truly although this was an enjoyable quick read that’s all it can be .
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