Rating: 3 stars
What I Liked: This was a fairly solid read. There’s some lovely writing in it, as there is in all of Kristen Callihan’s books; the descriptions are gorgeous and evocative

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A particular highlight was the part where the hero, Rye, is playing with some children: Our gazes snare and, oh sweet sin, he smiles. That smile, it’s the sun rising over a dark hill. It spreads over his face and lights his eyes. A warm wave of sparkling happiness fills me, and I am helpless in its wakes. All I can do is smile back, my entire body humming with want and anticipation. We grin at each other like proper fools. That is until the children regroup and swarm Rye. He goes down in a tumble of tiny limbs and children’s happy screams. And all I can think is resistance is futile.”

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I liked both of the main characters, Rye and Brenna. I think I preferred Rye, overall; I think I got a better sense of him as a character and he was a lot sweeter than I thought he would be, but I liked Brenna’s attitude and determination. Their relationship was great. The whole concept really worked for me, and the sexual tension between them was off the charts. I also liked the sort of mutual pining aspect - it contrasted well with the initial enemies-to-lovers vibe, and was helped along by the fact I really could feel the weight of all their years of friendship between them.

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Rye’s feelings felt particularly real to me - it was clear how much he cared about her, even in the very early stages when they were still meant to have some level of antipathy. I liked the idea of their early crushes and how that worked out.

The friends with benefits thing was fun

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and I did like the fact that whilst it was meant to be a secret virtually all of their friends noticed it was happening

. The sex scenes are really hot

with the spanking scene was a particular highlight. I also really liked that they laughed during their sex scenes. They had fun and joked together, and that was really sweet to see. I enjoyed a lot of their relationship outside of the sex and drama: they knew each other very well and that really came through, and I also liked

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the part where Rye confided in Brenna about the pain in his hands / arms. I liked how she handled the situation and supported him.

The found family aspect of this book was very touching - I found some of the interference from their friends a bit irritating sometimes but I did like that

their final reconciliation was done in front of their friends as an additional act of love in recognition of how they were all one large family, that was very sweet. I also liked seeing more of Whip -

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it’s been a while since I read the other books in the series but I never really got a good grip on Whip as a character until this one. I liked his gentler advice and approach compared to Jax, Scottie, and Killian.

What I Didn’t: I thought that the novel handled Rye’s side story well, but Brenna’s felt a bit muddled.

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Her dissatisfaction with her life and job felt a bit crowbarred in towards the end for conflict purposes and I didn’t really enjoy it as a plotline. It felt like the author wasn’t quite sure about which aspect to go with - her dissatisfaction with her work life or her emotional trauma from her childhood, and it sort of flitted between the two in a way that felt jumbled.

I also found the latter half a bit dragged out - it just felt a bit repetitive.
And something else: Now, there is one aspect of the book that I struggled to get past. This isn’t really a criticism, hence why I’ve created a separate section for it, it’s just a personal gripe, so I’m going to put the entire thing under a spoiler warning. Just for reference, it’s probably entirely petty to anyone apart from me, but there you go.

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I was really, really confused by Rye’s physical size. I knew he was meant to be big and tall but there came a point to this book where I really got the impression that the author doesn’t really know how big certain measurements are. As an example, his height is stated to be six foot three, but he’s a foot taller than his mother, who is described as being nearly six foot tall...Which doesn’t make massive amounts of sense to me. There were a couple of other parts like that in the book that really threw me. It didn’t annoy me, but I was just curious. I’ve come across this a few times recently in romance books - it’s like authors don’t quite realise what they’re describing. I was actually surprised when his height was revealed as six foot three because these kinds of descriptions made him seem like he was at least six foot five or taller. Anyway. I know this probably doesn’t bother many other people but it’s something I genuinely find hard to get past when it happens - it's probably easier just not to specify how tall anyone is. In this case, I do think it was more of an editing issue - as it's something that bugs me I did end up going back through and highlighting references to height and it wasn't exactly all over the place but there were a couple of discrepancies that I think could have been edited out.

Overall: I went back and forth on the rating between 3 and 4 stars on this one. It’s a fun read, very well-written, and I enjoyed the relationship between Rye and Brenna quite a lot. The chemistry is stupidly high but it’s also a really sweet relationship. But I think the pacing in the latter half was a bit off and I didn’t really like some of the drama towards the end, and that did have an impact on how much I liked it. I think giving it 3 stars is because I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the other books in this series, but as a standalone it was pretty solid.
Would I Recommend It?: Yes, if you want a hot and steamy frenemies-to-lovers rockstar romance with a secret relationship and a strong found family element.
Would I Read Something By The Author Again?: Yes.
Content Notes:

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Warnings: Mentions of suicide attempt (in past), mentions of drugs / drug use / drug addiction, trauma from suicide attempt, depression, difficult relationship with parents

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Hero’s father is a regular adulterer and the hero has a bad relationship with him as a result

, emotional abuse / neglect

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The heroine’s parents were emotionally distant from her as a child and are verbally cruel to her on page, belittling her and her life choices.

, chronic pain

The hero suffers from acute tendonitis and has concerns about his ability to continue playing in the band as a result.

Other: On page sex, sort of daddy kink

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The hero jokes about the heroine calling him ‘daddy’ during sex early in the book, and later on when they have sex he very briefly has her call him daddy during sex. It doesn’t come up again and it doesn’t really seem like a genuine kink for both of them, but it turns them on in that brief moment.

, cheating mention

Hero’s father is a habitual adulterer and there is a flashback scene to a woman cheating on her husband by kissing the hero., OM drama

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Heroine is asked out on a date by another man that she is attracted to

, OW drama

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The hero briefly considers having a one night stand with another woman, and there is a flashback scene where a woman kisses him and it is seen by and upsets the heroine. This causes a bit of tension between them through the book.

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