Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

I have to admit that the main reason I picked this book up was that I saw that the main character Jordan was a stone butch. That is an identity that is not featured enough in lesbian media imo and so even though I don’t read romances that often I just knew I had to read it.
Jordan is… a complicated main character. In true stereotypical butch fashion, she has a lot of trauma, that she bottles up and never talks about. I did like that that was something she managed to improve on over time. I also think that the way she treated her friends was unfair at times. But I like messy characters and seeing them do dumb stuff that messes up their lives, so I enjoyed that part of the story. And I really loved that Jordan’s stoneness was something she refused to change, even when people tried to shame her for it.
Be prepared for miscommunication (or well, no communication) playing a relatively big part in this story. Unfortunately, there is a lot of things that could have been prevented if people talked to each other and that was a bit annoying, particularly the [spoilers] constant assumption that Noémi’s ex must have been a man, when Noémi always tried very carefully not to use any pronouns. Stuff like that is fine for the first half, but when I still get assumptions like that 200 pages in it gets a bit boring. I do understand why the big reveal hit Jordan hard, when it did happen, but it felt a lot like drama for drama’s sake. [spoilers end]
What I really disliked was the constant biphobia and predatory lesbian stereotyping featured in the story. While I do certainly believe that those are conversations that happen in queer circles, it was tiring to keep hearing Jordan called a predatory lesbian who turns straight girls gay even by other gay people and those she considered her friends. It got a lot worse when she turned it onto herself, but thankfully that is resolved pretty quickly. The idea that any of the characters who show or are assumed to show attraction to more than one gender are never even thought of as bisexual, but only straight, also bothered me.
I also really, really disliked the reveal at the end, when we [spoilers] find out that actually Noémi and Wayne had a bet going on for Noémi to seduce Jordan. I always heavily dislike that trope and to have it be done to Jordan by people she considered her friends was just heartbreaking. Since it happened so late in the story, I also think that it shouldn’t have been made Jordan’s responsibility to forgive. There just wasn’t the time there for her to forgive her naturally and I think it would have worked better if Noémi had been the one to beg her forgiveness. [spoilers end].
Also, there’s a harry potter reference. In a book that’s published in the year 2025. No, thank you!
And finally while the ending was sweet, I do wish there had been a bit more focus on Jordan’s backstory instead of on the miscommunication drama or that the book had been longer and allowed for more time for the forgiveness-arc.
All in all, I didn’t hate this book and again, I loved seeing a stone butch character being loved without someone trying to change her, but I wish that either the messyness of the characters had been accepted as messy but intriguing or that they had been given more time to actually fix their communication issues.
If you enjoy your slow burns to be really slow and enjoy drama a lot, maybe you'll like this more than I did though :).

TW: past prejudice against a stone person, slight aphobia from side character (it’s not natural to want to be alone), homophobia, colorism, past rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, victim blaming, trauma, fatphobia, addiction, cheating