How does Alexis Hall get me every time?! SO SO GOOD. I always go very cautiously into books featuring characters dealing with depression or who have a history of suicidal ideation because it’s so easy to get it wrong or to stigmatize. But Ash was handled with such compassion and grace. Enough time has passed since his suicide attempt for him to reasonably start a relationship, even if he’s not ready to admit that’s what is happening between him and Darian. He’s not off the hook for his non-depression-related behavior but he’s also shown dealing with anxiety and managing his medication and figuring out how to keep the depression at bay. He’s such a snooby grump of a man and he could be quite unfairly mean to Darian. There were times I certainly wanted to shake some sense into him. But we also see what he’s overcome and we also get to see him make his way toward happiness. The arc of his growth was stunning and lovely.

Darian was just a delight of a character. Hall excels at giving his characters distinct voices and this is certainly on display with Darian’s Essex accent. However, we get such a strong sense of his upbeat, sweet personality too. He’s so good for Ash and while I wasn’t always sure the opposite was true, I really did like them together in the end. Their dynamic cracked me up!

Funny, moving, utterly compelling. This was a story to savor and that’s exactly what I did.