“Love was not jealousy or manipulation. Love was consideration and kindness. Love was soft and wholesome. Love was what was standing in front of me.” 

I will admit it took me a few chapters to really get invested in this book but after those first few chapters I flew through the book. I also have to thank this author for pulling me out of the reading slump I’ve been in recently.This book is amazingly paced and I loved the characters and how they were portrayed through the course of the book.

The book follows Tatum Everley in her freshman year of college at Western Michigan University. Tate suffers from Complex PTSD as a result of a toxic relationship with the most emotionally abusive man in the world a few years ago. Now with her wonderful group of friends, Tate tries to move on with her life but is faced with Axel Burne, the campus playboy who doesn't ever want a serious relationship. When Axel seems to show an interest in her Tate knows she can’t act on her own attraction to him for the sake of her mental health.

What I loved about this book was that while utilizing the trope of the popular boy who doesn’t do relationships it deals with so many more ideas with equal time in the spotlight. And rather than just focusing on the girl and the boy sizing each other up it also highlights the relationship between friends and between family. 
Trinity Lemm tries to showcase the difference between a toxic relationship and healthy one so that even her younger readers will see that not all that is put out to be the ideal relationship is healthy. She does this by using not only her protagonist’s trauma filled past but also through the protagonist's friends and those around her.

Another thing I liked about this book is that college settings filled with partying and romance usually showcase girls being horrible to their ‘friends’ but this book shows the protagonist having great friends who try to support her through all her troubles and making up very quickly even when minor misunderstandings take place as true friends always do. It's not unrealistic either with everyone being sweethearts, the author shows her audience boys and girls being those terrible stereotypes too, and grounds her book in reality.

Axel’s character isn’t ignored either. We see a lot of his own problems and his past even as the author maintains the first person view from only Tate's perspective. His relationship with his siblings is very well displayed along with his own character. But no one is perfect and we see his mistakes too.

A lot of people would have expected a character with C-PTSD to be portrayed as an introverted girl who locks herself up in a room and doesn’t talk to anyone while having no friends or a support system. It’s wonderful that the author portrays her protagonist as a girl who loves dressing up and goes partying regularly with her wonderful friends, has an amazing relationship with her three sisters while also dealing with flashbacks and needs moments of alone time.

This book is fairly young adult with bits of new adult in there and is written well. The story moves quickly and doesn’t drag on about misunderstandings unnecessarily. The setting is great because you don't see the typical college contemporary books deal with so many problems at once. While i wouldn’t say this book is your typical light hearted contemporary I wouldn’t say it’s a very heavy book that needs you to be emotionally available either. This book finds a wonderful middle ground and is very easy to read.