I just couldn't invest myself in this at all. I couldn't connect with the plot or the characters (even though my husbands name is Glenn Edwards.. ha) so I DNF'ed it. I felt like I was being told how to feel rather than feeling it for myself.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I tried to like this book, I did, but I just did not connect. It was a struggle to finish, for some people this book may be amazing. I just didn't the connection. I had a major problem with Kerry, the abusive relationship could have been a good addition to the plot, but I felt so much was missing. What happened when she saved Dion from the assault? How did they get together, and what about Kate? I felt so much was unsaid that I was just reading words instead of a story with a plot.

Of course, it was the comics subtext that pulled me in, but I really did get <i>drawn</i> into this love story. (HA!)

I really enjoyed the writing and the characters were well-formed. Probably the only thing that really bothered me is that there wasn't much gray. The protagonists were good and virtuous, and the antagonists were pretty much evil.

But maybe sometimes it's nice to see a little black and white in my fiction. There's a whole lot of gray out there now.

This book was not what I expected it. When I requested it a while ago, I didn't like it at all, so I didn't even write a review. Now, I'm organizing my NetGalley and trying to remember what these titles made me feel. With this one, I feel nothing. I'm sorry.

I've enjoyed the author's previous books but unfortunately this one didn't work for me. The characters could have been more developed in my opinion - I wasn't able to relate to them so I felt a little disconnected from their story. I also thought some of the scenes were unnecessarily (and quite unexpectedly) violent. There were a lot of loose ends that didn't get resolved. I found the style of writing - with changing POVs - confusing and difficult to follow.

Even though Drawn Together has quite an interesting premise, there are two major drawbacks. First of all is very superficial characterization. We know almost nothing about the main characters, about their backstories, their attitudes and serious thoughts or their appearance (oh yes, almost at the end we find out indirectly that Dion has warm brown eyes, and that's about it).
Secondly, there is permanently unnecessary exaggeration in the description of verbal and physical violence. A particularly gruesome scene of rape for the purposes of procreation is what I will remember most from this book. That is just sad. As if the author wanted primarily to shock her readers, instead of connecting them with her protagonists in the right way. For me the result is that I am not shocked (rather somewhat disgusted), but I did not connect with characters and therefore did not care about them much.

Drawn Together by JD Glass is a very dark and gritty novel based around Zoe and Dion otherwise known as `D`. Zoe is a popular artist within the comic community, but a loner in her personal life. Dion is an author looking for an artist to illustrate her work, que team-up with Zoe. Dion is in an abusive relationship with her wife, although she seems to think her wife's behaviour is acceptable.

I enjoyed the way this book is written, alternating between the two main characters and including texts, emails and blog posts to tell the story. I was also very intrigued about the project between Zoe and Dion and enjoyed reading the dialogue.

However.

My first problem with this book the lack of depth within the characters. Sure there was A LOT of detail about how much they LOVED working together, how inspired they were with each other and how close they were as BFFS. Blah blah blah. To be frank, I skipped most of that. but there was nothing to explain how their friendship turned into love. Nothing about what the characters looked like or any background story for Zoe.
Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of detail about how the characters FELT but there was nothing for me to connect with the characters and to be honest, I was disappointed.

Secondly it frustrated me how stupid Dion is and how she doesn't realize her wife is constantly abusing, manipulating and drugging her.

For a storyline that was so unexpectedly dark I was dishertened in how fast the story ended and the fact that there was no dramatic conclusion. I feel like this book had a lot of potential but was not for me.

As I'm not into criticizing an author when they take the time to write a story for people to enjoy, I'll start by saying this is just my opinion on what could have made this book better for me. The authors actual talent and style of writing was great, so these are just minor critiques to be taken or not.

The good first. I liked that the author took a chance and incorporated new medias into the story. I've never seen emails and text messages used the way they were in this book. I liked the risk and honestly, that's how a lot of people primarily talk to each other nowadays. However moving to the bad, it also made it so it was a little harder to get in to the main characters heads. When you use texts and emails to share emotions between the two "love interests" (used lightly because it wasn't really a romance book) then just like in real life emotions are pretty dimmed. Saying "I care for you" over an email is not like whispering it into someones ear on a rainy night....

I hated the villain Kerry, which is what you want a reader to fee I know, but I hated her too much. She had absolutely no redeeming qualities and because it took so long to figure out why Dion was still with her, it made me not like Dion as much as I should have. I think it would have helped a lot just to put the whole secret reason why they were still together in the beginning since it would have made me sympathize with her more quickly. I don't think there was enough mystery gained to keep it for as long as it was a secret.

Spoiler(ish) so stop reading now.....
The threats from Kerry seemed to end so abruptly. I was finally getting in to the "oh my gosh how is Dion going to actually be with Zoey with a maniac ex-girlfirend" and then nothing came from them at all. I felt like there should have been a shoot out with EXPLOSIONS the way Kerry was so extreme!

That's my two cents.

Recommendation: I wasn't a huge fan so I can't say buy it.

The synopsis makes this novel sound way lighter and romance focused than it ends up being. I don’t mind reading grittier books. Also a love story that succeeds in spite of adversity and abuse is unfortunately all too common for people in the LGBTQ community so I completely understand why telling these sorts of stories can be incredibly valuable. But for any other potential readers I will say that this book (particularly in the second half) gets into a depiction of a truly awful abusive relationship and there is also an early on graphic rape scene.

I hate it when I dislike an ARC I’m sent to review, I feel bad about it because I want to support LGBTQ+ artists and I know how difficult writing is but I have to be honest this book really didn’t work for me. In particular:


The writing is often repetitive with words of phrases repeated ad nauseum ( I read the word baby I’m pretty sure 5 times on one page). I get that speech is naturally often repetitive but a phrase or word being used to death is way more noticable on a page.
There are a quite few loose ends that don’t wrap up and they are pretty prominent in the novel (whole characters get instantly forgotten) so it's a little odd and frustrating that they don’t go anywhere (which I’ll go more into in the spoiler section below in the read more).
Half way through the book the stakes change (in away I’ll go into when I talk about the abusive relationship) which makes the whole tone of the novel abruptly change. I don't mind books that have twists and turns or ones where the tone changes throughout the course but this book felt tonally dissonant in a way that never clicked with me.
Character motivations often make little sense or are never explained at all (see spoiler read more section).

I’ll start this review by talking about the romance even though it's really a subplot (the main plot being Dion’s abusive marriage to Kerry) because it's one of the things I feel most positively about, although I do have some misgiving which I will get into. The novel is written from the alternating perspective of both Dion and Zoey which is such a cute way of writing a romance when you can see both of them develop feelings for each other while they are emailing about the joint project they are working on together. This shift in perspectives is a little frustrating later in the novel as Dion is in life or death situations but it feel like we as the readers are wasting time and being kept away from the gripping pace because we are reading Zoey’s perspective so instead we are interacting with minor characters in her life.

I will also say that I hoped the way they interacted when they worked would be more collaborative. I know a little about graphic novel and comic production (its one of the things that drew me to reviewing this book in the first place and I know not everyone uses the marvel method. However when this book says they are collaborating what it means is the author Dion is posting the script (which isn’t in script from) on a public blog and then Zoey is just illustrating that exactly. That’s not how creative comics are made hell it's not really how any creative collaboration is done. Neither of them makes suggestions on how the other should change or improve they don’t talk to each other about where the project is going. Even the fact that Dion is sending this work out to a public blog seems to quell any kind of intimacy these two would have surrounding their work together. One of the reasons this book intrigued me was because the idea of sharing ideas and working together to shape something new, and that energy turning romantic sounded so interesting to me. But the only way these two really communicate about the work is to gush about how good the other person is, which feels way less like a meeting of minds than I thought it would be. It just lacks that creative back and forth leading to a romantic spark that I was looking for. (Also a comparatively minor point but it doesn’t really make sense that a publisher would let her publish any of this work online,especially one as money hungry as hers is portrayed as being).

I think I should talk in general terms about the main thrust of the novel and the emotional/physical abuse that Dion suffers throughout the book. From the very start Kerry s portrayed as a monstrously emotionally abusive person to the point where you don’t really understand not only why they’ve stayed together but also why they got together in the first place. In the novel’s synopsis it says she is trapped by ugly circumstances but it isn’t until around page 60 when Dion starts to excuse her partner's abusive behaviour which is clear thats because shes been manipulated by emotional abuse throughout her marriage.

Although personally it would have made more sense if in the novel we would have heard why Dion’s staying in this horrendous marriage way earlier in the book at this point Dion’s perspective made sense to me. It was around page 100 when the book took an abrupt shift.

I’m not going to go into every narrative twist and turn because I don’t want to ruin the plot for you however I can’t review this book without talking about the seismic shift in stakes and tone the novel moves into at the halfway mark. At this point we realise that not only is Kerry physically abusive her Dad and by extension her really are murderous mobsters. This book needed to be more gradual in this reveal, as it stands reading this book felt like two very disparate experiences because as soon as the potential for violence and Dion’s death is introduced this novel strains believability to the point of incredulity. (I go into this more in the spoiler section).

One of the problems with this sudden shift is that it means that side characters is Dion’s family must have either know about the abuse before the audience or only realised very recently that she is in trouble either way there reactions don’t make much sense. Dion has parents who love her and a twin brother who she's very close too but none of these people have noticed or asked her about her abusive marriage before, really?

This is when we come to something I have to talk about one of my biggest problems with this book which is how many people know this woman is being horrifically abused and yet they don’t try to get help. At no point in the book does anyone try to get the police involved, even when all of Dion’s family know that she is being abused they never try and ring the police. There's one point where Zoey’s mum suggests they call and Zoeys reasoning why they shouldn't is that there's no evidence of a crime.But they aren’t trying to get Kerry arrested they literally just need Dion to come to the door so they can get her away from the horrific situation. Which if they call the police they would ask her to come to the door Kerry wouldn’t try anything violent and they know Dion would leave willingly because she’s expressed a desire to leave. It makes no sense.

So I have some experience with this subject that I’m not going to talk about publicly but the fact that it doesn’t seem to occur to the characters that even if they don’t want to involve the police, domestic violence shelters/charities that are designed specifically to get people away from their partners who are very often trying to kill them is completely nonsensical to me. I don’t live in the states but I have visited New York I know how big it is there must be so many domestic abuse centers with skills in this specific area. But not one of the characters even try to contact one or even think of googling any help from online charities. I know as someone in an abusive relationship it can feel like there is no where to go that really isn’t true there is help out there and this novel acts like it doesn’t exist. Which especially doesn’t make sense for Dion as she has parents who love her (but somehow doesn’t notice when she hasn’t called them for seemingly months) and a brother in the military (who doesn’t seem to realise despite all the evidence that she could be dead before he has a chance to get back and stop it himself).

None of the characters who know she is being abused treat it like the life and death situation it obviously is, which is I think supposed to keep the audience thrilled but really it just made me incredibly annoyed. By far the worst example of this is when Zoey (the love interest) knows her crush is being abused but still is thinking about whether she is being used by Dion and whether Dion likes her back. A woman that she is supposed to care about is in an abusive relationship and these are Zoey’s priorities, it was at this point at about the romance because of how selfishly Zoey is characterised.

I have some really specific and kind of spoilery problems with the novel which you can read here:Early on we are introduced to the fact that Kerry Dion’s wife is cheating on here at this point Kerry is treated as an emotionally abusive woman but we aren’t aware of any of her mob connections or murderous tendencies. So at this point it felt they were trying to lead the reader to make Dion seem more disposable to Kerry might leave her of her own volition. Early on there’s also references to Kerry only being with her for her money (but basically no authors are that wealthy and her Dad is a mobster so she should have more money). Theres also talk of them being a literary power couple (even though only one of them’s a writer the other one works in a car dealership) and being needed to be seen at the right parties but this is dropped as soon as it's brought up. Later in the novel the only time the affair is mentioned is when Kerry implies the only reason she is staying with Dion is so that Dion (without her knowing) will blurb her girlfriends book.Implying that a good blurb will mean her manuscript will get published or will get more money, which simply isn’t really how publishing works. But in the end when Dion gets away there is no mention of Kerry cheating, I thought it might be leading up to a twist where Kerry had voided a pre-nup so Dion would be able to get a quick and clean divorce. But no, the girlfriend just disappears which made me wonder what purpose this little subplot served. We already know Kerry is a bad person she’s been emotionally abusive to her wife since the start. If anything it just made me puzzled as to Kerry’s motivations and not in a -keeping the reader on their toes- way but in a -this doesn’t seem consistent- way.
* Bruce neither as a character nor any of his motivations ever really make sense and completely don’t wrap up. He is written so as cartoonishly evil that even after Dion saves his life from choking he is till questioning and interrogating her less than a hour later He is also entirely complicit in her abuse throughout the novel. He wants her to work harder to make him more money but he knows she is being drugged/ poisoned and it's making her pass out and lose time so she’s not doing any work (more about the drugging in the next bullet point). There’s no satisfying scene at the end of the novel where Bruce is sacked for professional misconduct or any kind of scene where Dion realises he has (for some reason) been complicit in her abuse so she fires him. No wrap up at all for this one note secondary villain, I mean I'm not entirely sure a book about an abuser needs a secondary villain at all or why someone as controlling as Kerry would admit they were abusing their wife to Dion’s colleague.
This final one is the most egregious dropped plot I’ve ever read for the whole second half of the book Dion is being drugged/poisoned by her wife. If it's supposed to be a twist it is telegraphed so obviously everytime it happens (she constantly insisting that Dion finishes her tea, only uses her cigarettes and Dion notices it tastes funny every time). I don’t really understand why Dion doesn’t recognise that she's being poisoned at the end point of the book Kerry has threatened to murder her about ten times and yet even when she’s keeping a second phone in her sock so she can get away from Kerry she doesn’t suspect anything. (Also not tests at the hospital bring up the fact she has been consistently drugged none at all really?) The novel also yo-yos back and forth on how conscious Dion is and how much these drugs are affecting her I think this is supposed to add tension but it just makes her seem inconsistent. She has the wherewithal to ask for some help from the neighbours but then can’t stop herself or ask them to stop Kerry from taking her back. She knows a contract isn’t in her best interest and yet shes so drugged up shes losing time, but not ill or confused enough to want to see a doctor. So what purpose does the poisoning serve narratively and for Kerry; well presumably to keep her compliant but she was that already, there's seems like there's no real end game from Kerrys perspective. Is Kerry trying to kill her she could do that by shooting her or in a car accident which is what she threatens to do throughout the second half of the novel. Narratively I have not got a clue what it gives us, once again there is no satisfying realisation scene there's no point where the characters can give the evidence of the drugging to police so Kerry will be arrested. .

I’ll be honest if I hadn’t been reading this for review I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have finished it and I can’t really recommend it. But there were somethings to like I really enjoyed how a few of the supporting cast were LGBTQ+ older people.The LGBTQ+ romance books i’ve read often have the main couple in a an overwhelmingly straight environment and i’m glad that this wasn’t the case in this novel.

All of this said however perhaps the author’s other work is very different as I found the writing of the story within a story way more engaging in those short sections. This leads me to believe that perhaps I would enjoy more of her work because a lot of my problems with this book came down to plot and pacing which could be completely different in her other books.

This is my Goodreads review, and I hope to write one up on my blog soon.

From the blurb, I was expecting this to be more light-hearted than it actually was. I think that's probably my fault: if I'd paid more attention, or read other people's reviews before I started, I might not have been caught out by the content. However, I didn't, and so the darker themes of the book came as a surprise, and were quite difficult to read, which possibly affected my enjoyment of it more than it would otherwise have done.

One of the major themes that blindsided me was that of domestic abuse: I won't go into details, because I don't want to give spoilers, but if manipulation and downright physical violence bother you, this might not be a book for you to read, because it gets quite uncomfortable in places. I can tell you that things do work out okay, but... well, there's a lot of bad stuff to get through first, and when you're expecting a cheery read, that can be a bit much.

Moreover, it was a situation I found difficult to understand as a reader, and while I know it's a cliche of people who have never been and will never be in that situation, I couldn't understand why the characters didn't just <i>leave</i> when it was so clear they were unhappy and being abused. Clear to the reader, that is; it was subtle enough that without external knowledge, you can see why she would overlook it. Like I said, this is because I've never been in this situation and also will never understand love as a reason for anything (sorry, but my cold aro heart needs more logic than that), and I know the fault's with me -- I didn't think the book was unrealistic on that point.

Certain aspects of the characters' relationships weren't really explained all that clearly, and the switching POVs took a while to get used to because there wasn't a super noticeable distinction between them in terms of voice. They had their own personalities and backgrounds, but in voice, they were reasonably similar, at least until you got to know them and saw the subtle differences. So it took me a while to get to grips with who everybody was and what their relationships to each other were, not helped by some seriously two-faced behaviour from one of the less pleasant characters in the book, who was very difficult to pin down until she finally revealed herself to be as awful as her bad moments made her seem.

That said, the confusion I experienced in places might have helped some of the darker things seem less gratuitous, and maybe the lack of details was a good thing in that sense, but it didn't make the story easy to follow.

The book also uses some unconventional storytelling tactics, including email transcripts, text conversations, that kind of thing. It makes the sense of a long-distance friendship more believable, and since the two characters are creators (a writer and an illustrator/artist), it worked well as a portrayal of a lot of the friendships I've formed online. As the book goes on, this also contributes to the manipulative/controlling situation one of the characters is in, because her communication is limited, so that was quite effective. Some of these exchanges felt a little unnecessary, though -- they could have been told in a more conventional way without losing any of the meaning, and so felt like a gimmick -- but these were in the minority.

There were aspects I did enjoy of the story, don't get me wrong; I realise this review has been a little bit negative so far, but I did give it three stars and not fewer. I think part of my problem with the darker stuff was just that it caught me off-guard, and also that I've been in a bad headspace lately and so a bit more sensitive to these things than I usually am.

I meant to write up this review sooner, so that I could give more specific details (you know what my memory's like, if you've been following my reviews for any length of time -- three days after I read a book, almost everything has vanished from my mind, including the characters' names). My general view, though, is that I would have enjoyed this more if I'd paid more attention to its mood and tone before I started, because being blindsided by some fairly dark stuff when I was expecting something much lighter was difficult.

Drawn Together is a dark novel about an abusive relationship and finding a light to escape it. It is also about creative collaboration and meeting the right person, though it is the darker themes that hit hardest. From the blurb, the book seemed that it would be much lighter than it turned out to be, which was a bit of an issue considering that the novel features abuse and descriptions of rape and self harm.

The novel was a decent read, though the ending felt a little rushed and it would've been nice to hear more about the aftermath and discussions of earlier elements of the novel, particularly parts of the abuse that are clear to the reader but not the character. It felt a bit too flat and sugary, after the harsh reality of the middle of the book. Having the narration switch between the two main characters as their new connection deepens was a good way to see how they each reacted and viewed events, particularly with the inclusion of emails and texts as well. Though this technique meant for more details about Zoey and Dion than might have been given otherwise, I would've still liked more.

Drawn Together is a promising book, with an interesting initial set up, but the ending may disappoint those looking for something a bit more substantial. The heavy subject matter and extended presentation of abuse means that this is not a novel for everyone, but it is one that deals with major issues.

This was a strange little book in that I really didn't feel like I was reading a completed title, more like an extremely early first draft. Maybe this is? Hopefully some editor somewhere is going to go to town on this with a red pen and save future paying readers from this current mess.

The story begins with Dion (billed as one of the most talented writers imaginable) and Zoey (billed as one of the most talented artists imaginable) coming together through a combination of text messages, emails, and standard prose to work on a joint graphic novel (I think?). At first it's difficult to follow whose head we're in, since perspective jumps back and forth between the two leads. The common ground though is an unhealthy obsession with Starbucks and a crazed giddiness about repeatedly declaring themselves to be best friends. My favorite parts? Those where the proclaim to need caffeine and decide they must go to Starbucks while talking about being best friends! Runner up is the chapter where Zoey tells Dion she could call her Zoey instead of her "pen" name....Zoe. Am I missing something? Is this not the same damn name?

What could get in the way of this Starbucks/best friends love fest? Enter Kerry--Dion's emotionally, physically, and all other things abusive wife. Kerry is written as a grade-A murderous psychopath. In a different writer's hands, this would probably be a richly dark character full of crafty manipulation and evilness. However, Glass writes her so over the top batshit crazy that what should probably be disturbing was instead hilariously awful, well to me at least.

I honestly stopped taking this book seriously less than a third of the way through. I mean, c'mon once we read through the graphic novel's seriously screwed up storyline involving rape and forced pregnancy, and Zoey's ("it's pronounced....Zoe") mother is all like "wow, this is such great work!" this can't possibly be taken seriously!

The only reason to read this novel would be to learn how to absolutely not construct a story or write your characters. Or maybe read it the same way someone would watch Troll 2 or Plan 9 From Outerspace.

This book absolutely infuriated me.
The blurb doesn't really match the book. This story is all about a woman in an abusive relationship who tries to get out of it (and sometimes stay in it) with the help of her family and the woman she's fallen for. This is not a cutesy fandom book at all and that disappointed me a little.

I honestly think Kerry is possibly my least favourite character out of any book I've ever read. She was well and truly despicable. She had zero redeeming features and I have no idea why Dion was with her, let alone why she was married to her. Making Kerry the bad guy didn't really make me root for Dion and Zoey though, so if that was Glass' intentions then she failed.

Zoey seemed to have the realisation that she was in love with Dion about three times in this book. It made no sense to me at all. I thought I was having deja vu when she kept saying she loved her, but no, she had to keep reiterating it. Then when they finally told each other they loved each other and immediately started with the pet names; it didn't feel real or organic at all. They couldn't go five seconds without saying 'I love you' or calling each other baby. They felt more like teenagers than adult women and it just did not feel believable to me.

I've given this two stars rather than one, because it was a f/f romance with a happy ending and the premise of a writer and artist developing from a professional relationship to a personal one was a nice concept, but this is an overly dramatic and tedious book.

J.D. Glass is a talented writer & she creates wonderful characters.

After an unsatisfactory relationship, graphic novelist Zoe Glenn Edwards is determined to remain single. She is happily married to her work and plans on keeping it that way. Dion Richards is an author, trapped by ugly circumstance in a sham marriage. Her work is her escape.

Both are well respected in their individual fields. Their professional circles overlap. So do their sensibilities. A collaboration draws them into a fantastic working relationship and new friendship. Zoe is highly respectful of Dion’s circumstances, and Dion… she will do anything to keep those she loves safe from the threats hanging over her. What will these two ‘unavailables’ do when they discover they’re unmistakably Drawn Together?

What I didn't understand when I read the summary was "how" ugly was the marriage of Dion and her partner Kerry. At first the few pages of the book seemed to have humor in the dialogue. Unfortunately the story shifted to a very dark, abusive (on all levels) that became an uncomfortable read.

A writer is welcome to express their creative stories and if a person wants to read a graphic story of domestic abuse & violent crimes then the book delivers. But I can't recommend this book as a romantic light read. It's deeply disturbing with a violent rape scene as just one example of the abuse heaped on Dion.

Review of Drawn together by JD Glass

This is the first book I've read by this author, the blurb caught my attention. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. To start with, there is a good amount of repetition about the main characters relationship and some descriptions of mundane things in too much detail. Additionally, I was expecting something different after reading the book blurb in terms of a budding romance with certain level of angst. Intead, I found some disturbing scenes that came as a shock. I wish the publisher had warned me about it and I wouldn't have chosen to read it.

Overall, 2 stars. Only recommended if you are ok with disturbing scenes and high level of angst.

ARC provided by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I was grateful for the opportunity to complete this novel and review its contents, as the author is typically quite a strong one ("American Goth" and "Glass Lions" stand as two memorable entries into the genre), I did not enjoy the plot course to any degree. I found the character development to be largely absent, the entrance into a second romantic relationship by Dion to be highly unlikely given the deplorable conditions of her marriage and the depiction of her wife, Kerry, to be deeply disturbing. There was a tremendous amount of abuse suffered by Dion, harm of a psychological, sexual and emotional nature which cannot be easily overcome. The immediacy of her interest in Zoe and her ability to form a stable relationship with her are disingenuous developments that overshadow the extended healing process, supported by mental health and social supports, that would be necessary for most to trust in another so intimately again. I applaud the attempt to delve into an issue-domestic violence-which many wrongfully assume to be of lower incidence among same sex couples, but the handling of it was far less deft that I would have anticipated. A book that does justice to overcoming trauma, albeit of a different form, and finding love anew, is Lyn Gardner's extraordinary "Give Me a Reason," a book whose emotional depth continues to touch me years following its release. The author would do well to return to themes that are less stirring for the audience.

I found this book very interesting. The way it is structured, without a narrator, with both main characters explaining their growing relationship and also the use of texts and blog posts, I found it all very original. And I also really liked the plot. But somehow, I don't know if it is because the use of those different means, I haven't understood completely Dion's background. I apologize if this misunderstanding is for my basic english knowledge. I don't want to comment the parts unclear for me, I think that doing it could spoil the reading, so I will try to come back to the book eventually, hoping to find the missing parts. But I definitelly recomend reading this book.

**I was sent this book via NetGalley and Book Enthusiast Promotions in return for an honest review**
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Genre: LGBTQ/New Adult- a little too intense for YA
Summary:
Young Zoe Glenn and Dion Rivera have teamed up together to create an epic novel with illustrations and combining their given talents. Zoe lives in Boston and communicates mostly with Dion via emails and sometimes phone conversation. It is made clear from the start that they both have admiration towards each other and have great respect for the other.
Things get complicated when Dion’s wife Kerry starts to become jealous and more manic and abusive than her normal state. Dion has to struggle with balancing the project with Zoe, keeping her wife off the ledge and meeting the requirements for her other projects and deadlines.
Dion has to rely on the bond of friendship, love and family to get her to a safe space in her life, but the road to that safety may be deadly.
Review: **Spoilers**
I am not even sure where to really start with this book. Domestic Abuse both in context and story telling, the mafia, vague LGBT backstory, weird and hard to follow dialogue and most importantly the intense overuse of the word “baby” the last 20 pages.
Characters: Generally speaking, I enjoyed the main characters Dion and Zoe but felt that they lacked both guts and intelligence. It is quite obvious through the entire book that Dion is a victim of domestic violence and that Kerry is a horrible horrible person. During a vague backstory of a mysterious “assault” that occurred with Dion falling as the victim and needing to rely on Kerry to care for her, there is this sense that Dion owes Kerry for what she has done. I call bull. How could Dion go through this abuse both verbally and physically each and every day and not have any red flags? Her concern was for her horrible wife’s mother who was ill, any why was she the power of attorney for medical reason-side note, and then not wanting to “poke the bear” and make Kerry upset. Again, I call bull. Then there is Zoe. A character that was written with the perspective and mindset and in fact language of a teenager. Unreliable, immature and downright boring is how I felt about her chapters. Why in the heck did it take so long for her to help Dion? Why did she not contact the police sooner and If they were such good “friends” why didn’t she speak freely and honestly. She obviously was aware of things that were going on in Dion’s life and knew how much of a schmuck both Kerry and Bruce were- why did she not speak up? The same goes for Dion, why didn’t she feel safe enough to talk about it with their insta-bestfriendship? Blah.
Then there was the awful, horrible, disgusting Kerry. Her character was not only downright horrible, she was just crazy. To make her even more disliked, the author threw in a super off color side plot of Kerry having an affair with someone named Kate? There is no explanation to this story, only that Kate is Bruce’s brother and all of Kate’s life is coming from the checkbook of Kerry and Dion. That was un-needed completely to push the story along due to the fact that she has no purpose or no effect on the entire story line. Well, other than the fact that you hate her by proxy.
The only redeeming characters in this book were the ones with the least lines- Her lesbian neighbors, her bother Jason and her uncle Bill. All had powerful voices, love for Dion and were strong enough to do the right thing. Was that so hard to continue through the story?
Plot: The story for me was slow and hard to get through. I could appreciate some of the dialogue and am a fan of communication via text/email because it has the possibility to be witty and daring, this fell short majorly in this book. Both characters came off as insecure and again immature- while both were told as being working professionals high up in their industries. I found the story line unreliable, was Kerry going to kill her with a gun, kill Zoe with a gun, kill everyone in a car accident or how about we address the issue that SHE WAS POISONING DION THE ENTIRE TIME! I mean COME ON WOMAN! Your tea tastes funny.. on multiple occasions.. and instantly after you drink it, both before and after your concussion, you get so tired that you sleep for almost entire DAYS at a time. We aren’t going to talk about this? No.. ok then. How about the fact that Dion was being held captive, starved and abused in her own apartment and no one thinks to check on her in person? No.. alright.

Obviously this book was not for me. The story line lacked drive, attention to detail and missed some major plot summary points for me. I almost liked where the book was headed when they got Mrs. Riverea involved (first time introduced and put in the book for 2 pages) along with Zoe and Jason and the last ditch effort to save Dion’s life. Then nothing. No resolution. No punishment for Kerry and all the horrible things she did. She just walked away, out of their lives and never pursued Dion any further, contrary to the threats she made ever other page. Lastly, to put the giant crap cherry on top, I had to read the word “baby” about 67 times the last part of the book once Dion and Zoe came to terms with their feelings. We get it. They love each other. A lot. Doesn’t mean that they can ONLY call each other “baby” as a pet name to validate their feelings. Lastly, can we address the plot of the project that Dion and Zoe are working on? What the heck is that? It's a horrible story about rape and the loss of a child and then they're going to add pictures to it? Nope.. just a big old nope.

Ugh. I had such high hopes for this book with my love for LGBT literature and graphic novels but it fell WAY short for me. I am not sure if I will even give this author another try.