A new author to me author and I liked this book very much and will look forward to reading more from you from this author

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

So, here’s the deal. This book hits hard on a lot of topics that are trending right now—trans rights, racial tension, the prevalence of HIV and the stigma around it, and on top of that trinity of guaranteed drama, it has some BDSM thrown in. I enjoyed the fact that the author hit on those topics because a lot of books just glaze over the deeper, more sensitive topics to make for a fun, happy read.

With that being said, unfortunately the book sort of fell flat for me. The relationship didn’t bloom naturally but instead felt stilted, and forced. A lot of the dialogue was the same —the conversations didn’t flow well and I was left confused more than once when a conversation suddenly switched topics without a decent segue.

Overall, it was just okay for me. It was a quick read; I managed to finish it in just under three hours, but I found myself tempted to skim through certain scenes because the plot was dragging along. Again, I applaud the author on some topics the book hit on but I can’t bring myself to give more than 2.5 stars due to the lack of character development, awkward dialogue, and slow moving plot.