An interesting short story on how damaging toxic masculinity and abuse can be, and women empowering themselves to be with safe men.

such a good book. and it evoked all the on the surface pain it can feel to be that young. it sounds patronising but you really are wash with newness of those type of emotions at that age. you really are coming of age. there is something so huge at that time about needing love, wanting love but also unsure probably alot due to experiences of what love is. but the need to also play up to what others think of you. you are at a turning point at so much at that time that lots of people(alot of woman sadly) want to please, live up to, find the "love" and it can lead to being manipulated or stuck with toxic. you just want goodness whatever that is but people dont always want to give it to you or are kind to you.
Ali made me want to hug her, whisper to her, or shake her. but not shake her in a bad way. just a "dont do it. this isnt the way and you dont need to take this or do this" kind of way. i also wanted to (obviously not but in an imaginary sense, ha) punch a certain character.
it was about good friends as well as love. but mostly it was about a really tricky time in life where the choices you make seem so huge and the weight of expectation on all things in your life seems like they will be the compromising of the rest of your life.

I thought I needed to read a chonker to understand the difference between a good relationship and a toxic one, but I was wrong. In 40 pages, that difference was clear.
It still feels like the book is not finished, that's why I gave it 4 stars. Yes, I understand open endings. I enjoy them, most of the times. But I feel they are good only if they give you a glimpse of the options the characters have afterwards and I don't feel that with this ending.
I like the style of writing, so I would love to read the following books of the series.

I also have a thing for coffee and muffins! This was a fast book to get lost between heavier ones on my TBR list. I liked how Yarde wrote the issue that our female character has to deal with. The presentation and pacing worked for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.