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Traumatic, heartbreaking, and hopeful. That about sums up this book. It starts off with Cora and Dean at odds, a years-long relationship of push and pull (almost enemies). Quickly, it careens into darkness, with Cora and Dean kidnapped and forced to endure the worst horrors.

It is in the aftermath that we see everything spiral, the relationship between Cora and Dean gets messier before it has a chance to even think about seeking lightness. They are both clinging to each other, the only ones that know the true depths of suffering that happened in that basement. But there are numerous odds stacked against them. Chief of which is Mandy, Cora’s sister, and Dean’s fiance. But even more than that, are the demons they each carry, the nightmares that they keep sinking into, and the desperate means by which they attempt to cope with their trauma. In the darkness they found each other, but what does that truly mean for each of them? How can they go from pranks and antagonizing barbed words to what looks suspiciously like love?

My only wish is that Mandy had a little more heft to her character. I didn’t mind the ways she attempted to reach out, as everyone deals with tragedy differently, but she did feel (even as a side character, but one with a heavy role to play) too much like a caricature at times. However, the emotional waves that we get with Cora and Dean were excellent. And the Epilogue with Tabitha lent a counterpoint to the whole story that was surprisingly needed, and incredibly bittersweet.

*I received a free ARC from Netgalley and Bloom Books to read. All opinions are my own. The paperback publication date is July 11th, 2023.