2.5 stars rounded up. The characters were *mostly* likable, the world building and writing was good, but the whole story was made to be so much more difficult than it ever needed to be because one character was just determined to be willfully daft. There was a thread of frustration for me all the way through it. He was so certain he understood a situation better than everyone else, to the point of contradicting more knowledgeable people, even when the situation was entirely brand new to him and every other character had literal decades more experience with it. And despite all evidence to the contrary! It genuinely required him to ignore 95% of the events from the previous book to rewrite some version that confirmed his bias and grudge. * If he had had amnesia from the end of the last book on, maybe it would have worked. It was a little bit exhausting though. His deliberately contrary stance cheapened their entire relationship for the vast majority of the story, and I wanted to shake some sense into him. They missed out on decades of potential happiness together over this weak claim that should have been shot down immediately. I liked aspects of it, but overall it's hard to be pleased with that plot device.

* (Spoilers last book) All last book they were inexplicably drawn to each other, despite Drew's internal struggles. Even if Drew wasn't all the way 'in love', with Lindsay by the end, there was no denying their connection. *To the point that Lindsay was willing to sacrifice himself to a fate worse than death to save Drew's life* and *finding out Lindsay was actually a werewolf in terrifying circumstances wasn't an immediate dealbreaker* and then Drew tosses ALL of that out the window, saying no part of their connection is real because of something that didn't happen until *after* all of that! It's honestly kind of insulting.

(Spoilers this book) And again Lindsay is willing to sacrifice himself in this book as well, even when his love spurns him. He shouldn't have to nearly die in order for Drew to pull his head out of his ass. Get it together Drew! lol. Also, in an ideal world they would each be the other's maker and entirely equal, but actually this outcome made it so Drew didn't have to overcome any of his hangups, to realize that they could still have an amazing relationship based on mutual respect and trust, even if they weren't on 100% equal footing. But no. The circumstances all realign to make things easiest for him. Why grow and overcome for love when you can practically just slide into it on the path of least resistance? =/ ( )

AAR reviewers really like this author but I think others do historical glbt better (Charles). ( )