✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: L. Steele✍🏻 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲: 10 hr 12 min 🎧
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿(𝘀): Shane East, Zara-Hampton Brown 🗣️

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐
𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼: 🎧🎧.5
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Interconnected Standalone
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: HAE
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Dual POV, Duet Narration

🚨🚨𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀🚨🚨

Listen. 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗡.

I try not to write negative reviews. Truly. Not every book is for everyone, and just because something doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else.

But sometimes… we cannot silence ourselves.

First—this was my first L. Steele book. I’ve had the Morally Grey Billionaires series on my TBR forever, so when I saw the audiobook bundle on Audible, I thought I scored.

I did not score.

Second—I love Shane East. Obsessed. Would listen to that man read the dictionary and still rate it five stars.

So this was a double letdown. Not only was the story a WTF, but I couldn’t even properly enjoy Mr. East’s voice because I kept getting pulled out by… everything happening in this book.

Let’s start with the premise.

Lila is a wedding planner (and yes, she idolizes The Wedding Planner, which… in hindsight, should’ve been my first clue). She tells a client to run from her fiancé, gets blackmailed, and ends up in a marriage-of-convenience situation.

Okay. Fine. We’ve seen this before. I’m seated.

There’s tension. Attraction. Liam starts catching feelings. He even opens up about his trauma (which, side note, felt very out of left field and tied to backstory from other books that I didn’t have).

And Lila?

Still pushing him away. Constantly.

But the real hook is her secret. We don’t find out what it is for most of the book, and that’s what kept me going.

What’s wrong?
Why does she keep pulling away?

Then we finally get the reveal.

She goes live on social media… and removes her wig.

And you’re like—oh.

𝗢𝗵 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻. This is serious.
And then you learn she has alopecia.

Now—before anyone comes for me—I’m not saying that isn’t something that can deeply impact someone. Of course it can. But the way it was built up as this massive, relationship-ending secret that would make Liam disgusted with her?

That’s where it lost me.

Because the contrast was… jarring.

Liam: shares intense personal trauma
Lila: “I’m bald.”

And the reaction to it all just didn’t land for me. The fear, the secrecy, the push-pull—it felt disproportionate to what was actually happening on the page.

And THEN.

Liam shaves his head so he can “experience what she’s been through.”

At that point, I was just trying to make it to the end.

And I did. Out of sheer stubbornness.

I wouldn’t tell someone not to read this… but this one definitely wasn’t for me.