Peyton Corinne, 2026. 2 stars
I’m a huge fan of this series but this one didn’t resonate with me because Lily was drawn as such a broken hearted young woman, I believed she needed time to be independent before getting involved with Toren. She’s older than him but seems very undeveloped as an adult woman, and their relationship was co-dependent. We get extensive backstory about her depression and the controlling, abusive nature of her father and fiance, which then contrasts with Toren being dominant with her and calling her a pest in bed. It didn’t give me escapist, empathetic entertainment, because I needed to see her developing outside of male relationships, with more time spent with Paloma or on her own.
What I did appreciate was the queer representation and Toren being described as having experiences with both men and women (well, really Lily) which was almost matter of fact. That bit of representation was a nice complement to the other characters in the hockey house, giving more depth to Toren. Still, I really like reading about Toren as a character and I would like Lily to have furthered herself outside of her father’s cage before drawing a life together with Toren, especially with that trademark intensity of a Corinne romance.
Thank you to Peyton Corinne, Atria books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.
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