Stutter

I don't really know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this.

First things first. I did NOT enjoy the Ryland POVs. I could have done without the brooding monologue every other chapter. In the first book, he was this mysterious person with unknown motivations. Turns out I would have preferred if it stayed that way. He would just go on and on about how “messed up” he was and how he couldn't live without Brighton, yada yada yada. When a guy insists on going on and on about how dark and jaded he is, it makes him seem not so dark and jaded. I especially disliked his tendency to break the fourth wall and “talk” at the reader. Leave me out of your melodrama please.

I also don't know if this just went over my head, but I did not realize that the primary conflict at the beginning of the book was going to be over how he almost killed her at the end of the last book. There's no way Ryland could have known Brighton was in the car with her brother when he tried to run them off the road. It just seems like a minor thing to focus on when he literally had a gun to her brother's head. It also kind of bothers me that Brayden just...doesn't show any remorse for what Ryland and Brighton went through? He's partially responsible for the deaths of Ryland's entire family AND nearly gets Ryland and Brighton killed after he's stupid enough to get involved with Frankie's old crew again. And he just...disappears from their lives now? What a piece of shit, honestly.

Unfortunately, without the intrigue of the whole bdsm contract thing from the first book, Ryland and Brighton's relationship is kind of boring, lol. Their relationship loses all darkness, and they boil down to just an overly horny, somewhat dysfunctional couple.

All the characters make tons of stupid, frustrating decisions throughout this book. For some reason Brighton and Nicole meet with Ryland's business rival and keep it a secret from him. Ryland refuses to tell Brighton the truth about what's going on in Chicago. Which leads Brighton to lie to him about trying to find out what's going on in Chicago. Ryland makes Brighton sign a life insurance policy because he's worried something bad is going to happen at a meeting with aforementioned rival, but doesn't bring even a single bodyguard to the meeting. And the icing on the cake. Brighton follows texts from “Brayden” telling her to go to an abandoned warehouse alone. I mean, really??? Brighton gets the award for most tstl heroine ever.