Watercolour Smile

This one was a lot darker than I expected but overall the execution and writing delivered it very well. The boys that are Seph's pairs are different from other boys RH books that I've read because they've still not completely revealed their characters to the reader, or Seph, and they aren't as strong of a support system when shit goes down. It's a new and weird dynamic for me because in a lot of the RH books out there, the boys usually provide a backbone of strength for the main character but in this case, you can clearly see that all five of them–including Seph–have been thrown into this arrangement without a complete willingness to be in it.

A lot of the background history of the Zevgheri and Klovoda is revealed to the reader as it's being revealed to Seph, another interesting dynamic because we are as much in the dark as she is; this, however, is more common in RH books.

I am going to continue this series for now because I did admire the writing as well as Seph's overall strength, especially as we get more of a picture of her early childhood. (Trigger warning: child molestation) She is a deeper character than we initially get the impression of in the beginning of the book, and the writing has a way of truly giving depth to her character.