So Gaelin is actually the worst.
He wakes up from a flashback—her memory—where she’s abused, degraded, and raped for the first time, and his immediate thoughts are this:
“He needed to chase away the lingering memory, to eradicate it with a new one for both of them. He needed to prove, without any doubt, that she was his and his alone, forevermore. Gaelin would do all in his power to keep her from suffering like that again.”
I’m sorry, sir, but just in case you forgot—this is her trauma. This is her memory. There’s no part of this that involves you, and there’s absolutely nothing for you to “eradicate.” If you really want to help her heal, maybe start by having a conversation? Maybe ask how she’s been coping, whether there’s anything you can do—or not do—to avoid hurting her further?
And then there’s the whole “she’s mine” thing. Look, I love a possessive MMC as much as the next person, and I’ve enjoyed that dynamic in other books in this series. But in this context? It’s incredibly tone-deaf. Gaelin has just witnessed her being literally owned and violated by another man—and his takeaway is that he needs to prove that he owns her now? That’s not comforting. That’s disturbing.
It’s emblematic of a bigger issue in this book: the way sexual assault and abuse are treated less like real trauma and more like convenient plot devices to add edge and emotional weight. There’s no depth, no processing, and no care in how it's handled. The emotional and psychological aftermath isn’t explored with any real understanding or empathy—it’s glossed over or weaponized to justify the MMC’s behavior or deepen their “bond.” That’s not powerful. That’s careless.
And then just a page later, in that same scene, we get this gem:
“And she belonged to him. He would make her forget she’d ever been touched by another. He would spend his life trying to take her pain away, to overwhelm it with warmth and pleasure.”
So… his grand plan to help her recover from sexual trauma is to overwrite it with sex? Again, how about a conversation? How about asking her what she needs instead of assuming the solution is you?
Another thing I really hated: this man literally calls her a whore—then says sorry—and then they have sex. All in the same chapter. I wish I were exaggerating.
And I’m really not kidding when I say she’s written like a doormat. Gaelin treats her like dogshit under his boot for over half the book. Then when he finally apologizes, he says, “It doesn’t have to be like this between us”—as if he’s not the reason it’s been like this in the first place. He follows it up with a “sorry” and a “please,” and her internal reaction is:
“He doesn’t seem like the type of person who says those two words a lot. But he said both of them to me…”
Girl. Come on. That’s embarrassing. The bar is so low it’s underground, and she’s still tripping over it.
Anyways, i will be reading more from Tiffany Roberts because i've overall enjoyed this series and their writing so I'm just going to pretend this one didn’t happen.