3.5 - 3.7 ⭐️

I really wanted to love this book. I looked forward to reading it early this year and was disappointed when the release got postponed. There were 2 books I was looking forward to this year - one was A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and the other was this. I didn't read any further than the goodreads description before I read either and both their premise was enticing enough to warrant a read as soon as the books came out. Both books had a protagonist who had something holding them back mentally, one had PTSD and the other a very severe case of anxiety. While Fox Meadows made me feel empathetic towards their MC I was left feeling meh about Kadou, at least for quite a bit of the beginning. I started seeing more of his steel towards the latter half of the books. I guess what I am trying to say is this is a good book. I think I just read a book that I probably erroneously decided to lump together with this and to compare the two. On its own merits this was a good book with a potential to have been great. And with no knowledge of there ever being a sequel I feel that we have been left shortchanged on the ending. But if there ever is going to be a sequel then this was a good place to end the story. What can I say? I like to have some closure to stories, without major plots left unresolved. I wanted to see how Kadou and Evemer traverse their relationship within the construct of both of their stations. So all in all, good not great.