The narrator was fantastic, the rating is nothing against the performance. I loved this and would have rated it 5 stars right up until 75% of the way through. SPOILERS AHEAD.
I prefer when authors give a heads up that main characters in a romance are going to kiss outside their relationship. If one partner views an action outside the relationship as cheating, and the other does it behind their back, yeah, that’s cheating, even if it’s only a kiss. Betrayals hurt, no matter the level of physicality, especially in a character that had already experienced a betrayal in previous relationship.
The author could have left it as a misunderstanding, but instead had Declan actually kiss his ex and ugh. That just ruined it for me. Especially with such a weak premise! Josh might be dying and will never get a kiss again so his ex, who is in a relationship, kisses him? Puhlease. It felt contrived, icky and then to rub salt in the wound, Heath’s grandfather and everyone else in his life shaming him for being hurt?! Toxic and just AWFUL.
Heath had EVERY right to feel hurt because Declan DID lie to him, go behind his back, and kiss another guy. nothing excuses that. His loyalty should have been to Heath, not his ex. He could have told his ex I can’t lie to my man about this but I won’t give him specifics of your condition and also NO, I can’t kiss you.
Author seriously needs to rethink the genre and HEA thing imo.
Book would have been perfect otherwise. Really fun family banter, loveable characters, etc, but totally ruined by the lying and victim shaming.