As another reviewer said, stick with this. I like angsty characters & books that push the boundaries but I almost did not finish this one. Possible spoiler alert follows.
I really hated Zane throughout 90% of this book. It took him a long time to redeem himself for me. He absolutely was a victim but his own actions put him in a situation and he blamed Roach for being in that situation. Maybe 70% of the way into the book the MCs talk about it & we find out that Zane blamed Roach b/c Roach didn’t react like Zane thought a normal person would. This did nothing, I mean nothing to endear me to Zane. He did not deserve what he got but he had no right to lay such fault at Roach’s feet. Because of this blame, he was verbally abusive himself to Roach throughout most of the book.
The author did a great job of weaving in moments of light throughout the dark nature of this book and in chapter 27, when we reached the tipping point of this story, I found myself crying silent tears for Roach’s life and Zane’s realizations.
The book wasn’t finished there, however, the author moved on to share a little after with us so we could see how the characters chose to step forward in their lives and continue the work they started with each other. I appreciated the nod to this at the end.
My last comment, semitones Kirt Graves can be a little dry for me in his narration at the beginning of books but I always finish listening feeling like I really know the characters. Part of this is to the author’s credit but it should not be overlooked that often, the narrator can bring out their life and emotions just a bit more than when reading. It’s more personal to me and Kirt took these two to a whole new level where I could feel their pain, frustration, hope and longing. I honestly believe that had I read and not listened to this, I wouldn’t have finished it b/c the Zane’s written nuances heard alpine and with emotion, kept me engaged to want to learn more, hear more. This is a 5 star read by Kirt Graves in my opinion.