Read my reviews of the previous books in the Chain Reaction series:
This book fulfilled all my expectations, and then some, for the long-awaited finale of this trilogy. The story does not work as a stand-alone; both the relationship arc(s) and external plot build on what has come before. The author has referred to this novel as “The Big Book of Feelings,” which is accurate on two fronts. The book is wonderfully chonky, as expected when balancing a five-way relationship between strong personalities, though the pacing never suffers for it as the story dumps us right into the deep end of the continuing storylines. The story opens with Jericho, our relative newcomer to the tangled bonds previously shared by Quinn, Sebastian, Peyton, and Will even before the first book, as he faces problems on multiple fronts—but the scariest might be his own emotions.
In fact, everyone struggles with emotions. What these five men are creating is still a new and fragile thing, and each of them comes with past personal and relationship demons that will eventually need to be dealt with. These range from new (whether Jericho is as committed to the rest of the men as they are to each other), to relatively recent (Peyton’s unacknowledged post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service), to ancient history that is once again new (continuing fallout from the destruction of Quinn and Sebastian’s original relationship). On the surface, this doesn’t feel like a recipe for success with an already complicated and nontraditional romance.
However, these obstacles to the overall romance arc are seamlessly interwoven into the external plotline, which is as frustrating and disjointed as any realistic crime mystery. As the intense external plot escalates, rather than ripping them apart, the events tighten the bonds between these men who all fit together in unique ways. Their flirting is hotter than entire sex scenes I’ve read in other books, and even the surface-level moments in the various permutations of their interactions (steamy or otherwise) contain levels of subtext that show how they attempt to build trust with each other, which is just as important to a happily ever after as love. Without trust, the eventual resolution of the lingering drama between Quinn and Sebastian would not have been possible; instead, it is incredibly satisfying and shows how much both men have grown since that point in their lives. Trust also leads directly to how they each support each other during the book’s dark moments and beyond, all of which kept me completely invested even when the nature of a romance story means everything will turn out alright in the end.
I’d be more upset about this being the final book in the trilogy, but Crane surrounds our heroes with dynamic and well-developed secondary characters. Some are relevant to the plot, while others simply flesh out the lives of the main characters, but I never felt overwhelmed by the size of the cast (though I am still laughing at how I thought “Greer” was a name accidentally used twice in book 1). While I already know I plan to re-read this trilogy back-to-back to better appreciate the complicated nuances, I also look forward to future glimpses of this amazing quintet as we explore more stories in this unique contemporary shared-world setting.
Disclaimer: I received a digital review copy of this book from the author.