I’ve been waiting for Doc and Astrid’s story ever since I heard about them kissing in Seven, which was quite a few novels ago in the Club Alias series. Doc is the oldest of the mercenary/Club Alias crew, and he has also dedicated his life to trying to help women free themselves from their personal traumas. Astrid is definitely a woman burdened by trauma after being in a toxic, abusive relationship for over 10 years. She has been living with Doc for over a year, trying to get back on her feet but still too scared to live alone. To be honest, she feels drawn to Doc and far safer with him than she has felt in years. She also didn’t forget their kiss a year ago, even though nothing further has come from that event.
I’ve been rooting for Doc and Astrid ever since I saw their kiss in Seven’s story. I wasn’t originally sure who Astrid would end up with when she was introduced as Twyla’s sister. She had been so battered by her previous boyfriend that it would definitely take someone with patience and knowledge about trauma to properly be a partner to her. She would need the space to be able to reconcile with her past, but she would also need to feel like she can be loved again after a decade of feeling unlovable. I was so happy when she ended up with Doc.
This book is definitely the darkest book in the series for me. Although the other guys had dark parts to their backstories, Doc’s backstory was one of the saddest I had read in the series. I felt so horrible for him while I was reading it, and it truly showed how he got on the path that he was currently on when he met the other Club Alias men. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is sensitive to topics of suicide or sexual assault, as even for a heavy series, this book is a lot.
There is quite a bit of an age gap between Doc and Astrid, and I always keep my wits about me when it comes to age gap romances. It does help that Astrid is well into her 20s and Doc is only in his early 40s, but it’s still a significant gap. I didn’t get any weird vibes from this age gap romance, which was nice. No creepy old man feelings, while Astrid was vulnerable he would never do anything to hurt her and never did even accidentally. I have to say, out of all the age gap romances that I’ve ever read, I felt comfortable enjoying this one the most. I didn’t feel like I was weird for reading it or grossed out by any parts of the story, the characters just had an age gap and that was okay.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking fort an adult romance novel who can handle dark themes. It’s definitely worth your time.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 books.
