I was supposed to post this last week and I just? Couldn’t? Because I loved it SO MUCH and have SO MANY FEELINGS that I needed a week away from my blog to process it. Does that sound pathetic? It feels a little pathetic, but LISTEN, I am who I am. Let’s just. Let’s get into it.
In Flashed, Patrick Halloran is eight months out from a terrible car accident that almost killed his brother and left him permanently scarred. He’d been on a high after his first Hollywood role and was being reckless, and now… now he’s unrecognizable. He has PTSD and anxiety and can no longer leave his home. He doesn’t cook. He doesn’t see the sunlight. He literally stays in bed and works out and eats frozen meals when forced. It’s not a life anyone would ever want. So his neighbor and longtime friend hires him a housekeeper for the summer – someone to cook him real food and unpack all the boxes in his apartment. There are two rules – the housekeeper can only be in the house during designated hours so they don’t see Pat, and they can’t go upstairs. Should be easy enough, since living space and grocery money is provided.
Magdalena Martel is a born and bred New Yorker in Bozeman, Montana for art school. Except her home life is a mess and she’s not sure she’s going to be able to afford to continue school, since her stepmom took out credit cards in her name and maxed them out. Finding this summer job unpacking boxes and cooking for a rich recluse is a godsend – she can send money home to her sister and pay her tuition for the fall. She wasn’t expecting the grumpy Patrick to start to mean something to her. She wasn’t expecting to hear him moaning her name while he talked in his sleep. And she definitely wasn’t expecting to fall for someone she hasn’t even seen in person. But she does.
Patrick is a broken person, and Lena is broken in her own ways. Can they put each other back together, or are they only meant to tear each other apart?
3 Things I Loved
- Lena. Lena was so REAL to me. She had scars and she just wanted to protect her sister. She was flawed but out there with it. I loved her. What a well-rounded character, beautiful inside and out, someone who I truly wanted the world for. ❤ ❤ ❤
- RIVER AND HUTCH. LONG LIVE RIVER AND HUTCH!! I was SO HAPPY that they made a reappearance in this book! If you don’t know about River and Hutch, read my review of Life on the Level!
- Patrick. I liked Patrick a lot and I think he has very good intentions. But there were times in this book where he was MEAN to Lena and the other people he loves, and that was hard to read. I still wanted him in this category, but there were parts where his PTSD and anger were almost too real.
Dislikes/Problematic Content
I have a couple content warnings for this book that I want to talk about right up front. PTSD. Anxiety. Fear of leaving the house. Verbal abuse by a parental figure. And a lot of anger that gets pointed at people who don’t necessarily deserve it.
This was diverse and fun and there isn’t a lot to complain about. There’s really only one thing, honestly, and it’s a tiny detail that many probably wouldn’t have caught.
UMM, WHAT HAPPENED TO SKY AND HAYDEN??? There’s one line in the epilogue where Sky says she recently ended an ENGAGEMENT?? And Lucky is married at this point, which means the engagement ending was with HAYDEN and WHAT WHAT WHAT ZORAIDA, I NEED ANSWERS. (I’m talking about Love on the Ledge, by the way.)
Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:
- Red = DNF, I hated everything
- Orange = Ugh, no thank you
- Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
- Green = This was good!
- Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
- Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
This was my favorite in the series. I don’t think I can give it the unicorn of ratings because Patrick was really frustrating to read at times. But I thought the counseling and mental illness was handled really well and I can’t WAIT for whatever Castile writes next. I’m giving Flashed a BLUE rating! MORE PLEASE!
Happy reading!
Snark & Squee 