Review: Too Fast by Abby Millsaps

Too Fast by Abby Millsaps

Series: Boys of Lake Chapel #2

Publication date: September 27th, 2023

Pages: 355

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Lake Chapel was supposed to be my fresh start: an opportunity to reinvent myself; my chance to finally live.

Now I'm grappling with the demons of my past... and losing.

To survive this setback, I'll need the support of the four possessive, domineering men who think I belong to them. But can my captors really be my salvation?

Worlds are bound to collide. Friendships will be tested, and rivalries are revving up.

I can't slip back into the dark--not now that I know what it's like to live in the light.

For the first time in my life, it's more than just me I'm flight for.

It's them.

Kylian. Locke. Decker. Even Kendrick.

It's all of them, and all of us together.

My name is Josephine Meyer. But that hasn't always been my name. What will the boys of Lake Chapel think when they finally learn the truth?

TOO FAST is a the second book in the Boys of Lake Chapel series. It is a high heat why choose sports romance featuring darker themes. Content notes can be found at the beginning of the book and on the author's website.

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Review:

Joey had thought that by moving away from the town that held so much pain and trauma would be the end of her issues but when she starts to grow closer to the football players of LCU she must confront her past head-on. After being captured by a rival football team as a prank she is transported back to her past and put through even more trauma that makes her essentially catatonic. The men she is hopelessly falling in love with watch her spiral with pain echoing in their eyes as well as a healthy dose of vengeance heavy on their shoulders. Joey knows that she can no longer keep her past a secret and hope that it never catches up with her. It's caught up with her but she has to know whether she can trust the men she loves to be able to look past it to who she has become. But with her men being firmly in the public eye it will only be a matter of time before the choice of telling them herself is taken away from her. Can she find a way to let down her guard and let her four lovers in finally?

This book was a lot heavier than the last one. It had mentions of SA that might be triggering to some but it truly gave the book all the more depth. Throughout the first one a reader can watch Joey struggle through her PTSD. The saving grace is Kylian with his ability to navigate her triggers so effectively and pull her through her episodes. I think making him autistic as a character fit the best in the caregiver role that Joey needed to be able to heal. His nickname of Daddy Genius made me laugh because he truly was like a number-crunching, dry humored, papa bear making sure everyone was well taken care of and safe before ever considering himself. That is what made him by far my favorite character.

Decker is still being a tool and I want to strangle him. He has to have some sort of withholding kink to be able to continue to hold himself back from his feelings for Joey while his friends all get even closer with her. He self-sabotages and makes absolutely bonehead decisions that he thinks is protecting people but is really just debilitating them. I have never seen a character act in such a way that I simply wanted to reach through the kindle screen and strangle him. If he was severed from the group, I would not feel much loss, honestly. I'd slap him then slap his PR boo thang even harder. 

Despite Decker's toolishness, I was disappointed in the flow of the story overall. It felt like it was dragged on unnecessarily. There were parts of it that could have likely just been removed entirely and the story would have progressed the exact same way. I continue to have issues with the "fuck/hell yeah" expressions during the sex scenes. The people involved are college kids, yes, but the sentiment just feels so juvenile that it makes me feel weird reading the scene after reading it. Aside from Joey revealing her trauma I honestly don't remember a lot of the fine details of the book. Just felt like a lot of smut with very little actual progress. If I wouldn't have been invested in Joey's story and Daddy Genius I would have probably dipped from the series.