They Told Me I Was Everything

"And then, tomorrow, I'm going to come over and do my homework on your new couch and get Dorito crumbs everywhere. And we're just going to be friends.""Friends," Theo said."With cuddles," Auggie said."Platonic, completely nonsexual cuddling."Auggie rolled his eyes."No wandering hands," Theo said."Yes, Mother Superior."

[4.5] superlative in its on-brand clumsy, raw, and fallible characters against a tightly plotted mystery backdrop laced with comedic zingers ✨

Gregory Ashe defends his title as the King of Slow Burn once again by taking the formulaic romance genre and flipping it on its head, and as intensely frustration-inducing as the story can be, he's doing something right because my emotional investment in these characters has grown a hundredfold since first meeting them as an already-established happy couple in H&S.

chronologically speaking, The First Quarto takes place before the Hazard & Somerset series, but i would personally recommend reading at least the first arc of H&S before hopping into this one as it reveals a major future villain

- Theo: 28 y/o, grieving grad student/professor whose life irrevocably changed after an accident six months prior. juggles prescription drugs and alcohol while slaving away on his thesis on Shakespeare.

- Auggie: 18 y/o social media influencer & Wroxall College freshman who ends up in Theo's class. plays up his online persona but is tired of no one knowing the real him. from a troubled family, his foul-mouthed brother Fer (who gets his kicks from teasing his siblings but would do anything to keep them safe) acts as his main pillar of support.

the investigation portion takes on a fresh coat of paint as now we have two average joes forced on threat of their well-being to solve the Case of the Missing Flash Drive (trust me, it's more intense than it sounds lol). intertwined with palpable ust, witty dialogue, sublime humor and you have me absolutely enthralled by this first installment. and honestly, i might've given my neighbors a scare with the way i was cackling like a witch at some banter as i moved about the house doing chores