Overall an enjoyable read! Will be recommending to my friends. I thought the story was interesting and engaging. Loved the ending as well because it really tied everything together!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc! Much to the vain of books like Mrs. S, there seems to be a common thread here. Forbidden romance/connections. Add in a little bit of a school setting and we are well on our way.

✰ 4.25 stars ✰

“I think the second greatest mystery of the universe is other people.”

“What?” I had no idea what she meant.

She laughed again. “Just like, you can never really know another person, like what they’re thinking or feeling. I mean, you have your ideas of something, like being sad, but you can’t know exactly what sad feels like to someone else. Or happiness, or love. Not truly.”

“Okay,” I said. “Then what’s the first greatest mystery?”

“Ourselves,” she said. “Obviously.”

It's been quite a while since a book has had such a strong hold on me the way Providence did, a psychological thriller about an English professor, Mark Lausson, who's life quickly spirals into a path of destruction when he begins an illicit affair with his charismatic and enigmatic sophomore student, Tyler Cunningham.

“I can make myself crazy trying to figure out what of that night was real—whether it was Tyler at his most loving or his most traitorous. Sometimes, I’m not sure there’s a difference.”

I read this in the early hours of Saturday morning - y'know, before the household wakes up and there's only the silence and the words that envelop you in a story that makes you neglect all other household chores. And yet, when the time came for the day to actually begin - weekend chores waiting for me to attend to, I didn't want to. I didn't want to, not until I finished reading it - not until I knew the ending of what would happen to Mark - I could not put it down - Craig Willse had been pulled me into the story - riveted by the nature of their relationship. The writing was so appealing to my aesthetic senses - the plot positively gripping - such a page turner - so well-written that drew me into Mark's plight -it's been so long since a book has captivated me so much. I really liked it. 🤌🏻🤌🏻

Did Mark make stupid and bad judgment calls? Yes, more than I would like for him to have done - but, it was such a clear example of how the lust for desire - that urge to be wanted by Tyler - had hindered all rhyme or reason for him. 🙍🏻‍♀️ It was almost intoxicating the way Tyler had completely mesmerized him - how he was willing to give up everything and anything to help him out. 'How it felt to confess, the way he offered his body to be held like a child, when it was him holding me. And other times, I obsess over it, searching out some detail I missed, desperate for knowledge I will never have.'

I liked how the author didn't make it like an instant attraction - Tyler toyed with him, almost to the point of luring him in with such heated chemistry till he had no choice to give into temptation; and yet, I believed it. I believed how their relationship unfolded, that their emotions for each other were genuine - heady with want and lust - despite me inwardly yelling at him not to listen to him - can't you see he's using you??? 😥😥

But, I still understood why Mark was so drawn to help Tyler. He had been living such a mundane and ordinary life before Tyler came into his class, and then just to have this insane pull of this beautiful young man who actually wanted him - wouldn't he do anything to keep him? It was stressful seeing how rapidly his life was deteriorating - as he became completely alienated from his colleagues, isolated from his boyfriend, losing interest in his work, he truly believed that Tyler would be worth it. '. . . is this all the world was? A chain of misplaced longings, never met? But now, in some twisted, unbreakable way, I had gotten what I wanted.' 😞 They had some really wholesome and heart-warming intimate moments, that I hoped against hope that things would turn out for the better. Mark's thoughts and actions really kept the pace alive; I never felt a lull in the story, I was constantly on alert - the tension of the situation so clearly evident of waiting for that anvil to fall where everything falls apart - and boy, did it ever! 😭😭

“Tyler cares about me.”

“I don’t doubt that. You know what they say—we always hurt the ones we love.”

And y'know what the truly sad part about all of this was? As much as Mark basically kept digging his own grave by making conscious mistakes because he was so foolishly enraptured with the hope that Tyler would choose him, I wanted him to find a way out. I wanted him to succeed and get his happy ending. 'What were we protecting? What was there to lose? Everything, it seemed, and nothing.' ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 He was a rueful pawn in Tyler's schemes and as he uncovers more truths about who Tyler really is - the irony of the title really comes into fruition; and to me, that's truly the mark of a tragic hero. 💔💔

I also appreciated the subtle ways in which the author addressed misogyny and racism - it's not painstakingly evident, but the little hints that were dropped, really does show the depravity of humankind - and how even under the guise of decency and kindness, there is still so much unaddressed and unnoticed - that people can be rotten to the core even under the veneer of grace and beauty. 👍🏻👍🏻 The side plot regarding Mark's sister also kept the tone alive and aided Mark in making some timely decisions that would either cost him his life or save him, instead.

“If you have come to hear a heartwarming story about queer resilience,” I started, “you have come to the wrong place. There are no heroes here.”

The publishers have hinted that the cover is subject to change; personally, I hope that they don't. It was the cover that drew me to it, and it also, in my opinion, perfectly captures the magnetic allure of how Tyler drew Mark towards him and the painful way in which by getting involved in him, his life was irrevocably shattered. 😟 I wouldn't also mind a companion novella from Tyler's point of view; there were still so many layers to him that I felt could have been explored - mysteries left unanswered. What led him to target Mark? How much of how he behaved with him was fiction or truth? Was his intentions always to ensnare Mark as an unwitting participant - a rueful target of Tyler's schemes? 🥺

But, then I think, does it really matter?

In the novel, Mark is researching a crime case that took place in the U.S during the early 20s. It piqued my interest, but I was unsure whether or not it was true or not - so I looked it up. Turns out it was, and while I was disgusted with the crime itself, the perpetrators did not receive the death penalty, rather life in prison, because their lawyer defended them, sources describing his defence simply as, 'Nature made them do it, evolution made them do it, Nietzche made them do it.' And while it's not an argument I would support, I think the opening statement to Mark's dissertation speaks volumes for the entirety of this novel, as well.

“Instead, I want to think about why we find these stories fascinating. What they tell us about how we imagine depravity—sexual and criminal. And, ultimately, what we can see in these stories about ourselves—or as French philosopher Michel Foucault might put it, the ‘mirage in which we think we see ourselves reflected— the dark shimmer of sex.’”

It was really a very impressive and compelling debut that truly satisfied the reader in me. 👏🏻 👏🏻 I wouldn't mind reading it again when it comes out, just to experience the tumultuous way in which Mark's steadily but surely fell apart.

*Thank you Union Square & Co for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.