Absolutely adored this! Unsteady was a favorite of mine last year and this was just as good. Freddy and Ro….. so heartfelt and sweet. I liked how it took place at the same time as the first book so we got to see some of the events from a different perspective. Looking so forward to what I can hope would be Bennett and Paloma’s book next?

5 stars!!

I loved Unsteady and truly didn’t think anything could even come close to it, but then Ro and Freddy came along and said. “Hold my beer!”.

This story was everything I needed. It was achy in all the right ways and a rare slow burn done right! The pining was out of this world but their friendship— was stunning. The love between them was jumping off the pages and it was so clear how meant to be they really were.

But even beyond the romance, I was so invested in the story and relationship between Matt and Archer. I full on sobbed when it came to those two. I could read a book just about them. - oh and that epilogue was PERFECT!

Basically this book will hit you in the gut and rearrange your insides in the best way. I cannot way for Bennet and Toren’s stories either!!

There is so much that I want to say about this book, so buckle up because this will be a long and gushing review. I absolutely fell in love with the characters Peyton creates in her first book, Unsteady, so I jumped at the chance to ARC read the follow up novel, Unloved. This was my most anticipated book of the year, and Peyton did not disappoint. This book had me absolutely enthralled from the start. Something I am always looking for in a book is for me to feel a strong emotion, whether that is love, hate, happiness, or something else, I want to be consumed. This book had my heart in a vice grip the entire time. I felt so many strong emotions, oscillating between rage at some characters, joy at their happiness, and adoration at watching these two soft and tender souls find each other. It was angsty, it was steamy, it was so gentle. This book truly held everything I wanted and these characters will sit with me for a while.

The book follows Matt “Freddy” Fredderic and Rosalie “Ro” Shariff, the best friends of the protagonists of Unsteady. Freddy is a hockey star, a playboy with a reputation, but also a struggling student with many learning differences. Ro is a brilliant, shy romantic who has been crushing on Freddy since they met freshman year at a party. Now in their senior year, Freddy is well known as a ladies man on campus and Ro is dating her on-again-off-again jerk of a boyfriend, Tyler, and they get paired up as tutor and student to help Freddy pass his biology and math classes so he can maintain his academic standing to stay on the hockey team and graduate in the spring. While these two both project the image of happiness, they are both lonely and in desperate need of affection. The more time they spend together, the more their friendship blooms and they begin to find comfort in the other. They also have a growing amount of heat and tension that is building between them that they are trying desperately to ignore. And all the while they are dealing with these budding feelings, outside factors are creating challenges and turmoil that they must navigate.

I cannot even begin to put into words how protective I am of Freddy and Ro. They are the most tender and gentle souls who deserve all the best things. I wept multiple times in this book with how vulnerable they both are and the cruelty they've experienced at the hands of others. Individually, they are some of my favorite characters ever. Ro is such a powerhouse. She is the lone woman in her cohort for the biology tutors and TAs, dealing with so much misogyny and overall gross behavior from these men, one of whom is her sort-of boyfriend Tyler. She is so smart and works so hard, and meanwhile is far away from her home and family. She has a best friend in Sadie, but Sadie is also busy and dealing with so much in her own life (see Unsteady!). Loneliness and a desire to true affection dominate her feelings. She also is dating a guy who puts her through an emotional ringer. He is manipulative and cruel breaking up with her frequently only to turn around and act like they are back to normal, and she is constantly reminding herself of the good times with him. Tyler made me RAGE so much of the book with how he treated Ro. Ro deserves so much better than him, but she is scared of being truly alone. Then we have Freddy. Sweet, precious Freddy who I want to protect at all costs. He is the ultimate playboy on the outside, all charm and swagger, but on the inside is desperate to be loved. He is so protective of Ro, wanting to shield her from his reputation and past. He lost his mother to cancer his freshman year and is still dealing with the grief of her death and now has HORRIBLE people in his corner, from a dead-beat dad who treats him like crap to a professor with whom he shares a problematic past. The flashbacks that show us his interactions with these people are absolutely heartbreaking and will make you cry and scream at the void.

Then, we put these two together, with their broken pasts and tender hearts, and we get one of the greatest love stories ever written. This is the way friends to lovers should always be done. They start out so lonely and lost, both tentative to let others in. Throughout the story, we see so much vulnerability and comfort between the two of them, opening up to each other and leaning on each other in ways they’ve not been able to do with anyone else. Their feelings are so raw and tender and I can’t even put into words how it makes my heart feel. I just want to hold them both and hide them from all the pain of the world. They truly develop a strong friendship and foundation which leads to such an amazing relationship. This book is such a slow burn, but it is so worth it with the tension and pining and FEELS we get.

They are also incredibly protective of one another and each other’s biggest advocate. I love how well represented Freddy’s learning differences are, with his ADHD, dyscalculia, and dyslexia. Freddy is so used to people not helping him and having to either hide his difficulties or have them brushed off, but Ro truly cares and does everything she can to help him succeed. It is so beautiful to see the support they give one another throughout the book in so many different ways, and it just adds even more to how lovely their bond is.

I also LOVE how Peyton is writing this series to overlap with the others. We are able to see many of the same events that happened in Unsteady from a different perspective. Seeing Rhys from his friends’ POV and watching his journey is so moving. I love how Peyton still gives so much care to the side characters and gives their stories their full due, even when it isn’t the main story being told in this book. We also get a lot of breadcrumbs for the next book in the series which I am SO excited for, along with some great Toren Kane knight in not-so-white-armor moments. One thing Peyton does so well is make each side character feel like a main character in their own right, and I can’t wait to get to see what is up next for these friends!

And let me just add, that while I cried multiple times throughout the book, the epilogue had me SOBBING. It was the perfect conclusion to their story, but I can’t wait to get snippets of them again in the next books!

This is so much more than a college hockey romance. It has so much heart and so much tenderness. I cannot say enough how this book somehow both made me raging for how these two were treated while simultaneously sobbing at the soft gentleness of their love. This is a book that is going to sit with me for a long time. I enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait for everyone to get a chance to read it this February!

Thank you Atria and NetGalley for a copy of the book in advance!

I knew going into Unloved that it would be an emotional read, but I was not prepared to be GUTTED by Freddy & Ro!

Peyton wrote such an achingly tender and gentle story for these characters. She portrayed their deep emotional wounds, grief and self-doubt in such a soft way.

Freddy & Ro are vulnerable with each other, and both take such care with the others heart. Their whole story is about them learning that they deserve love. Love that isn't manipulative or cruel. That they deserve to be seen, and cherished. It was so heart-warming to see how they slowly allowed themselves to be loved by someone who cares for them so fiercely.

Her writing was fantastic, and the sweet slow-burn was everything I wanted and more.

We also get wonderful moments of friendship. Sadie & Ro, Freddy/Rhys/Bennett have great friendships and I always love seeing those portrayed in romance books. She made me love Sadie/Rhys even more if that's possible, and now I am dying for Bennett's book!!

I'm also hoping we get a book for Toren Kane!! We get a few more glimpses of him, and I think he's a character a lot of us would love.

**I am never getting over how much I love Freddy and Ro. *sobs*