This is a paranormal contemporary romance and that's a thing I didn't expect going in and sadly, did not work that well for me.

I loved the story as a contemporary romance - a writer heroine is a difficult past and undiagnosed and untreated anxiety, a kind and caring hero who is her best friend's brother. He has his hands full with keeping the family business going and his family together and no intention or time for falling in love. They seem like an unlikely couple of the surface over the story we see how they actually make a perfect fit. There is a lot of internal conflict to their relationship which is my catnip in romance and I enjoyed reading about it. 

At the same time the story has a strong paranormal element that didn't work for me at all. Gaia has magical dreams related to her writing which I admit I didn't fully understand  how they worked. And thny because of her romantic connection she has with Jacob, he gets to share and participate in her dreams. It was all very weird for me and felt it didn't add anything to the story for me, only made me confused and annoyed. I think this would have been a great contemporary romance with out the paranormal aspect. I definitely would have enjoyed it more. 

I really liked how Gaia's anxiety, mental health struggles were presented, we get to follow her on her journey of realising she has issues, through defining them and seek the proper way to deal with them. At the same time Jacob's support and care for her was phenomenal while coming face to face with  some hard truths about his own life. It was the happiness they felt when they were together that helped them realise how unhappy and unfulfilled they have been up to that point and it acted a catalyst for them to be more daring and to reach out for the things they wanted.

Some plot points seemed too much and overall they served just as a distraction from the main story. I was not happy with the resolution of her magic in the end. There is also a spoiler for the next book right on the final pages and it left me baffled and once again asking my self "Why, Why go there at all?"

The writing is great, as I have come to expect from Therese Beharrie, the sense of place is tangible (Cape Town), the slow burn romance and the complex family relations round it are awesome. I would have absolutely loved it if it wasn't for the magic bits, as it is it I have mixed feelings about it and would only recommend with the caveats mentioned in my review.