Sir

I love the setting and everything!

I didn't outright hate it, but I can't in good conscience rate this 3 stars :D Yeah, it was tagged as BDSM "lite", but I still feel that oversold the BDSM representation, which felt...superficial at best. Superficial is also what the characters were, they were kind and sweet, but there was literally NOTHING there, no edge, no conflict, never no smooth sailing, it was a bit bland. And their refractory periods were non-existent :D And the setting per se, the order's backstory and structure? HATED IT. I could've done with more of everything, pretty much: more depth of characters, more plot, more conflict, more descriptions of the steam. I have several more books by this author on my tbr that sound vastly different, so I'm not passing on Walker yet, but even though the buzzwords on this were all right, the reading experience was just...off. CNs: referenced physical child abuse and neglect, scarring, teenage sexual abuse by a cleric but framed as welcome attention/a pleasant awakening(?!?!!), a dom (not the MC) disrespecting a sub's hard limit, age gap romance (early-mid twenties&mid-late thirties), insta love