Look, I get it. I constantly preach romance novels that have actual role models instead of stereotypical characters. Dani and Zaf are PoC characters written by a PoC author, Dan is bisexual and ambitious and won’t take BS from men, and Zaf actually talks about his panic attacks and mental health struggles (at least to the people he is close with) and Dani even does some research about how to support someone when they have an active panic attack. That’s great and all, but at the same time these characters are still so stereotypical. Dani is just the reverse white guy who “doesn’t do relationships” but denies that her commitment phobia comes from not having been treated right in the past. Enter THE ONE who is so different from all the others, very attractive but downplays it, and willing to “squeeze through the bars of the mental cage” (Ch. 10) if only she’d let him in. At this point I’d been rolling my eyes so hard multiple times. The fact that you have diverse characters doesn’t just create a good story on its own, unfortunately. Also, the writing isn’t good. It’s super graphic and off-putting and very in your face about the messages the author wants to drive home.