Book: Yard Sale by E.M. Lindsey
Reviewed by Maggie Hayes
Rating: 4.5/5
Yard Sale by E.M. Lindsey
⭐⭐⭐⭐¾ (4.75/5)
Another fantastic (and final) entry into E.M. Lindsey's Punk as Puck/Legends and Fury world.
My heart really went out to Thiago. We've gotten glimpses of him in earlier books in the series, and I was so excited to learn that he would be the lead in this one. He has so much going on between a potentially career-ending injury and his rapidly declining eyesight, the result of retinitis pigmentosa. Either one would be enough to send a person into a spiral, let alone both stacked on top of each other. And then there's his family.
Thiago may have one of the worst families ever committed to paper, and their continual mistreatment of him for no reason other than his degenerative eye disease and parentage both disgusted me and broke my heart. I kept wanting him to cut them all out of his life while also understanding how easy that is to say and how difficult it is to actually do. He deserves someone (truly, lots of someones) who loves him for the kind and generous man he is... someone like Aravind.
Aravind rubbed me the wrong way earlier in the series with some ableist language, but much like Thiago, I just needed the chance to really get to know him. He acknowledges that he was wrong in the past and actively works to correct his ignorance, showing the kind of character growth I absolutely adore. I also love that Aravind is given the space to be soft and feminine without that automatically translating into stereotypical bedroom power dynamics. It's one of the many reasons I enjoy reading Lindsey's books so much.
I absolutely ate up the dynamic between Thiago and Aravind once they finally give in to the tension that's been brewing between them. They come to genuinely respect and trust each other, opening up about their hurts and fears along the way. It's a deeply emotional journey that balances the heat and spice perfectly. And the best part? No miscommunication. They're vocal about what they want from each other and what they want their future to look like. LOVE THAT FOR THEM.
I'm sad to say goodbye to the Punk as Puck and Legends and Fury series, but I'm holding out hope that this isn't the last time we'll see these characters.
Thank you to the author and The Author Agency for providing an ARC.