Title: Gratification in Gluttony
Author: Nik Knight
Series: Passing Through Cafe #2
Pages: 393
As the heir of the Maryno family dynasty, Toni grew up with clear expectations of who he was supposed to be but he didn’t want to be that person. Growing up as a constant disappointment was rough and now he has distanced himself from his family and living his true life. He’s proud of the man he has become even if his life is a little lonely sometimes. But when Jude enters his life, everything changes and Toni will do anything to spend time with him.
While I loved the first book, I wasn’t a huge fan of Toni so I was a bit apprehensive starting this one. While Toni has some sweet moments and was great at respecting Jude’s boundaries, I still found myself not enjoying his anger issues, his judgement of others, and how he treated Gem. Toni knows he has anger issues and still lets it push him into saying really hurtful things to his friends. I don’t like that at all. If he understands this issue, he should know to walk away or take a step back instead of letting it hurt people. Also, he constantly talks about himself in the third person which got old real quick.
Because this is told exclusively through Toni’s POV, I felt like Jude’s personality didn’t really come through a lot. Toni was a bit overwhelming and we spend so much of the book with them apart so we don’t get to see a lot of Jude personality really shine. That said, what we did get of Jude I enjoyed. Jude has built a life and family for themselves after their parent’s kicked them out for being trans. I loved how honest they were about their body, their transition, and what they wanted.
Jude and Toni’s relationship was another slow building one that takes place over months. Their relationship starts as just friends, then friends who kiss, and eventually leads to them finally committing to each other. I enjoyed the pace of their relationship but I just wish we had both POV’s for this one because I really wanted to know what was going on in Jude’s brain for some of this.
Overall, while I did have issues with Toni, I still enjoyed this one. I look forward to reading more of this series and seeing more of the friends fall in love, especially Gem.
TW: toxic family dynamics that include gaslighting, and rejection based on homomisa, bigotry, and transphobia; non consensual drugging/ spiking of a drink (Ch. 11/12, no one assaulted or injured); classism, speciesism and bigotry; mentions of previous sex work; body dysphoria and transitioning discussed; antisemitism discussed;
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Previous books and reviews for the series:
Red-Haired Ash Reads 