This novel wasn’t what I expected at all really, though my expectations were a bit all over the place when I started reading this. It’s maybe my first full blood brother novel that I’ve read where they actually grew up together, as most are either half siblings or some other type of relation, and it was definitely a unique experience reading this given that the protagonists also have a sister and mother that they both share full blood relation with. Much of the novel deals with their conflict over how to deal with these relationships with their other family members, to correct the wrongs of their past and not end up with everyone dying once again.

The start of the novel has our MC committing suicide in the very first chapter at age 30, to be reborn in the next chapter at age 24, at the moment where he first raped his younger brother. Trying to change the past, he attempts to flee, but his brother pulls him back and rapes him in turn. Obviously neither of them are the most stable, and this type of dogblood drama continues on for much of the story.

Lack of communication in this novel is honestly so forced, to the point where it’s actually a bit unbelievable. We are shown multiple times how this ML actually did care a lot for his older brother in the past and made most of his major life decisions to protect his brother, and yet he says not a single thing and has his brother thinking that he genuinely hates his existence the entire time. For a couple that in present timeline is so touchy and in love with each other, I just struggle to understand why they couldn’t inject even the slightest bit of that energy into their past relationship.

As this is a rebirth story, the timeline jumps around a bit with flashbacks throughout the story, though they aren’t extended in length. It’s more like a past event will be cut over to for no more than a few paragraphs before the timeline in the present resumes, and it’s generally pretty clear to distinguish between timelines. I’ll say I was only slightly confused a few times and had to reread to confirm what timeline a scene was in.

The writing style feels a bit dead for much of the novel, and it only really started to capture my interest around the 50 chapter mark. This could honestly be an interesting intentional decision by this author though, as the MC does start off suicidal and half-dead feeling and only really regains his will to live after some time has passed. I haven’t read enough from them to really say though, so in reading this I was a bit bored at the start with how little I could connect to any of the characters.

This novel feels somewhat incomplete, is the best way that I can put it. There’s so many plot holes and inconsistencies in the story that have to be overlooked, that it does become a bit tiring always having to look away. I found their past life just too unbelievable, and much of the events too forced to be reasonable. The story is so excessively dramatic and dogblooded for much of it that the emotional impact while reading was also highly diminished, and the writing is also a more tell not show type of style that didn’t manage to trigger my emotions.

Something else that bothered me a bit about the plot that's a vague spoiler:

• spoiler

I did manage to tear up a bit once closer to the end, but for a novel that I had labeled as cry-to incest I’m honestly disappointed by my lack of tears. I am still rating this relatively high though, as the psychology of our MC was explored quite well and I really enjoyed his narration. The side characters as well are very memorable, and the cast was small but had good variety with distinct personalities. Where the story fails is more on the ML’s perspective, though this is explored also in the extras, so I’ll give it a slight pass.

Overall it’s a pretty good incest novel that explores family dynamics in a way that I think isn’t touched on usually with this much detail. There’s a lot of guilt that fuels the push and pull between the brothers, and the reactions of people around them are quite interesting to read, ranging from immediate acceptance to total rejection. While the premise of the story itself is a bit weak and founded too much on miscommunication, I did have an overall enjoyable time reading, and the brothers really are sweet together after everything they went through to be together.