As Jones warns in a disclaimer, I Know, while quite squarely a romance, touches on complex, upsetting themes, including issues of mental health, anxiety, and childhood emotional abuse. The characters feel like grown-ups, struggling through their lives, with the realistically low-key plot featuring much day-to-day living: getting tattoos, grinding through band practice, celebrating holidays, wondering about the provenance of stains, and—thrillingly—getting caught up in the kinds of long, self-revealing conversations that mark the beginnings of a promising romance. Jones is adept at these, as she is at telling the story through the perspectives of both leads. The sex is steamy, occasionally graphic, but also warm, the detailed descriptions rooted in character and connection.

This volume stands alone, though some readers may feel like they’re missing some context if they haven’t read the first book in the trilogy, especially as the characters are, in ways, dealing with their pasts. While the dialogue is sharp, and the big moments (like a doozy of a Halloween kiss) dramatized with power and feeling, some incidental storytelling is hampered by editing and punctuation errors. But the book, like its lovers, pulses with heart, heat, and passion, offering a romance as touching as it is rousing.

Takeaway: This grown-up romance finds its lovers facing real grief but finding each other.

Great for fans of: Mia Sheridan’s Archer’s Voice, Jewel E. Ann.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: A-