Omg people, that was amazing. Back later to review and catch up with everyone :) 
 ***** 
 Okay, back! Here be the review, there may be spoilers: 
 Goddamn that Hassell can write like a demon. 
 Ashton Townsend is one of those celebrities famous for being famous, like Kim Kardashian et al. I have to say, I don't give a crap about gossip mags or celebs in real life, so it's a testament to SH's writing that I never once doubted that I'd be fully invested in Ashton's story. 
 Ashton aka A-Town has millions of followers and gets paid to show his face in various places. His life is a hedonistic whirlwind, which frankly made me tired just thinking about it. But... all is not as it seems on the surface. That's the thing with Ash, he's very good at the glitzy surface, but underneath he's really not happy. 
 Val has been best friends with Ash since childhood, when his mother was Ash's nanny. Despite trying to indulge the chip on his shoulder and hate all Townsend's, it's just not possible with Ash. 
 When we meet him Val is busting his ass at two jobs and training to go pro as a boxer, so he really doesn't have time for Ash's shenanigans. But somehow Val just can't resist being Ash's knight in a Camry and riding to his rescue. 
 As ever, the story is meaty, with a lot of time spent on each character's own relationships with family, friends and work outside of their hot-and-cold, frequently abortive romance. As ever, SH manages to make all of that just as important, just as necessary to the story, as the romance. Both characters make mistakes and come through them either together or on their own. 
 I was particularly impressed with Ash. As I said I have no interest in that lifestyle. I don't read gossip columns or look at Instagram, and my Twitter is all about authors and politics. But Ash really shone. He loves his clothes, cooking and sex (and fuck me but it was beautiful to hear him stand up for himself on that front). But he also questions himself - his value to the people he loves and as a human being. It's heartbreaking at times. He constantly puts himself down and has approximately zero self-worth, and that's not really surprising given his family - most of whom I wanted to mess up. So, yes, I was rooting for him throughout and loved his character arc. 
 I've hardly said anything about Val, but I also loved him. He was much more difficult tbh. He's working class and has an almighty chip on his shoulder about wealthy people in general, and the Townsends in particular. He works too damn hard and refuses to accept help or handouts for good reason. I absolutely loved the fact that he's demisexual. I've only read one other book with a demi MC Overexposed I loved the exploration of what that meant to Val and how that affected him and his relationships and his feelings about falling for a man. He has his own family problems, but really different because his parents are both dead and it's not all about his sexuality which, other than some rampant homophobia, isn't a major problem to him. 
 I loved the friendship these two had when they weren't being dysfunctional. The gym buddies thing was just gorgeous. And they are so hot together. There's not really any kink, considering Ash is known for being very sexually adventurous, but there is quite a bit of semi-exhibitionism. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of everyone getting an earful of them both moaning in highly inappropriate places. 
 I have to give a shout out to everyone's favourite Sicilian sex-bomb, Nunzio, who made a couple of appearances and was... guuuuuuuuuhhhhh, perfect. Can I have one please?! Seriously. I would be happy to relinquish my singledom for that man <333 I love the fact that he's all delish and yet also, important to the story, not just thrown in to please the lovers. 
 I could probably go on all night, but it's already past midnight here, so I shall round off by saying that this was a brilliant addition to the 5B series and I am thrilled that there are more in the pipeline.