3.25 stars, rounded down. 
 There was a real sweetness to the way the two MCs were together, and some really great moments that were downright swoony. I liked the detail about their lives, liked the coming out as ace narrative (though I am not ace so I can't speak to accuracy and resonance but I did find a couple of reviews by ace folks that spoke fairly well of it), but also the daily grind at their jobs, all the parenting stuff, even the skating stuff (I generally am not a sports person). This is the first ace romance I've read that is two ace folks, and I am really hoping there are more out there. I really liked that they connected with other ace folks, that the story showed them in community and not just as an isolated couple. I really fell for Tariq, Zafir's kid; loved how much he was centered in the story. Mostly the story felt full, the characters weren't thinly drawn, for the most part, though I do have an issue with the way Zafir was characterized (& another issue with the way Aimee was characterized). 
 Zafir kept being surprised that Brennan treated him decently and didn't reject him. That part didn't really feel earned, didn't resonate for me (& I am someone who has lived that kind of romantic history, which made it esp striking that it wasn't resonating, pretty much at all). Instead it felt like it was assumed that he would feel that way as a Muslim Lebanese American biromantic asexual working class single dad, which made me uncomfortable. (Kind of like the way some writers of queer stories & M/M romance assume all queer men are miserable because they are queer, & are constantly treated badly in all their relationships.) It didn't just make me uncomfortable because that's a framework for understanding his life that's deeply othering, but also because it made Brennan a hero just for being halfway decent and somewhat considerate, because that's the best Zafir could imagine, that alone was miraculous. 
 I got why Brennan was into Zafir, but never really got why Zafir was into Brennan. And after the things Brennan said when he was freaking out, I had big doubts. Especially because it was discussed as if the things he said weren't mean or hateful, and they were. What he said was really not ok. And I know that people say cruel and hurtful things when they are freaking out, but the downplaying of it, & the way it was resolved felt like the story really let Brennan off the hook, and also excused something that felt quite like stalking. The happy ending did not feel earned and also felt kind of rushed, which aligns with my read of Brennan in the relationship in general...he didn't earn his place in Zafir's life. So, the ending wasn't satisfying to me. 
 And the thing is, I liked Brennan. He was a complicated character I wanted to root for. But he didn't step up enough, and the way Zafir saw him wasn't about the particularity of him enough, was more about the bad things he didn't do. I wanted more for them both. 
 It felt ironic that Aimee basically thought that Brennan (view spoiler)[ was using his relationship with Zafir to get over her (hide spoiler)] because she really felt like a tool used by the author to help Brennan realize stuff. That also made me uncomfortable, especially since she was the only woman that got significant time and attention in the novel, and part of how she was used as a tool was to have her be treated terribly (and like an object) by a misogynist dude. I know that many people want to see cheaters punished but I gotta say, this reeked of misogyny to me. 
 Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[ Acephobic and homophobic comments as part of a break up of an ace and homoromantic relationship. Acephobic comments in response to someone coming out as ace. Ace people talking quite a bit about having consensual sex with partners who were allo. Cheating. Repeated unwanted contact that verged on stalking. Filming of sex that wasn't consented to. Film of sex shared with an ex (without anyone's consent) to hurt that person. Multiple injuries from skating that were described in detail, including a child getting injured and being rushed to the ER. (hide spoiler)]