Chasing Daylight

Wish it came with a content warning

I know it is cliche to write this, but I truly do not write reviews often if at all. However, I felt it was important that I made an exception. I really enjoyed this series and this book, but I wish that there was a content warning upfront about some of the themes. I felt that way about the other books in the series as well, but especially this one. The author did start by explaining why she wrote Mitch the way she did and her real life inspiration, however, there were other unexpected themes in the book.
I am not intending to spoil anything and I know that some would disagree and call me “too sensitive” for needing trigger warnings, but in spite of that I still want to make sure that I am communicating what I wish I knew going in. I probably would have still read the book, but I would not have read it before bed.
SPOILERS AHEAD Some of the warnings I will include will likely seem like “spoiling”, so please be aware. As expected given the author’s note the book touches on the subject of PTSD (a recap of the event that caused the loss of a limb, panic attacks, use of a support animal, nightmares), however, there were also themes of domestic abuse (detailed descriptions of past, escalating physical abuse), stalking, an incident of intentional animal (dog) harm (not by the dog’s owner of course), detailed assault scenes including weapons (knife, gun) and physical violence, multiple break in incidents, an abduction (detailed), mentions of torture and direct threats on the characters’ lives, and a car chase that resulted in the death of 2 characters. I am sure that I am missing some of the trigger warnings, but those were the biggest that stuck out to me. Three of the main characters (not including the best character, Zeus’s emergency vet visit) had extended hospital stays as the result of violence and their recoveries took varying amounts of time and had different levels of psychological impacts on the characters and their support networks. There was also a moment where a dog attack was briefly described (however, it was against the “bad guy” in order to protect the main characters). I will say that Zeus (the best book dog in the world) is okay by the end of the book, something I was terrified would not be the case as I read. Again, I did enjoy this book, but as someone who is already anxious and struggles with violence I wish I had been better prepared prior to reading. In addition to the violence there were also multiple “spicy” scenes, although given the genre I did expect those. There is a HEA, but there are many obstacles before that happens.
Again, I did enjoy this book and probably would have enjoyed it more if I had not read it late at night, but needing to make sure the characters I was invested in were okay kept me reading well into the night. I enjoyed reading both POVs of the main characters and felt like it gave great insight into where each of them stood. It was sweet watching how they tried to take care of each other and worked to overcome and process their own pasts to become their best selves.