Devney Perry puts readers through an emotional wringer with Merit, an enemies to lovers’ romance for the fourth and final instalment in the Treasure Wildcats series. Maverick Houston and Stevie Adair had been childhood best friends until stupid comments and hurt feelings on both sides and nobody holds a grudge like a couple of pre-teens. What made things worse though was the close connection between their parents meant they celebrated all the holidays together usually ending with Mav and Stevie fighting. Till the day Maverick’s mum told them she was dying, and her last wish was for them to bury the hatchet and date. The problem being the only place either of them want to bury that hatchet was in the other’s head so what else were they going to do but fake it. I loved Maverick and Stevie; their great dynamic, their banter and sparring and how they would swing from enemies to near lovers as they alternated between wanting to kill each other to jumping the others’ bones before settling on the middle ground of frenemies, as they tried to fulfil the wish of the woman they both loved. With the humour these scenes brought combined with some tear jerking moments as Maverick’s mom grew more frail, I swung between laughing and crying as I read all while hoping for a miracle I knew wasn’t coming. I’ve walked in Maverick’s shoes and felt his pain but how this author depicted his stages of grief was so beautifully written. This was a story of love and all it’s highs and lows. And what began with a son’s love for his mother ended with him finding the love of life who’d been next door all along.