I’m a little disappointed with this book after enjoying the first one so much, but I still had a lot of fun reading it.

The dynamic between Reyna and Violet is very much the same as the first book, which was a little repetitive to read and I was hoping for something different. Same backgrounds, same life stories, same worries, very similar conflicts. It works if you’re reading this book as a standalone, but as a sequel… it just felt like I was reading the first book all over again, just with different characters.

Despite the similarities to Kiss of Seduction, I adored Reyna and Violet as the main characters and how strong of a relationship they had, and how both grew with each other, wanting to be and do better for themselves and their partner.

The submissive/dominant aspect of their relationship was a miss for me. It made sense with both Reyna and Violet and their needs and desires, and how they benefited from this type of relationship, but it got to a point where Violet was basically just doing house chores. I feel like this dynamic would’ve made more sense if it was kept purely sexual, or just done better outside of it.

This book is way longer than necessary. There’s so much repetition of how the characters feel and what their worries are to their relationship, the same thing being talked about over and over again, conversations being reheated, the same arguments being used almost with the same words, if you skimmed a lot of it you wouldn’t miss much.

I love how present Blake and Flea were in this book and how involved they were in the story, it made me even more curious to read their book, I just wish there was also a cameo from Evie and Natalya, the characters of the first book.

Look, I can understand what this book is trying to do and I did find the plot somewhat interesting, but when the characters whose journey you’re following keep being homophobic, racist, misogynistic and extremely violent, it becomes insufferable to read. Even if they are presented as unlikable, it gets tiring having to see these same behaviors over and over again with little to no remorse.

While there is some character development from Buddy Lee and Ike, it doesn’t really work well and it’s all for the wrong reasons. Even though this is a story of revenge for their sons, everything is about Buddy Lee and Ike. Everything they do, everything they learn, everything they “suffer” to have their revenge is to make themselves feel better and what they think they need to do because they couldn’t do better when their sons were actually alive.

I enjoyed the writing in how easy it was to understand and very smooth to read, but there were some analogies or similes that honestly made no sense? Like the writing has a very serious tone and then we’re hit with an analogy that honestly just made me laugh, when I’m not really sure that was the intended reaction.

Honestly not really sure how to feel about this. I did enjoy the tone of the writing, it made me laugh so many times and Lucy was such an entertaining character, but I was also not that invested in her story. While entertaining, she was such a complicated character, making the same mistakes over and over again while chasing the high that these gave her, caring more about herself than others until it was too late, prioritizing her worries over other people’s when these would reach out to her personally. I had so much empathy for her at the beginning, but it was infuriating to keep seeing Lucy be selfish and self centered without ever really learning.

There were some topics of loneliness, addiction, and love, that I thought were really well explored and to me this was the highlight of the book, how Lucy and other characters around her dealt with similar situations differently, how each one of them searched for happiness and love in their own way (even if questionable ways).

I really do think this just wasn’t my cup of tea, but can see how it would work for others.