Is this book perfect? No. Are they several tropes in this book that I think certain people might hate? Yes. Did I finish it in two days because I could not wait to find out the ending? Yes. Did reading this make me feel like I was being set on fire, did it make me physically ill, did it consume my mind in a way that prevented me from focusing on anything until I finished it? Yes, yes and yes.

So I'm giving it five stars. Fight me.

Aside from my unhealthy obsession that makes this my favorite book of the year, this book is great. It's an absolute ride from start to finish. All the characters have distinct personalities and motivations. It's fast-paced and new mysteries are constantly being uncovered, keeping you on your toes the whole way through. I absolutely adored the main character, though I also absolutely understand anyone who doesn't. He's a love him or hate him type of character. I also thought the unraveling of the mystery at the end was nicely done, despite it including a cliché villain monologue. The monologue was actually pretty well executed in my opinion.

I read this in two days, which I haven't done in a while. I was so in that I nearly cried when my e-reader decided to crash on me and I couldn't get it started for an hour. This book was delightful and had me hooked from start to finish. I already liked Coal's self-discovery journey in the first one, but Kris' character development absolutely destroyed me, probably because I could relate to a lot of it. It does take center stage over the romance and general plot at times, but you know what, I'm not mad. Man is so fucked up he needs it. Like others pointed out, this book really benefits from not needing the world building included in the first one. The one thing I miss is the witty retorts and the quips. This book definitely had them, but I feel like the first one had more. It was obviously awesome to see the characters from the first book coming back. I will absolutely read any other book from this serie if Raasch decides to publish more (which I really hope she does. Give my girl Iris her fairytale story!)