Dae

And this is where the series starts to get confusing because I lost track of which characters are which and who they're with. Aka: none of them were original and individual enough to remember anything about. They kind of blended into one..mmc paste.

And I read these books back to back, in order. So, conceivably, they should have had enough personality to remain their own distinct characters as I moved through the books.

There's also not a lot of build up to a love confession/relationship in any of these stories despite the author having doubled or tripled the chapter count after book 1. Every single couple is insta-love and immediately gets over whatever issues they have that, in the first third of the book, were reasons they couldn't be together.

Look, I get it, it's fiction. We read it to feel good and escape for a moment (or enjoy the smut). But there is no emotional payoff when every bit of challenge and friction is handwaved away so they can f*ck happily ever after.

This book has a lot of things you need to pay attention to and remember in order not to get lost at some points, but the real and main heft of what is happening in this story seems to take place in the latter half. That's where the threads start to really weave together and connect. I cannot say I was surprised by any of the twists and turns it took, but it was a fun ride nevertheless.

First half of this book is an exercise in frustration, but at least in the second portion the mystery starts to get good.