I was a fan of the first book, despite it’s problems, however I did not like this one at all. The book starts of with stating it can be read as a standalone which I do not agree with. If I hadn’t already read the first book, I wouldn’t be as connected to the characters as I was in this one. I felt the book in it’s entirety was far too dramatic and strayed from the first book because of this.
I loved the focus of fandoms in the first book but this was barely touched in this book, if at all. That’s who Alex is as a whole and I was confused to see this disappear with the sequel. I was also just frustrated with drama between Mark and Alex throughout the book feeling that there was no plot or motivation without this drama. Alex acted far too upset to see Mark move on despite her being the one to end the relationship.
The time jumps were also not helpful to the plot. It felt as if there was no consistent plot to the book with these time jumps and that we were simply jumping around Alex’s life, only to pop in when it was convienent to the plot. Also the “twist” with Mark’s brother felt so out of place in the book with no rhyme or reason besides making Mark look sympathetic.
If you like drama and angst, this may be the book for you but as someone who enjoyed the first book I was very disappointed with this sequel to it.