I don’t think this one can be read as a standalone. I read book one and still had a hard time keeping up with all the characters. The author does a decent job of trying to keep the reader caught up on who everyone is but there are a bunch of players so it’s hard to keep track. Also, in book one there is quite a bit of build up between Zach and Drew and some of their history is explained.

Drew continues to relentlessly tease and passively pursue Zach and Zach is slowly but surely wearing down and getting to the point of admitting his attraction to Drew. The threat to Drew fast-tracks their relationship but they would have eventually ended up together. I like them together; Zach’s protectiveness is hot and his sweetness in taking care of Drew is endearing. Drew is feisty and full of energy, but this threat is slowly sucking the life out of him. I love that he is able to lean on Zach to get him through this and they come out of the ordeal stronger together.

The suspense story is good…the stalker came out of left field and totally surprised me. It did answer a question about how the author was going to deal with one of the characters for me, but I sure didn’t see it coming.

There are some hints and foreshadowing surrounding Mason, Grant and Sawyer but they’re convoluted so it’s hard to tell where that storyline will go. Sawyer clearly has a past and a story to tell and he now has some healing to do so I’m intrigued about his story. There is some major sexual tension between Grant and Mason and Grant’s reaction to Sawyer’s helping Drew was interesting. All of this is hopefully leading to a story of the three of them, not a triangle but I guess time will tell.

I still can’t wait for Ryder and Avery to get a book…they had some more banter in this one (which would be confusing to anyone who didn’t read book one, IMHO) and that just whet my whistle for their story too.

Overall, I liked this second installment in this series (I didn’t read the original series) and cannot wait for it to continue!