I thought that the characters had good chemistry, the plot was well-paced, I already knew that I liked the writing style, and the individual arcs of both Astrid and Jordan with their families were well-executed. I was not totally in love with Astrid discovering her sexuality (I get the repression of it all because of misogyny and her overbearing mother's expectations, but it is more of a preference thing). The whole external conflict between Jordan and Astrid wasn't my favorite either (

the sabotage and lying involved with the renovation project made me stressed out and uncomfortable

). The emotional beats definitely hit, but it didn't feel quite grounded enough for me. I like Astrid as a main character (both of the two are incredibly interesting individually and as a couple), and I like that they both had individual struggles outside of their relationship that they dealt with in the book (a big plus for me). This just didn't have that spark I felt when reading the first book. It's a good book, and done in a realistic way, but not a favorite (definitely rereadable, though).