Was this as good as the first one? Not really.
It felt kind of detached and, as with the first of the series, had some major plot holes and missing details that I wished had been formed. The ending threw me for a loop, I will say that. I didn't expect it. Not the whole Conor bit (for those who have read and will understand that statement) but the very end, in what seemed like an epilogue of sorts from Aoife's perspective. I literally widened my eyes at that whole last chapter. And quite honestly, the first book made Nessa's character feel more believable. This one not so much. I was really tied on how to rate this and ended up going from three to two stars because it left me with more questions and an emptier feeling than I had hoped for. The first book pulled me in, flaws and all. But this one just fell so short.