I give the book 4.5 out of 5 stars (rounding up to 5 since half stars aren’t a thing on here). I did prefer the first book more, even though I read this one a lot more quickly & finished in 3 days. It obviously kept my attention as I finished it quickly. I did personally feel this book was less intense/triggering than the first one (not saying it as a bad thing by any means), although there definitely could still be triggers for readers. For some reason, I did feel the first book was more realistic and allowed the reader to really feel what the characters were experiencing moreso than in this book. (That could also be because I read this one a lot more quickly and when I was reading the first I had more time to process between reading sessions since I spread it out more).

I do feel like the main reason this book was written was not necessarily to continue the story of Lily and her relationships with Atlas, Ryle, Allysa, Marshall, her mom, etc., but because the first one was so popular, that the author knew this one would automatically be successful and essentially free money for writing it to appease fans. (The author essentially admitted in her acknowledgments she never planned to write a sequel and did it because the first book became so popular on TikTok). While I did enjoy reading this book overall, and could see myself reading this again, I think the first book would have been fine as a stand alone book without a sequel where the reader could imagine themselves how each character would end up.

If you like the character of Atlas, or the idea of Lily and Atlas together, you will probably really enjoy this book. I did like reading things from Atlas’s perspective; However, I wasn’t a huge fan of how the author copied and pasted a few of Lily’s journal entries word for word from the first book directly into the second book just so we could get Atlas’s reaction to them. I understand putting the journal entries for context/background to parts of the story and as a refresher to the reader, but it was a bit much. I feel like the entries they were referencing could have possibly been summarized instead.

THIS PART CONTAINS SPOILERS:
I was hoping for some more growth from Ryle. It would’ve been nice to have him realize he was the problem in his and Lily’s relationship and try to better himself because he truly wanted to be a better person, rather than continuing to blame others and his trauma from childhood for the way he acted. It was also disappointing he was only starting to take steps at the end to not be as abusive or explosive because he was essentially forced to if he wanted to have a relationship with his daughter, not possibly lose his career, etc. I was disappointed it took so long for Lily and Allysa to suggest he go to anger management and the fact that Lily did not take him to court, report him, etc.

I do think the end was kind of rushed in a way. It seemed like one chapter Ryle finds out about Lily and Atlas dating, then it seems to skip ahead to Lily and Atlas moving in together, then shortly skips ahead again to them getting married. I feel like parts with Lily and Ryle were skipped over, as I’m sure those major life changes in Lily and Emerson’s life would have at least warranted some sort of conversations/interactions between Lily and Ryle.

The 12-year-old Theo was actually probably one of my favorite characters in this book. His character was just funny and his teasing of Atlas was just amusing at times.

Overall, a good book, but definitely preferred the first more!