I am in the minority but here's why I thought this book was meh:
- besides the main character, the supporting casts were all so flat and forgettable 
- the book totally could've been shorter, a lot of scenes seemed unnecessary 
- the lack of communication between Violet and Xaden is frustrating 
- the first book ends with Violet reuniting with her brother and unexpected a lot more of him in the story - he was pretty much non-existent in this story 

The story is told in Violet's voice and her internal dialogue just gets old. 

Overall, it was okay and not worth the hype for me