So I didn't mind the "why is everything roman" as much this time - maybe because I had read fewer evil romans recently. I am now firmly in "why is there romance in this?" territory.
It feels contrived and, with one exception, feels like it only exists as character motivation for characters who would be equally motivated by friendship. Maybe if the romantic interest felt less hollow, maybe if it wasn't the guiding force behind everyone's behavior.
And it dragged at moments, and jumped weirdly forward at others.
Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it. I will probably still seek out the third one when it comes out and just pretend the romance isn't happening because the rest of the story is interesting and doing cool things with mythologies.