We start book 2 in the Fall and Rise series just before the end of the book 1, only now we are seeing Katie and Stryker's views. It's nice that the author doesn't linger too long over the part of the story we already saw, but goes back just enough for us to get into these characters heads a little. It's amazing how the situation looks a little different when we're shown a different person's perspective.

I wasn't a big fan of Katie in book one - even after she got her head out of her butt. She was a little to girlie girlie fru fru for my tastes - but in this volume we see a completely different side of her. Is she still a bit of a girlie girl - yes - but with an additional layer of depth that makes her much more fun to read about. We get to see a lot more about why she is who she is (or thinks she is).

I loved Stryker in book one, and I still like him a lot in book two, but he has a few extremely jerky moments that I'm not sure I would have been able to forgive him for. In a strange way they are perfect for each other.

There was just a little too much tragedy in this one for me to give it 5 stars. I felt a little beaten over the head by some of the points that were trying to be made, and there were times it seemed bad things were happening just to fill pages. Still, it was a great book overall that I would definitely read again.