I was a bit nervous with this one because sometimes the second book in the series can be well, not great. Honestly, I thought this was an improvement to book one! I think the characters grew leaps and bounds in this one and it was really great to see. This is a women-focused MC book and they are awesome. I love them all and think that their voices are so distinct. Sometimes I struggled in book one because there is no notice of a change in the character POV. Sometimes it happens a paragraph later and you are left a bit confused. In this book, their voices are so much easier to distinguish. 

I was not the biggest fan of Luca in the first book. She came off as pretty ridiculous and very un-caring at times. I'm glad to say that she has finally grown on me in this book. I'm not sure if it's because she's in her place and fighting her people inside the walls that made her more interesting. Regardless, I think the character growth in this book was huge. It has me excited to see where she will go in the next book. 

Touraine was a huge improvement in this book! She was so focused on one thing that she couldn't see the bigger picture. She was also naïve that it drove me crazy. She grew into a force to be reconned with and I was here for it. I was waiting for her to become the person that everyone around her sees. I will say that I needed many more chapters of Pruett though. She might be one of my favorite voices in this book and we don't get enough. I think she's set herself up for a great book 3 though. 

My biggest issue with this one is that the plot doesn't move much. It's more character-focused, which isn't a bad thing. With this being full of politics that can happen but I wanted a little more with the size of this book. It made the pacing a bit slower and feesl like a lot of setup for book three. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this one, even better than book one. I thought the romance was developed much better throughout this one. Sometimes a slow-burn romance just hits better! As I mentioned before, this more of a character focused book but that's okay because the growth is worth it. I am looking forward to book three and seeing where these ladies end up! 

Many thanks to Orbit Books for an arc to review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.