It’s painfully obvious that this was released in 2006 and it definitely doesn’t stand up to 2023 standards. If this second book in the series was released in 2023, I don’t think eighteen books forthcoming books. 

Book one of the series was charming and had me believing the hype from everyone, but this is second installment was just a mess. The plot was jumbled and POV jumps were a mess.

By far the biggest problem for this one was the fatphobia and body shaming of a child by several adults, mainly men, who of course were written by a woman. 

I think we all remember how popular body shaming was of kids and teenagers by our mothers and other older women in the mid 2000s was, I guess this just fits the mold of that era. However if a woman can’t write a child with more descriptions than “huge” or “grotesque”, I think that says a lot about her.

I may continue on in this series, but I won’t be wasting my money on it. I’ve heard the body shaming continues on in following books and that is a disappointment.