Ok so for a good chunk of the time, this was a cute fun read. There are some heavy topics toward the end (manipulation, murder, domestic violence, child abuse) so be aware of that. 

I had a great time meeting Aphrodite, her family, and Verity (who we’ll get to see more of in book two!). Evander as a character was… frustrating. He was pigheadedly stubborn through EVERYTHING even when it wasn’t necessary. I understood his anger and frustrations but I wanted to shake him all the daggone time!

There were times where I didn’t appreciate how he was talking to Aphrodite. Yes she’s naive, but she wasn’t stupid and a lot of times it was his own fault she was left in the dark. Also, I understood why he kept the secrets he did in part one. Once they were explained, his motivations made sense. What I didn’t understand was why, once Dite knew the truth, he insisted on acting like she didn’t. Because of the trauma he and Verity went through, I knew opening up would be hard, but it doesn’t make sense to withhold information when the other person already knows about that situation.

It also felt weird to me that the author tried to humanize the villains in the end. Being an illegitimate child or being of “low birth” doesn’t mean you should be treated like trash, BUT when you act like a horrible person, you get treated like one. We spent the entire book setting up the fact that these two people (three if you count the father) were horrible because of their actions. Am I supposed to feel sorry for them when karma finally shows up? No. ESPECIALLY not the mama after what she was doing to Verity. 

Also, no one ever told us why the nanny was doing why she was doing. I mean I can assume it was because she was in cahoots with the two villains, but it would’ve been nice to actually get confirmation. 

All in all, I think I just had some problems with the execution of part two, especially towards the end (and I’m still not sure if Evander learned anything), but I do look forward to reading more about Verity in her book. Hopefully we’ll see what Evander is like WITHOUT all this drama clouding his judgement.