I really hated this book, but after reading the reviews and finding out it's the second in a series, it makes more sense. I'm going to go read the first one, and then I might change my review. ( )

Liked this better than #1; the pacing was more even. Still not very interested in love-interest!boy, but at least he does more interesting things in this one. It made me think about what we consider "acting crazy" to look like, and why that doesn't ever seem look like real mental illness. I'm sure Johnson is going to go there, because realistic portrayal of anxiety is a running theme.

J. should be my favorite character but she's given more Quirky And/Or Narratively Useful Traits than feelings or conflicts. Nate and other!love-interest!boy get a lot more.

The mystery does play fair in this, more than in the previous I think. I had gotten as far as guessing Ellie was still on the grounds somewhere, but I figured she was being hidden by someone, not dead. It only took me a bit at the end to realize Larry is responsible for Ellie's death (cover up for Hayes) and also set the fire (more cover up, this time related to receiving Alice's trust); I'm not yet sure why he targeted Hayes in the first place. ( )

I really wound up enjoying this read. I really found the sequel to be fast pace msytery. I thought this book was able to stand on it own but also keep the truly devious story as well. The story also relied alot of the past and that was really cool. I also liked how the dymanics how all the chraracters changed!! I also liked how the trio characters in this read became a bit more of the focus. I am exited to keep reading this series when I get the chance!! ( )

I really wound up enjoying this read. I really found the sequel to be fast pace msytery. I thought this book was able to stand on it own but also keep the truly devious story as well. The story also relied alot of the past and that was really cool. I also liked how the dymanics how all the chraracters changed!! I also liked how the trio characters in this read became a bit more of the focus. I am exited to keep reading this series when I get the chance!! ( )

3.5 stars. Halfway through this book I got sick, so maybe it's the delirium talking, but I did enjoy this one a lot more than the first. There were still some boring parts, but overall I think it was more enjoyable. We finally get some answers in this one. We don't know everything and we still get another cliffhanger ending, but we do find out a big part of the original mystery. I still think mystery books like this do not work well as a series, and I would have preferred a standalone. But overall not bad, I probably will read the third book just to find out how it all ends, though if the third one tries to give us another cliffhanger then I'm done with this series. I'll leave it unfinished. ( )