I enjoyed this book. I liked it quite a bit more than the first book in the series. I remember being confused at times with all of the different memories when the characters drafted. That wasn’t really an issue with this book. I was hooked by this book right away and never felt any of the confusion that I did while reading the first in the series, The Drafter. I love the idea of drafting although there are some pretty major drawbacks for drafters like Peri. I found this to be a very entertaining story.

Peri is in hiding. She is running a coffee shop and just trying to lay low after the program that she had been working for almost destroyed her life in the previous installment in this series. She has always been good at what she does so there are people that still want to use her skills to their advantage. She has lost a lot of memories and she isn’t always sure what she can trust. I liked Peri and loved how good her instincts proved to be even when she couldn’t easily remember how things really happened.

I found this story to be incredibly exciting. There was seriously a lot of action so things were never dull. I had a hard time trying to figure out the real motives of some of the characters and was glad to go along with Peri as she navigated everything. With Peri and some of the other characters having the ability to rewrite time, I was never sure when a significant action would stick which only added to the excitement. I thought that the descriptions in the book were incredibly well done.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that January LaVoy did a fantastic job with the narration. She really brought Peri ad the other characters to life and I felt like she let the excitement of the story shine through. I loved the character voices that she used and feel like her narration added to my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. This book really does need to be read after The Drafter since so much of the story is set up in that book. I enjoyed this book and would definitely want to read more of this series if published, which seems rather unlikely at this point.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library. ( )

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Poor Peri got out of the interpersonal hell of the previous novel and quit her job without ever wanting to look back, and who can blame her? Not me.

Of course, when powerful people want something and resources are on the ebb, they always seem to find a way to drag a poor girl back in. And office politics were never quite as nasty as this.

I'm skipping a lot of the huge plot points because I'd rather not dim people's enjoyment of this novel, but I can very easily say that this second book in Kim Harrison's SF series has improved upon the characterizations of all the side characters by leaps and strides. It feels as if she's really gotten into the swing of things, now.

There isn't quite as much of the horrible interpersonal reversals, either, because I think Peri is probably never going to be as trusting again, and in her case, that's a very, very good thing. Her ability to have short time-reversals in reality at the cost of her memory isn't quite as pronounced, now, either, because of Bill's little invention, but if we can learn anything at all in this series, every advancement or advantage comes at a truly serious cost.

I loved Michael and Helen and Harmony. I missed having more women in the previous novel, and these two were a real delight. And Michael? There's truly nothing more interesting than having an antagonist that's close to our hero's in ability, if not disposition. It worked extremely well.

All in all, I liked this one much more than the first one, and I liked the first one a lot, so that's saying something. It has a different feel, too, and these little bouts of madness are very, very interesting. :) You could say that it's an improvement on her life after everything that happened, too. At least they're not *always* out to get her. :) Just mostly.

I am glad that I re-read the first book right before tackling this one, but I realize now it wasn't that necessary. The author is an old hand at throwing us back into the thick of things gently and interestingly enough that we don't get whiplash, even if the first book was dense with those reversals. This one is a bit more streamlined and I appreciate it. :)

I can't wait for the next! I'm really hooked! ( )

If you haven’t read the Drafter I think you can read this book and still be ok. Peri is trying to live a life below the radar after leaving the Opti Group. Being fed lies and having her memory constantly wiped while she uses her rare talent of rewriting events to do various missions for them of quasi legal status she had enough and left them and the company in ruins. But people with her talents can’t be left to themselves and Bill wants to get the team together and get Peri back under his thumb.

With a possible drug being developed that would allow her to remember what she changed and not have other people convince her of false memories there is lots of pressure to bring her in and work for a new group. A very fast paced story and I think I liked this even more than the first book.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
( )

Synopsis: 'Peri Reed’s job eats her mind, but for a special task agent in hiding, forgetting the past can be a blessing. Betrayed by Jack, the man she thought she loved, and the agency who turned her into the very thing she fought against, Peri abandoned the wealth and privilege of Opri for anonymity riddled with memory gaps and self-doubt. But when a highly addictive drug promises to end her dependency on those who’d use her as a tool for their own success, she must choose to either remain broken and vulnerable, or return to the above-the-law power and prestige she once had: strong but without will—for whoever holds her next fix will hold her loyalty.Yet even now as then, a love based on lies of omission might still save her life.
Review: I'm a bit tired of women who make stupid decisions. This story basically goes from one bad choice to the next with no learning taking place. Maybe I'l read the next one if I'm out of things to read. ( )

DNF. Peri is a character I struggle with, but I tolerated her in the first book because I was interested in the plot. In this book I found Peri far less likeable (with her desire for her expensive lifestyle driving her). I also did not at all enjoy reading from Bill's POV because Bill is scum.