It's just... The series started so well. And then it ended like crap. Through this whole book, Rhine has been really passive. She'd been dragged everywhere, never really had a choice or a say in anything, and she sort of just gave up in a way. She got Linden and Cecily back, and she wasn't anywhere near Vaughn at the beginning, so she was good. She delayed. She stayed in a known location, even though she kept saying how she wanted to go back to NY to find Gabriel. Well, she never did that. Her brother was found in some other way, and of course she managed to travel all the way there and find him. And Vaughn was always there. He knew everything, and it annoyed me because you could never get away from him in this novel. And then when you actually think that there's a chance for a good ending, because Vaughn actually found a bloody cure and he's trying it on the twins, everything goes terribly wrong. Linden dies. He fucking dies. And not even a good sort of death. His uncle was trying to land a plane, and the landing was rough, and while all the others got out of it okay and well, Linden's injury was somehow so bad that he died in about a minute or two. And just. I can't deal with that, because I think it was completely unnecessary to the plot. Lauren is truly an amazing writer, but she made a mistake with the end of one of the characters, and it totally ruined the book for me. AND LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT GABRIEL, who was in the book for maybe five pages. He was in a bloody coma for months, but somehow he gets all good and better after about a day or so from the moment they wake him up, and then he and Rhine live happily ever after. WORST ENDING. Because Linden wasn't there to enjoy the rest of his life with Cecily and his kid and his uncle and just... UGH. Basically, I feel like she thought it would just be easier to kill characters than to write a proper ending for them.

At the beginning of the book, I was really annoyed at Rhine. She and Gabriel barely managed to escape the mansion, and she somehow managed to get them in trouble again. But it wasn't really her fault, and I shouldn't have been so upset with her. Because after spending the entire first book wishing for freedom, she finally managed to get it, even if not for long.

It was hard for me to read about Gabriel in this book. He suffered a lot, and he didn't deserve it. He got addicted to drugs, and it wasn't that easy for him to recover from his addiction. But he wasn't the only one who suffered, because Rhine had payed for her escape with more than just her freedom. I had a surgery last year. They took me to the operation room, and told be to count back from ten. I was gone after about five seconds. And then I woke up, and I had no clue where I was, or what's going on around me. I saw people, I heard voices, and I was gone after a minute or so, back to dreamland. I woke up a few times later, and every time I tried to focus on reality, on what was real, but it was so hard, because my body just wanted to go back to sleep. So I went through this for about a day or two, and Rhine suffered that for months. Vaughn put her through things I don't wish to my worst enemy. He made her question what was real, and what's not. He made her wonder if she'll survive to see the sun again, and if he'll ever let her out of his ba<x>sement of horrors.

The writing was great, just like the first book. And I think I fell in love with Rhine even more after I finished reading this book.