Review: Really good but not perfect
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
*4.5 stars*What a long, crazy journey folks!! I read this book feverishly all day yesterday and I am BURSTING with things to say! Can I spew them out in anything that resembles coherency? Only time will tell...My favorite part of reading this book was the familiarity of it. I wanted to cry with joy at seeing my favorite characters again. Seriously. I've been waiting for this book for so long and just reading the first few pages brought tears to my eyes. I knew I was in for an EPIC angsty journey and I was along for the ride!And for the first 50% of the book, I loved the story unconditionally.I cried, I laughed, I felt at peace, at home, and in the zone.I got to see Bear, Otter, Tyson (all gown up and twinky hot, I see!!) and Dom (aka sexy man mountain). I fell in love with them all, all over again, and got to see them grow and mature (well... kinda).I LOVED the angst, the twists, the drama. I loved the longing, the unrequited love (or what was thought to be unrequited). Did I mention the angst??And then things slid away from me a bit.Now, don't get me wrong, this book never dropped down from ADORE territory. It was fabulous and funny and all things T.J. Klune. However, I knew if just a few things were different, it would be on my all time favorites list.While I loved Kori/Corey as a character, I felt her/his storyline caused the book to veer off track. I'm the first to tell everyone to read Tell Me It's Real. It is one of my favorite hilarious comfort reads. T.J.'s humor in that book is SPOT ON. However, the mash up between the Bear, Otter, and the Kid characters and the Tell Me It's Real characters caused something of an issue for me.I'm just going to put it right out there. They are too similar! I started to get frustrated, realizing that all of the characters in BOTH books talked the same, made the same jokes. They started to fuse together in my mind into one big character-blob.Which leads me to my further issue... the focus in the second half of the book felt less on Dom and Ty and more on everyone else. I wanted MORE of just Dom and Ty! I wanted more of them together, more of them discovering one another... more of their relationship blossoming. I felt like skipping past all of the Tell Me It's Real parts and just getting back to the good stuff (aka Dom and the Kid).That being said, can I give this book anything less than 4.5 stars?? No way, and I'm stingy with stars. It just felt too wonderful being with all of these characters again. Also the ROMANCE in this book is epic and should not be missed. I love how T.J. goes balls to the wall with the romance.Can't wait for the next in the series! Get to writing, Mr. Klune!!*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*