In all fairness, I did not realize this was part of a series until I was about halfway through the book. I felt very disconnected from the characters and was confused at how they all knew each other (that is probably explained more in the first 2 books). I do feel like my review will be slightly tainted by the fact that I haven't read the first 2 books and felt confused. Even though I felt like I was missing a lot of background information on characters and certain situations, I did want to see how it was all going to end. That is what kept me reading along. There was a lot of build up and when everything came out in the end, it felt a bit lackluster for me. I think what really bothered me is that even though you find out some of the secrets that are revealed, they never truly come out and the characters decide to continue to keep them as secrets which really rubbed me the wrong way.