After the first volume was just meh to me, but I wasn't that mad about, this one drove me up the walls 🫠 I felt like reading the same conversations over and over again, and otherwise nothing that interesting happened. The blood moon thing was the only thing that peaked my interest (and the last like 5 pages were good). The story was pretty similar to the last one, just replacing the blue moon with the blood moon. Another camp with a moon ritual, just this time with another pack in the mountains (and a bit longer). Max thinking he can change Jasper's opinion by chasing after him and constantly getting rejected. The usual 🙃 Jasper is just a giant asshole the entire time. He can only argue or suddenly kiss him, not that that changes anything. Volume 1 at least had some more "romantic" scenes, but despite the end and one sad attempt earlier, their interactions in this volume were all just bad and frustrating. No chemistry whatsoever. The mate bond is the only reason they would even want to be together, and that's just lame. Speaking about lame... Todd and Simon. Their whole thing is just fighting with each other like jealous toddlers. I was excited to have a polyam sidecouple, but I can't care for them if they have as much personality as a slice of bread. Katie is also not that great. At least she and Max weren't angry with each other this time (well, at least not long). The only side character I really liked was Mason. Like why can Max not just be with him. In the afterword, the author also said that the focus of the book was finding yourself as a queer person, and that aspect I did like, and Mason played a big part in that (as well as other characters whose sexuality I don't want to spoil here). I just think that topic was overshadowed with the frustrating (non-) development of the relationship. There wasn't much of a story otherwise. Most of it happened at the end, and the "villain" this time wasn't really a surprise, and also not interesting. The blood moon thing was, but it happened kinda late. It made the one fight better, but why does Max always say he has no time for shifting when everyone else has 😩 There is generally not enough shifting in this, and just when it's absolutely necessary. Max only shifts 2 times, I think. I want them to casually be in wolf form and like cuddle or whatever, please! So, all really disappointing for me, and it wasn't even the last volume 🫠 Idk if I'll read the next one, whenever that'll come out. At least the end was nice and makes one hopeful for what will happen next.

I received a free pdf copy from the author (thanks again!) The third (and last?) book set in Small Town... How did I like this book? That is very hard to say. Something kept me coming back to Small Town. Twice. It must be something about the story because in my opinion Alice is annoying most of the time and so is Ryder (I might still be the only one who doesn't see the chemistry between those two). Well... If you like teenage romance drama with a lot of fur and a crazy psycho killer then this might be the book (or series of books) for you.