Let me start with saying I am a HUGE fan of ToG and CoTaR. I have read and reread them so many times. I was eagerly awaiting this series. I had a hard time with the first Crescent City but pushed through. I went ahead and preordered the new one and I had a much harder time getting into it. The main reason being that the characters were SO forgetful from the first book, I even forgot their names. If it's a book I am eagerly awaiting there's no need for me to read the description but for this book I had to go back and read the description because I didn't even know what it was about. Then I started reading it and I still didn't know it was about. One other reviewer also mentioned the very missplaced and awkward sex scenes. It's like SJM is checking boxes to be an adult writer. I very disappointed.