I thought Emmet was awesome, and Jeremey's depression & anxiety felt believable too - particularly how there was no magic fix for it. I didn't find him annoying like some others have mentioned, because he honestly couldn't help being so down all the time.

It is a very character driven book, which I usually like - I do not need lots of fancy shit happening to characters as long as there is some sort of development. Unfortunately, I found that both MCs lost their momentum once they were living at Roosevelt. And because the book is all about the characters, the overall impression for me was a little dull and a little flat. Once the MCs lost their oomph, the book did too, and it kinda just quietly petered out.

Huh. That was a little... bland?

At the end of the book Ben is still as blank a canvas to me as he always was through the preceding books: he was always just there, but he had no impact really, beyond being a very built and tall man. He is big and built in this book too.

And Lizzie didn't quite do it for me as an MC - she had none of the zest and sting in her inner (and outer) monologue as the other Stage Dive girls, which is what made those books. She was mostly pregnant, hormonal and horny. I still don't know who Lizzie is - I actually thought I got to know her better in Anne's book.

And the relationship evolvement felt... forced in a way the previous ones did not, and the whole Martha thing at the end was a strange, clunky plot device. Cue next book?

Overall I felt a quite underwhelmed, which is a bit sad because I was hoping we'd finally get to SEE Ben, y'know?