This is the beginning of the Rockton series. We get to see Casey and Diana (Casey’s BFF) in the “real” world prior to their entry to Rockton. We also get to see how Casey and Dalton’s love affair started. So I believe I talked about how Casey got into Rockton a little bit in my review for book two. If not, sorry, semi-spoilers! I liked knowing the full backstory about Casey and Blaine, and who Casey left behind when she fled to Rockton. I also enjoyed reading about Casey and Dalton’s first interactions, and how they only slightly changed throughout the book. They’re both flawed humans who have trouble trusting each other. It felt right that they learned to trust each other though.
I liked that we also learned about Casey and Diana’s orgins story. They were basically BFF’s because Diana didn’t rat on her about what happened with Blaine. Casey felt that she owed Diana, and put up with a lot of shit that she shouldn’t have. I think I’m a few years older than the Casey character, so I learned a while ago that people let you know who they are pretty quickly. If they give you backhanded compliments and treat you like shit regularly, that’s who they are. I try my hardest not to associate with those jagoffs!
I (of course) started the series at book two, but I loved book two! I love Casey Duncan / Butler, I love Isabelle, I love Dalton, I love Anders… I even like the “bad” characters, like the assholes and the murderers. That’s probably a sign of a good author – the bad guys are real people too.
Anyway, Dalton gets Casey up to Rockton because people are being murdered, or dying under mysterious circumstances. Trying to figure out who is a murdery criminal (as opposed to just a white collar criminal, or a pedophiley criminal or not a criminal at all) is hard in Rockton, because they’re totally off the grid. I’m excited for book three, which comes out this year!