While I loved the first book (The Hallowed Ones) of the series, this one was a bit of a letdown. Still decent enough and well worth reading, but I felt that a lot of the excitement and thrill level of the first book was lacking here. 
 We start off with Katie and company on the road, heading north. Somewhere between the two books they must have had some scary run-ins with the vampires since they are more knowledgeable about how to avoid them. Sadly, we do not get to experience those moments. A lot of the book takes place during the daylight so there is not much action. 
 The best scene, while very mellow, takes places in a store. We get a glimpse into Katie and Alex's personalities before the world changed for the worse. I still love Katie in this book. She is strong and has a good set of principles she lives by. While she may have had issues back in her Amish communities, their values help her be true to herself. Alex is the same way. sweet, caring, protective but he has his own ideals to live by. So great characterization still going on! 
 The letdown: the "trick" of defeating/surviving that they learn. When I read bout it, my mind was just repeating: "Really? Seriously?" So pass on that concept. Unique or not I didn't care for it. So in the end, I like the characters, and the series as a whole, but this novel just didn't grab me the way the first book did. Final rating: between a 3 1/2 and 4 stars.