This is the first Secret McQueen book that I did not enjoy. It kind of felt like two novellas that had been shoved into one book. I was really disappointed by Secret in this installment, it felt like all the growing and learning she has done over the last six books has been thrown out the window. Additionally, the first few books always had this sense of fear/danger, we knew that Secret could be killed and the books had that tone to them whenever she was going into a fight. Now, for both halves of this book, the attitude from all the characters was very cavalier. Yes, Secret is going into a fight where there is a good likelihood that she will die, but it's Secret so she'll survive . . . Even when it looked like she may lose a fight, Secret never seemed to feel fear or realize that she was in trouble. It was almost like she was too tired to care. 
 The first half of the book deals with Peyton and the second half with Mercy. Basically this book just serves to get these villains out of the way. The rush to deal with both of them in one book means less humor and less of the fun, snarky Secret that we are used to. I think a lot of the humor has drained out of the series at this point. 
 The love triangle also comes to a completely anti-climatic conclusion. Yes, I am disappointed at Secret's choice, but even more so because of how ridiculously 'easy' it seemed to be for her at this point. In a previous installment she was willing to face down a Fae King to not have to choose between Holden and Desmond and then in this book she just suddenly makes a choice and decides to stick with it? It seems too easy. 
 Secret doesn't even seem to be upset/mad that the men went behind her back to manipulate her into making the choice. I get that she has been through a traumatic experience and the she mentally has not recovered from what the Doctor did to her, but this is not our Secret anymore. Instead of healing herself and moving forward she is really just laying down and rolling over. It is incredibly frustrating to read and for the first time, I am not at all excited about picking up the next book in this series.