Surely I would have enjoyed Blind Faith more if I had read its predecessors. And yet, while the world felt constructed to provide the high stakes possible, everything fell flat. Due to my lack of familiarity with the series, it took time for me to get used to the world. As such, I wasn't necessarily welcomed in. While I did appreciate not being beaten over the head, I can figure things out myself pretty well and don't want the author to sacrifice their story for the sake of some like me reading out of order. However, this world required a lot of suspension of disbelief I was just not ready to give at this point. 
 The characters felt like broad outlines rather than fully-developed people I could root for. I assume there was romantic development between Nate and Audrey somewhere else in the series, because I felt like I was coming in halfway through. While I got all the pertinent information, I was told rather than shown. And I felt that way about their relationship as a whole. I was told the backstory, told about their connections (whether romantic or sexual), ect and never got to fully experience it. 
 All in all, while I appreciated getting to know this work, it's not the romance title for me.