Finished! Will come back later to post more, but here's a few thoughts: 
 -Just under 4 stars for me. It was a quick read, and I easily got into it, but I needed more. This felt like too much of a "middle" book. SOmetimes middle books are necessary to set things up (like in trilogies, long-ish series). They aren't usually my favorites. 
 -Not as much action as the last book. More politics. I get that things are being put in motion, but I really liked the action in the last book. 
 -Yay for Mallory and Merit being there for each other again. Glad for an end to that drama. To be honest, I think that the only relationship I would be crushed to have destroyed would be Mallory & Merit. And maybe Catcher & Mallory. Everyone else, I'm willing to sit back and see what happens. 
 -Merit's dad is an ass. 
 -Ethan. He's saying all the right things, but I'd still have doubts too. Honestly, I was getting a little tired of the "will they/won't they," so something dramatic needed to happen here. 
 -So, not devastated by the developments at the end. No complaining, just interested in where Neill will go from here. 
 Potential spoiler (view spoiler)[ I honestly wasn't 100% invested in the Ethan & Merit romance, so maybe that's why I'm not in an uproar. And if I was, I still think I'd be OK with it. Something big had to happen. I also think that Neill has something up her sleeves for this one. - And I'm not heartless, I did feel something at the end, I'm just not in an uproar about it. Merit wasn't ready to be with Ethan, but loving and losing will do a lot to make her grow up some more. (hide spoiler)] 
 Thoughts on the series as a whole - I really love it. Some very funny lines and every book has been really easy to get into. 
 It hits me as YA-ish UF because Merit is a young ADULT. When she is turned, she is in her mid-20s, still in school (grad school, yes, but still in school). She lives with a roomie, nothing romantic going on, it's kind of like she is waiting for life to start (I'm pretty sure Mallory has this exact convo with her in book 1). I've heard a lot about the "second adolescence" - people in their 20s who are (mostly) out of school, but not quite settled in life (no spouse, kids, mortgage). Merit fits in here for me, and I can relate to being in that place and thinking about where I wanted my life to go. My "five year plan" (I had lots of those in my mid-20s). Of course, for Merit it's more like a "forever" plan, but I get it.