I know I'm in the minority here and I'm okay with that but this one just didn't do it for me. I LOVED Lick. I thought David and Ev's story was awesome and I devoured it in no time. I was also looking forward to Mal's story, I even said at the end of my review of Lick that I loved him, but in the end Play just didn't live up to my expectations 
 The Mal that I was introduced to and loved in Lick was nowhere in sight for a good 70% of the book. Manic Mal took his place and while some of his antics were funny, most were just too much for me. I love a good laugh, but not to where the character is constantly trying to be overly funny in an effort to deflect attention from what is really going on inside of him because he won't talk about it. After finding out the reason for Mal's extreme behavior (one of the only reasons I kept reading was to find out what the hell triggered it) it all becomes clear and of course my heart broke for him and understood why he felt he had to behave in that manner, but by then I was over it. 
 Anne was alright. The crappy situations she seemed to find herself in when she was always trying to help others had me feeling empathetic towards her and I do have to give her credit for always picking herself up and not just curling up into a ball and hiding but her doormat tendencies just had me rolling my eyes a lot. She had her moments, especially when she set up her 'boundaries' but there were far and few between. And something that I still can't figure out is that she has a huge crush on Mal, think walls papered with his image on her bedroom in her old house type of crush, but she had no clue that he was the youngest in his family? 
 Mal and Anne's relationship just fell flat for me because much of the fake relationship, as well as the real one when it finally got there, was Mal steamrolling over Anne and her capitulating for one reason or another. In the beginning she let Mal get away with things because he either overwhelmed her with his manic personality and not letting her get a word in edgewise so it was just easier to go along with him or he was half naked, which I can understand. When it turned real Manic Mal still ruled and then sex came into play. There wasn't a lot of time spent where they really got to know each other, it was all very superficial, and by the time they did start to dig deeper the book was almost over. 
 Also, and this may just be me, but the blurb for the book and what the majority of it is about do not mesh at all. I don't need the entire story played out for me, but it just doesn't fit at all. 
 Mal and Anne aside, what I did enjoy about the book and the reason why I will be reading the next one is that I enjoyed catching up with David and Ev and the rest of the Stage Dive crew. The scenes they were in were some of my favorites and I do want to know what happened with Jimmy and Lena and how that will all work out. 
 Overall, this one was just a miss for me. It's disappointing but it happens.