Stephen Walsh, aka Helena Montana, was the best friend character in book one and I was curious to how the nice guy, Disney princess was going to stand out as the main character. He did not disappoint! I loved seeing Stephen grow into his relationship with Hu Chen. Both characters had very meaty, very traumatic backstories (content warnings below) that caused conflict in a very realistic way, not just because the characters didn't communicate like grown ups. It was nice seeing Bunny still in love with Ryan and still Stephen's best friend. Justin provided great scenes and, like Stephen said, may just be the most well-adjusted of the three FuBar employees.

My only criticisms are that the book ended pretty abruptly and with a somewhat jarring last 10% or so. Like in the first book, I felt taken out of the resolution when the protagonist still had to go through something really challenging after making up with his partner. It's still a HEA ending, but one last wrench was thrown into their love story. I loved the final scene, but it felt cutoff at random. I suspect the endings is what is preventing me from reading the series straight through, but I'll probably pick up book three at some point during my free KU trial.

CW: sexual assault, rape, death of a spouse, hoarding, eating disorder, cheating, miscarriage, mentioned incarceration, drug use, hospitalization ( )