2.5 stars rounded up to 3

This was so disappointing and a huge let down from the first book. I found the first book in this series so witty and compelling. It had a strong, older (definitely not old), confident and funny female protagonist with just the perfect, tiny, potential, amount of romance. In this one we lost a lot of Jacinta's confidence (for explained reasons) and got way too much of every man in her life finding her irresistible and sexy. Unfortunately, it felt like this book fell right back into the "hot 20 something everyone inexplicably wants" fantasy novel instead of what I had previously enjoyed in the series. (Except she's not really 20-something, she's forty, but she traded her body for her 20-something body, so she's only kind of 40??)

There was still humor and some fun new characters, but I wish K. F. Breene had cut out the awkward dates and creepy, hyper-sexual gargoyle storyline in favor of more plot around Ivy House. Even Austin, whom I loved in the first novel, felt too perfect and flat to me. The only thing we ever heard about were his popping pecs.... just no, thank you. I felt like we lost the romantic elements for the sake of sexual elements (but still no sex??) and the overall feeling of the story suffered for it.

I am tempted to give the third novel a chance, to see if this was a stumbling block and Jacinta will get back on her feet and be the badass and hellfire lady she showed herself as in the first book. But I'm in no hurry to do so.