The Takeover

I just wanna start this by addressing the elephant in the room. The thing that was the biggest rant for me in the first book in this series. The constant use of "Face falls" as the one (and only) way the author describes disappointment. The first book had a whopping 51 uses of this....the second?......40...four-zero. There were two instances where the use of this phrase was used twice with only a single sentence between them. That's it, done, let's move on. .Tristian starts of just as hateable as his brother in the first book...On one hand, he's not a tantrum-throwing manchild like his brother...but Tristian has a problem with understanding that no means no. And it's not sexy that he disrespects boundaries. Claire is less of a doormat than Emily was in the first book. She caves on most things, but there are a few things that she puts her foot down no matter what. But of course, she willingly throws most of it away to let him have his way so that he will take her back. yikes, I cringed so hard when that came out of her mouth. Like, my respect for her just faceplanted to the ground. Upside, the kids giving this guy hell was hilarious. Harry...bless him...even though it came from a place of pain and hurt....those pranks were great. there were a few moments where this book pulled on the heartstrings and hit me right in the feels which was why I gave this a 3 star rating instead of a 2. Don't really recommend it, I only read it for the easter-egg hunt for the "Face falls" phrase. P.S. No way a 13 and a 9 year old is going to be able to get on a plane alone, much less check in, get on a plane alone, get to a European country (Does this 9 year old have a passport for some reason?) get through customs, get out of the airport get a cab, and taken to a hotel.... all alone. I'm sorry, I can't suspend my disbelief that far.