"This is the story of how a potentially good premise and a relatively good and entertaining first book turned into a disappointing sequel and a friggin' mess at the end.
Seriously, I'm utterly surprised at how quickly it all went downhill since the moment those two kids kissed at the end of first book. From that on, it was all about Gwendolyn's raging hormones and how she just lost her senses around plain and bland Gideon (those descriptions making him seem like a greek god don't live up to how actually he delivered), and even in the most important moment she could only think of making out with him, that was really annoying.

Then, the time travels were even more confusing than ever, that insistence that they had to elapse at a certain time to meet with the count with no explanation wasn't really well founded, given that they always asked how did that matter if they could elapse any other time at that same exact date they were supposed to, but never got a REAL AND COHERENT answer.
But the thing that mostly upset me about this book was how anticlimatic it turned out to be. All of the most important revelations (even though we already know since the first book what's the real deal about Paul and Lucy)are not even shown! They just happened 'off paper', like Gwendolyn facing Paul and Lucy about they being their parents, or what happens once the count drugs her to finally gain his immortality, how in the hell did the count get the 'philosophal dust'?? wasn't he supposed to wait for Gideon in the past? He should have see then what had he done with Gwendolyn and...oh, nevermind, I don't even care anymore...It's like the author decided to flinch at the thought of elaborate those scenes and prefered to cast them aside to give it more 'screen time' to grandilocuent scenes like...that green party scene where nothing important happened, just to show Charlotte make an embarrassment of herself. And the stuff with James the ghost-notsoghostanymore was also irrelevant, it brought nothing to the plot. And the abrupt ending with the reveal of the grand villain also lacked of thrill and emotion, it was too rush, and the addition of that ghost at the end was pointless, it felt like a punchline for Xemerius saying all the time about how he could eat ghosts.

The whole thing was emotionless actually, didn't feel anything about the characters getting hurt or even fear for them, one could see miles away that Gideon was gonna end eating that immortality dust and being Gwendolyn immortal companion for eternity, even if the prophecy clearly said that immortality from that dust was going to be canceled since the birth of Gwendolyn, but hey, rules are made to be broken, right? ...Even if you are the author who wrote that gibberish in the first place...
GOSH! I'm so disappointed of this trilogy, and I took it more personal especially because I was really invested in the plot in the first book, not so much for the second one but still I had hope, and finally seeing how it all ended made me feel like I was let down by the author, with the level of writing going down with every book. I can't blame anyone but the author herself...
"

"Spoilers

What's what: Time travel, vague prophecies, silly heroine, douchey hero, evul Count with nefarious plans, oh noes, can silly heroine/douchey hero stop evul Count?

-Gwen was a mopey cow, all she did was whine about Gideon, jump to conclusions about him, and get jealous whenever he was around other girls. She should have been concentrating on her time travel or on finding a way to stop that evul Count guy instead of acting all melodramatic about a guy she'd only met a couple of weeks ago.
Gwen's love for Gideon was so pathetic, he treated her like utter rubbish but she was still desperate for him. Any awful thing he did was forgiven and forgotten because he was just that sexy, ugh.
She was so immature, needy, and silly… I rolled my eyes at the amount of times Gwen cried or nearly cried whenever she saw or thought of Gideon. I was sick of how much she obsessed over him, most of her thoughts revolved around him and how attractive he was. It was sickening. She seemed more like an idiotic 13 year old instead of a 16 year old.

-I hated Gideon, he had no personality apart from being arrogant. He fucked over Gwen and acted like a dick towards her every time he saw her, he was horrible. I hated how he twisted everything around to make himself look like the misunderstood-good-guy, and Gwen the bad guy.
Was I actually meant to believe he had strong feelings Gwen? It would have helped if he 1. Treated her with some respect 2. Didn't act hot and cold with her all the time and 3. Didn't flirt and spend all his time with Charlotte and Lavinia, he seemed far more into them than Gwen.

-Yea, I didn't buy the romance and love between Gwen and Gideon at all, they'd only known each other for 2 weeks, and they'd done nothing but argue, lie, and hate each other in those 2 weeks. How could they have possibly fallen in love?!

-I was more interested in the potential romance between Gwen's mum and Falk. Did they get together or what?!

-I didn't like Gwen's attitude towards other female characters who were around her age. Apart from Lesley, she didn't like any of them, and was constantly calling them names and looking down on them. Ugh.

-So Gwen's butler (Bernard) was actually her secret nephew? Did Bernard know he was related to Gwen? Why was Bernard a butler when Lucy/Paul ensured their kids/grandkids would have loads of money?

- I liked Gwen's relationship with her immediate family, also her friendship with Lesley was really sweet.

-Gwen's cousin, Charlotte, was the typical mean girl that hated the heroine/Gwen because she wanted the hero/Gideon all to herself. You'd think Charlotte would have a better relationship with Gwen since she'd grown up with her, if not that, then you'd expect Charlotte to at least have some loyalty towards her. But no, Charlotte had zero loyalty or love towards the cousin she grew up with. It was so unrealistic that Charlotte wanted to get Gwen in serious trouble, they were family and even if they didn't get along, Charlotte would have realistically looked out for Gwen. Ugh, I'm so sick of all the over the top mean girls in YA.

-Why would Gwen want to date Gideon when she didn't even know the details of his relationship with her cousin? Did they date? Did Gideon have strong feelings for Charlotte? Did they have sex? How serious were they? Why didn't Gwen ask him exactly what sort of relationship he had with Charlotte? That would be one of the first things anyone would ask if they started to date someone that had previously been in some sort of a relationship with their close relative.

-The time travel, the chronographs, and prophecies were all rather confusing. I didn't know what was going on most of the time.

-Every time Gwen/Gideon or anyone else did something/had to do something in the past it had already happened before they'd actually gone back in time and done that thing. So by that logic if Gwen went back and saved James (the school ghost) from dying then he shouldn't have even been a ghost in the first place. Yea, it didn't make any sense.

-Gwen's reunion with Lucy and Paul after she found out they were her parents was underwhelming. Where was the drama? The angst? The emotion?

-Lesley's little romance with Raphael was miles better than Gwen/Gideon's romance.

-I found the Count's master plan really cheesy, everything he did was just so he could be immortal? Yea, I wanted something more original.

All in all, I was mildly entertained by some of the characters and certain aspects of the story… But for the most part I was frustrated with the weepy heroine, the cheesy hero, the silly romance, the cliched bad guy, and the non-stop time travel.
"

"What an unusual book. And very funny at times. I am going to look this person up.....I am interested in reading more of their work.

I laughed out loud several times while reading it and wrote down some passages that made me laugh. Here are some:
• She kept in mind the old prompt that a Methodist was a Baptist who had learned to read; a Presbyterian a Methodist who had gone to college; and an Episcopalian a Presbyterian who had joined the Social Register.
• ....Katherine remained suspicious of everyone’s motives for attending church except her own, and made sure to keep away at least one Sunday a month.
• ...She walked immediately into a chophouse, waiting patiently until they opened at 11:30, and ordered a little entrecote, cooked medium, and a baked porato almost the size of her own head, which came with its own separate plate, just for sour cream and chives.
• Katherine walked into a hair salon in need of a haircut and had some doubt about the place.... “Neither was she cheered by the row of empty chairs or the extremely elderly shampooist who sat in the corner wearing house slippers, the smoke from her cigarette being the only indication that she had not already died and been posed there for effect.”

Here is a synopsis of the book from the Briefly Noted column of The New Yorker (November 25, 2024).
• This novel, about residents of a fictional New York City hotel exclusively for women, takes stock of women’s (sometimes circumscribed) lives with cynicism, humor, and curiosity. Set largely in the early 1960s, the story treats its characters’ alcoholism, anarchy, and kleptomania with tender irreverence. What most interests Lavery, however, is the life that such a hotel offers to women who wish to be without men. The residents consider marriage—“any man that you liked had to be seen through the light of a potential future employer”—but tend to reject it in favor of the charms and headaches of their floor mates.

Reviews:
• Summary of several reviews available here (all were positive)...
•
• There were several reviews that I could not access in their entirety because I had to join the site or get a subscription ($) and I did not want to do that. From what I could see, the response to the book was positive. "