Thanks for reminding me you'd posted on this.

I had trouble with this volume, too. I tied together the not seeing enough of the Chriss/Matt relationship with the tepid Emily blessing to get "okay, so what did she see that satisfied her so much?" I remain unhappy with that unanswered question, and therefore grumpy with volume 3.

Bethany was awesome, though, despite the giant Hand of Fate with her mom, and I liked the series as a whole. Just, yeah, pacing and imbalance stuff.