I was hoping there would be less of the negative side of divorced families in this follow up to The First Magnificent Summer. I was disappointed to see the novel mostly centered on Victoria's antics to break up her Mom and her new boyfriend. I would have preferred to see Victoria grow more as a character and see what good she can do because of her growth. Middle grade readers may like this one, but I'm afraid the subject matter will turn some readers away because it's all too real for their personal lives.

A joy to be back with Victoria and her siblings and this case a much better circumstance than her previous summer/book.

In this one you see Victoria navigate her moms new relationship with her boyfriend… Victoria feels conflicted… her mom seems happy, but what if there’s still a chance her estranged Dad and her will get back together. Victoria decides to plot against her moms new BF and tries to convince her mom he’s not the one.

Much like the first one you get you get a mish mash of journal entries, quizzes and poetry. Love the lack of technology due to the 90s era and all else this time period presents. As someone who comes from a blended family and grew up in the 90s these books are little treasures I wish I had read back then!

Thank you Simon Kids & Simon Audio!

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This is the second book in a series and while I didn't read the first one I still was able to understand the story that was happening in this book. I was slightly disappointed in the main characters parents being so absent which in turn forced our main character to be parentified. I know that divorce is something that a lot of children have to deal with so I do think that there are aspects of this story that will resonate with readers, but ultimately I disliked this book.

I really enjoyed reading this, it had everything that I wanted and glad the middle grade story element worked well overall. I thought Victoria worked as a main character and enjoyed the rest of the characters in this story. It was a really well done story and was engaging that I was looking for.