Emily's Reviews > Learning to Play Gin

This was a mostly entertaining book but nothing more. A light and fluffy read. We see this relationship that developed in the first novel between Julia and Lance kind of mess up. Some identity struggles. Some purpose struggles. I was confused about their relationship because I couldn’t really understand the root of their unstable relationship. So, we get some super angsty scenes. Although this book was based on their relationship, I felt the plot wasn’t focused on Lance at all. He was much more absent than I expected.

I enjoyed the first novel better because I really struggled to find direction in this plot. However, this is a short book, so it’s easy to get through. The humour that I enjoyed in the first novel was missing in this one. I did find myself forcing my way through at times and rather easy to put it down. I couldn’t really relate to the characters (although I don’t think i was the intended audience anyway). My main motivation to picking this up was basically to finish the series. As one of Carter’s earlier works, this isn’t her best writing. I just don’t know what this book was trying to accomplish. The resolution didn’t really resolve... anything. The ending didn’t give me enough closure and it was really abrupt. In fact, it seemed more like an ending scene cut short.

The plotline itself wasn’t fantastic and I was disappointed in this novel. The things I expected from the novel - the romance and the relationship were hardly present. Overall, it felt anticlimactic.