No Place Too Far (A By the Sea Novel, #2)

by Kay Bratt

[Jeff Sexton]

Amazing Follow-up. I wrote last year of the first book in this series that Bratt could spend the rest of her career in this world, and that I would not be disappointed. Here, she comes back to the world ostensibly to give best friend Maggie her story... that Quinn plays an even larger part in than Maggie played in Quinn's own story (where Maggie was present enough to be the obvious target of a direct sequel, but otherwise truly a secondary character). Bratt does a solid job of juggling both ladies, it just seems at times here that too much is being condensed into one book. To me, the tale here could have been told over three, maybe four, books rather than one and been more on par with the overall pacing and impact of True To Me. Going into specifics might get a bit too much into spoiler territory, so I'll simply say that to me, the division is this: Quinn gets a dedicated sequel. Maggie's story here gets its own dedicated book where Quinn becomes more of a secondary character rather than the co-lead she is here, and Maggie's own story is then broken up into effectively the first and second halves of the story here.

I know, I know. I've complained in other reviews about books being cut in half in almost blatantly obvious cash grabs, but I don't think Bratt would have done that in the above scenario. I think more time in each of these situations would have brought out much more of the depth of emotion that True To Me had, vs the constant "swinging for the fences" here.

But do not get me wrong: This is still truly an excellent book, one I am very proud to have read, and again, I want to come back to this world many, many more times. This is just me expressing my quibbles over pacing of a truly excellent book that to my mind *just* missed the "I can't stop crying and my mind is blown" level of amazement that True To Me brought. Truly a great book, and very much recommended.