Well, color me surprised. Despite some flaws (format & content related) I ended up liking this way more than I expected to. Tons more, even.I find the format maddening. The chapters are ridiculously short and the breaks are not handled well. I just... I don't like serials. Super short serials, at that. Just as you start to get into the story, boom, irritating cliffhanger end. If these stories weren't packaged as a four-volume set, I'd never have picked it up. Lucky (I think?) for me they were, and I did. Content-wise, I found Cadence sometimes frustrating. The dinner with the director and actress jump to mind, in contrast to her near non-reaction to her roommate blowing most of Cadence's money. She has, when it suits, a hair-trigger temper. It's the "when it suits" part that's a problem for me. A hair-trigger anything shouldn't just come and go, and that she wouldn't lose her shit over the majority of $3,000 being (essentially) stolen, but would about an actress she otherwise couldn't be bothered by being a little snooty (which, what did she expect, seriously?) doesn't compute. She's also deeply unlikable when she's being bitchy. But, I rather liked her, aside from that particular character flaw.I find Zane confounding. As these first four stories are told from Cadence's POV, I suppose that means we're in the same boat as her. Are we supposed to like him? Hate him? Ugh. I DON'T KNOW. Which, to be entirely honest, makes me like him, because I have an absurd, bordering on ludicrous, love for anti-heroes. (cough-Spike-cough) It makes me overlook a lot of flaws. A LOT. And I don't know enough about Cruze to have much to say about him. He's sexy? (He is. Quite.) I'm looking forward to learning more about him. I hope we do, at least!There were things that had me cocking an eyebrow and wondering wtf was going on. Like... Why does Zane care so much about having an (as yet to him) unknown hooker not keeping her appointment that he nearly kills said hooker's pimp? What is it about her (keep in mind, as far as we know, he's never even seen her) that he tracks this one hooker, specifically, down and has her abducted at gunpoint? I DON'T GET IT. Of course, the story would be even shorter if he were not seemingly obsessed with her before he'd even seen her, so I'll go with it. But still, it's worth mentioning that it made zero sense to me. I was going to bring up another instance of something that had me scratching my head, but then remembered that it was from book 5. To mention it here wouldn't be appropriate, but it does illustrate the fact that I'm now hooked enough to buy these stories as they're doled out from this point forward, which is not something I'd do under normal circumstance. I may not be connecting to the characters very deeply (I think the format impacts emotional investment), but the storytelling is superb and I find it compulsively readable. I'm all-in, even in the midst of being fairly certain that my questions (most of which I haven't even mentioned here) will never be answered satisfactorily. Also, it's sizzling hot, and that's never a bad thing.Now, can September 20 get here already so I can get my grubby mitts on book 6?
