A review by hartd
Lustlocked by Matt Wallace

3.0

I had a feeling I would regret my excessive enthusiasm over book one, but oh well, it's nice to get excited about things sometimes. This book is pretty good, just not as good as the first.

Warning for sexual assault used as a plot device, to humorous effect, (sort of) in the manner of the sex pollen trope. It didn't bother me, but it is there, and I feel like it would've been a seriously traumatic thing for the characters to experience, which is not really addressed.

It does have similar over-the-top antics, and some of it was funny to me. Unfortunately, though, a decent amount of the kind of humor I dislike can be found in this book, and (relatedly)

Spoiler

Lena has sex with the guy she pegged as a douchebag in book one (this is not because of the sex pollen, either).

I understand that having characters make sexist/racist jokes does not mean that the author supports those views, and in fact, the other characters mostly mock the ones who make those remarks. Lena has some thoughts about the topic, too, but I feel she is too forgiving. Anyway, I can definitely imagine readers liking those jokes and those characters, which makes me uncomfortable.

I was glad that some depth was added to the characters and their backstories, especially Nikki, who was a real star. Cindy got some development, as well, and I look forward to learning more about her in future stories. Of course I also really liked the appearance of

Spoiler

David Bowie and Iman

.

I mostly enjoyed this book, and I'm still curious about where the series will go next.