I enjoyed meeting Austin and the rest of the gang in Lazer's books. In fact, Austin was one of my favorite characters. He's got such a sweet heart though I wish he wasn't so down on himself. I think if Ashley was doing her job, he would have more confidence in his inner musings. He's fun-loving on the outside, just the kind of guy whom regular girls would go for. And it was nice to be able to have a listen to his inner turmoil over Blair.
I liked Blair, the cancer doctor with the analytical mind but the kind heart. Her mind was so fixed and constantly preparing for the next moment that when the next moments surprised her because they involved Austin, it made her more endearing. She had an interesting and a bit naive take on the cosplay experience which made her more human. I loved her inner dialogue about her breakup with Nigel. She was such a lovely person drawn into something she wasn't prepared for though she truly wanted to be.
I knew this one would have a cliffhanger ending because that's how the author writes. So it wasn't a surprise to me. That being said, the ending was rather abrupt and unexpected as though the author had written the entire story and decided to simply break it up into 4 parts, letting the word-count land where it may. It was disappointing.
Also, the obsession with Conor Reid and Sam Roberts was much to over the top. I realize there's a certain starstruck quality to cosplay, but all of those areas just droned on and made Connor Reid sound absolutely arrogant, which was a complete turn-off.
The other thing that bothered me and really stuck was the remark about the aunt. She seemed like such a nice person, and my heart went out to her over her illness and all she'd been through. But when she was hemming the dress for the cosplay, weekend by said illness, and the narration described her standing from her kneeling position as taking "as much effort as it would for a morbidly obese person," I felt hurt and insulted. There are so many people in the world, including myself, who work as hard as they can to try to lose weight with little return because of medical difficulties. Honestly, how freaking rude for someone to say something like this. She could have said anything, including something as simple as, "Not fully recovered from her illness, she had a difficult time standing." But to insult all of the obese people in the world with that one line was incomprehensible.
I usually like this author's books because they draw me in and make me excited to see what happens next. And I did buy the next book because I want to see what happens between Austin and Blair. But I can't raise my opinion about this first book in the series because of the problems I mentioned. I hope the next book in the series is better.