This felt like a series that was rushed into one book. So, unless I'm mistaking the book, the first book was a book the author had already written and converted to a reverse harem and then wrote a sequel to based upon reader requests for more. The first book suffered a little bit for this because Lawson didn't take the time and pages necessary to develop the relationship with what was now four guys, but it was a decent enough read to continue on to book 2 and see where she took things now that she was writing a reverse harem from scratch. Sadly, Lawson didn't develop her characters in this iteration of the story either.
I'll elaborate on the problems more later, because it will contain spoilers, but for anyone deciding should I read this without ruining the book, you are safe for now. Again, you have great potential. Everyone is back at Ocean Beach for a new summer, four potential villains are introduced, the book Summer helped her mom with in book 1 is doing really well and her mom is away on a book tour leaving Summer to navigate Ocean Beach alone with the guys. Unfortunately who the ultimate bad guy will be is blatantly obvious to anyone who has read or watched any sort of crime drama, meaning you aren't going to be on the edge of your seat in suspense waiting to figure out who the bad guy is. You aren't even going to be mildly shocked. Its a huge duh, and the big reveal of why is laid out for you well before it's actually revealed so there is no surprise factor. Summer's relationship with the guys is both forced, too slow, and too rushed which leaves the whole thing just really unsatisfying. If there was going to be a book 3, and from the way things wrap up there wont be, I would't read it without some sort of assurance from Lawson.
Spoilers ahead.
Ok, first the relationships between Summer and the guys just don't make any sense. They were all "dating" for the nine months they were all off at school, but Summer only saw each of the guys once even though the guys were split between two different schools, so at the very least she should have seen each of them twice. And then this not seeing them at all thing totally ignores the fact that Summer's mom now lives with Richard, so Summer would have been back with all of the guys for the week of Thanksgiving break (less Nick for football), the six or so weeks of Christmas break (remember those long marvelous weeks of freedom in college), and the week of spring break, but that never happened in Lawson's world. Instead they remained in an exclusive five way relationship barely talking or interacting so she could get them back to Ocean Beach for another summer....
Then, despite the fact that they have basically dated for three weeks, because again, those nine months nothing was going on except for no I swear I'm totally not being cat fished by the girl/guys I talk to on the internet but who is never, ever, ever here, Summer is demanding they all commit to her for life. In or out guys, you have to decide as rising college sophomores are you committing marriage to a girl you have dated for three weeks? Yeah, that's weird. Also what is up with Summer repeatedly having sex in her mom's office. Little creepy.
Onto the bad guys. You have Avery, the twenty something townie who still hangs out with all the high school kids and is obsessed with Summer's mom and the latest story, the two mean girls (Jessica and some girl who's name I forgot) who are still in high school and have a huge crushes on the Ocean Beach boys and as such are willing to bring Summer down to get them, the reporter who is doing a story on Summer and her mom, and the other townie in the bar who Summer emasculates when he hits on her rather crassly.
Avery is the grandson of the serial killer who attacked Summer's mom, even though he didn't know that until he checked county records after the book came out, and wants revenge on Summer's bloodline for the harm caused to his family. It doesn't make much sense, don't dwell on his supposed logic. Avery is everywhere once he gets introduced, you are basically smacked in the face with the fact that this guy is going to be your killer every time he appears on the page, he is just that cliche. It would have been so much better if Avery as the potential killer had been drawn out over several books, letting him inundate himself into the fridges of Summer's life before eventually striking several books down the line and adding his betrayal into the mix. You could have started out with Summer having to overcome the mean girls, who frankly weren't that mean, all they did was suggest to people that Summer was interested in or dating more than one of the guys and tell the guys if they were in an open relationship with Summer the mean girls were down to get into the mix. You could have had the mean girls stirring up some real trouble, keeping the locals away from the bookstore, something Summer's cousin needed the income from to support her new baby, and have that feed into a show down with Pete and Whit's parents. There was some foreshadowing that their parents would have a problem with the relationship but nothing ever came of it.
Even better yet, hold off on the whole parents and the mean girl/the whole small town thinks you are a whore thing until book 3 and let book 2 be about Whit pulling away and getting into trouble because he is so torn up about the Citadel and self sabotaging because he doesn't want to go back but his history with his abusive (its alluded) father doesn't have him seeing his worth and it comes to a head at the skate park where Avery happens to be there as Whit and the emasculated townie (Brent I think) go at it over Summer's honor. People are arrested. Everyone is back at Justin and Whit's place when Whit's dad storms in in a drunken rage. Whit's dad is arrested. Richard steps in and helps apologizing saying he should have stepped in a long time ago. Maybe its revealed Whit has a small inheritance from his mom (I think we are told she is dead) maybe he is still on his own but can stay with Richard. Whatever it is that book builds on Whit's relationship with Summer, he gets out of the Citadel, an evil is still lurking. (The fan mail and the daisy should be continued through all the books).
Lawson doesn't have to skip ahead to the following summer at this point, she can have Whit tag along to Vanderbilt with Summer while he takes a break and plans for life, leading us into the fall semester and Summer taking steps to transfer to the University of Charleston, something Whit helps her surprise the other guys with when they are all home for Thanksgiving. In come our mean girls and the reporter. The mean girls try to break up Summer and the guys by doing something a little more than just uh you know she is hooking up with your friends to. Pete is the focus of this book as his relationship with summer is put to the test as his parents demand he stays away from her because she is bad news, but they eventually come around rising above the whole southern conservative culture thing because their son's happiness matters most.
Book 4 would bring you the reporter publishing her story on the impact of the serial killer on this mother daughter duo and how it has lead the daughter into an untraditional relationship with four boys she met in the killer's old stomping groups. Uh oh. The Citadel isn't fond of the world wide media one of its students and star football players is getting, that means its Nick's time to shine. Does he stay at the Citadel? Does he transfer schools? Does he have a season ending injury or go pro before graduating getting a spot on the Carolina Panthers? We don't know, that's what book 4 is for and its our chance to really see Nick and Summer's relationship.
Book 5 everything has been puttering along. Everyone lives out in Richard's guest house together when they are all home for breaks. Everyone is happy. The fallout from the news article has finally been laid to rest and Summer's mom even got a movie deal out of it, for the book not Summer's love life, that they are going to start shooting that summer in Ocean Beach. In addition the tourists the Ocean Beach crew now have to deal with all these Hollywood types in town. It doesn't help that the creepy fan mail has really picked up since the movie started rolling. The reporter is back in town. She apologizes to Summer, Summer and the guys forgive her, say it was rough at the time but it ended up being the best thing for them because it forced them out of hiding. Reporter shares the postcards she has been getting from the super fan. Movie is set to wrap or wraps, Summer and the reporter go missing. Avery has them in a trailer and is going to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, now having had several years to go down the rabbit hole and decide his grandfather was unfairly treated and the movie is vilifying a misunderstood man who would have totally understood Avery and loved him. Avery gets upset when the reporter mentions the postcards to him and how they are probably from some lunatic who would never actually do anything, just likes to run their mouth, which spurns him into action kidnapping her and Summer and then basically everything that goes down with that. Then we get our happily ever after with the crew as they go on to finish their senior year and realize Ocean Beach isn't so bad, and while they may go away for a while, Ocean Beach will always be home.
Why don't we have that series??? I would read the heck out of that series! And the really sad thing is that those are all elements that are there in this hastily cobbled together follow up book. Lawson makes mention of or teases and then does nothing with almost every single scenario I've suggested (I expounded on a few of her elements). Why bring them up if you arent going to do anything with them? Again that's why I say there was sooooooo much potential here, it just wasn't executed.
In my opinion Lawson should scrap book 2, pull it from the shelves and rework the piece breaking it up into a series. Really delve into the elements she teases, hints, or mentions and world build for her readers as the develops rich characters with full identities and connections. I would be in again if she did that. As of right now she isn't an author I would revisit.