I'm really glad I read this after the third book, because if I had started with this book there is absolutely no way I would have continued with the series. It did give some background on the characters and knowing the ending of this book because I'd read the other three made for some nice dramatic irony. But the pacing was awful, the writing was often lazy ("she could think of 10 reasons she wanted to shake the girl, here's two, but she doesn't care enough to think about the other eight" 🙄), and the main character was insufferable.