I started out very confused about what was happening, as it starts off before any of book 1 happened. It’s possible that I missed a mention that we went back in time, but I sure don’t remember it, and as time went on, I didn’t care enough to go back and check. An hour in to the audiobook, we finally catch up to beginning of bk 1. And while I liked getting Michael’s perspective, we’re just getting his pov of everything we already heard in the first book, with very little new input. Finally at almost halfway (42%) we are caught up to where book 1 left off. And unfortunately, at this point, my interest has pretty much waned. I found myself not really paying attention to all the details of the rest of the story, and just continuing on because I was already so far. As much as I loved Cruel Seduction, I was surprised at how my feelings took such a turn for Ruthless Embrace. I’d like to think that this was due to my mood, but I feel like some of it was the way the story was told.