I love that she gets a chance to see her mom in this one, you can tell that her relationship is growing with both of her parents and I love it.  I love reading about strong families and their closeness.  Also shows how close that Zara and her mom are by her response that she was dating all the guys. Which by the way, yeah that is moving forward at a great pace. Stefan is really shining in this one.  He has stepped up, and very much shows his alpha side.  He takes care of our girl and keeps her safe.  It does end on a cliffhanger, but not a very big one.  Sets it up nice and neat for book 9.