We also see more detail of the aftermath of the big climax in Grounded, and see snippets of the years that follow – the good, the bad, the swoony and the smutty (so, so hot!!!!!), and up to and beyond the epilogue we’ve already seen with a sneak peak of James and Bianca’s future (kids included), and it’s beautiful! I’d taken her virgin body, but just as surely, she’d taken my virgin heart. I, James Cavendish, unrepentant dominant, sexual deviant, and prolific slut for more years that I cared to count, was in love. We see the depth of James’ attraction to Bianca from their first meeting, and his deepening love for her over their time together. The book is not really written in story format, more like a collection of scenes that flick between the past and the present. Yes, there are some key scenes from the series revisited from a different POV, but most of the content is new.

I had just finished a reread of the Up in the Air books, so James and Bianca’s tumultuous, mildly obsessive and intense love story was still very fresh for me, and at no point did this book feel like a retelling. I am happy to say that RK Lilley has done a great job with this book, getting us into the head of the elusive and controlling James Cavendish, and the wonderful Stephan, and giving us a well-rounded finish to the Up In the Air series that I absolutely loved. Authors either get it totally right, or they risk tainting a much loved book with either too much repetition, an excess of information that we didn’t really want to know, or by changing our perception of a much loved character to the point where you’re really not sure if you like them anymore. In my experience, alternate POV books are hugely hit or miss.

Up in the air rk lilley