Some interesting comments Blossom about that series. I think you really hit on what I couldn't quite put my finger on. I ended up dnf'ing the 3rd in that series.
I think without the crazy sauce, it highlighted some of the stuff that just didn't work for me even more. The balance of the triangle stuff just worked better for me in the Kathleen series.
Its like they took the special sauce cray cray out of that series with that big publisher.
I'll need to continue the Ivy series, along with so many series. I just can't keep up anymore with everything I want to read. Its overwhelming sometimes.
Its all reading for me though, I can't listen to audiobooks. Just can't get into them.
I am currently on a roll of reading my favorite sub genre again, historical romance.