A review by brokenrecord
Abroad: Book Two by Liz Jacobs

3.0

3.5 stars. I liked this, but not as much as the first book. My biggest issue was just that

Spoiler

I was so frustrated by the Dex/Nick semi-break up when Nick's mom and sister visited. I mean, look, I'm never going to be in Dex's position, so it's totally possible that I just don't get it and I'm not being sympathetic enough to his side. But the thing is, they had only been dating a few weeks (maybe a month? The timeline isn't 100% clear) and his mom was only going to be visiting for a few days, and Nick had literally not even been fully out to himself just a month prior. It would be one thing if they had been together a year, or if Nick didn't want to be out to anyone, but it just seemed to me like Dex was overreacting to Nick not wanting to come out to his mom just yet when he was still coming to terms with everything and had literally told everyone else who was at all important to him in his life. Like, he was out to their ENTIRE friend group and his sister, and it's not like his mom was going to be a constant presence that they would have to hide from for weeks — it was literally just a few days! And I also don't think it was unreasonable for Nick to not want to tell his mom just then. Like, is it worth potentially ruining his relationship with his mom before he's emotionally ready to (again, kissing a guy for the first time had sent him into an emotional panic just a couple months prior to this point!!! And Dex completely understood and was sympathetic after that incident!!!) for a relationship that's only a few weeks old and that essentially has an expiration date, which he and Dex hadn't even discussed at that point???

And it's not that I don't get where Dex is coming from, because I do, especially after his issues with his ex-boyfriend and after just having had a conversation with his mother. But I felt like I was 80% on Nick's side and 20% on Dex's side in the argument when the book expected that I should feel the opposite. And I just kept feeling no one was being fair to Nick. I also just really wanted someone to like… recommend Nick go see a therapist for his anxiety because he was having panic attacks like right and left in the first book, and here he has a panic attack just thinking about coming out to his mom (and I think that's part of why I was so on Nick's side, because I could see how emotionally devastating just the thought of coming out to his mom was). And like, it's great that she kind of came around in the end, but like…… those kinds of anxiety issues generally don't just disappear??? And he also seemed to have a good amount of social anxiety in the first book. I'm just saying, please go to a therapist, Nick (yes I know he's fictional). And I also just felt especially on Nick's side because Dex's reaction was basically just to shut down, refuse to talk about it any more, and abandon him, all the while complaining to people about Nick not wanting to come out when he was not out to LITERALLY one person in his life who lived in an entirely different country, or wondering why Nick wouldn't just say fuck it and come out and live life, when he literally WOULD NOT SIT DOWN IN THE SAME ROOM AS HIM AND ASK HIM THAT QUESTION. I just ended up being so completely frustrated by Dex. And, again, I could be biased, but I guess I just sympathized where Nick was coming from much more than Dex.

Anyways, beyond that, I also felt a bit mixed about the Izzy stuff.

Spoiler

While we didn't get a lot about Izzy/Nat in the first book, I was into the idea of them, so I was hoping for something here, and then… it turned into nothing. Which is fine! But I was just a bit disappointed. I think I might've needed more of Nat's perspective because her being fine with Izzy/Alex and encouraging them to date or whatever seemed to come more as something that was necessary for plot reasons than because the character had really come to terms with things. And I'm not saying it's impossible for that to have happened, but I just needed more of her perspective for it to feel like a real character choice and not just a plot device. And Alex was definitely sweet, but I guess I wish we had gotten more hints of something between him and Izzy in the first book? I did like the feelings confession, though.

There was still a lot I liked about this book, despite my complaints! I did really love all the family stuff otherwise,

Spoiler

both of them meeting and getting along with each other's sibling and meeting each other's family and all that.

I still loved all the characters and friendships. I swear I did like this book, I think it's just that I loved the first one so much, so to have any issues with this one made me much more disappointed than if I'd have had no expectations coming into it.