I would definitely say that reading from Travis's viewpoint did help to make it a little less bad. And as I read it from his side, I could see that one thing the other main character, Abby, says is true. They are both so dysfunctional together, but it is right. While in the first book you only saw it from her side, and all you saw was how crazy Travis got, here you could see what was going through his brain, as well as how he really was trying to do better for her.
This isn't going to be a long review, because really most of the story is the same as I would have told you in the review of the first book. Now, this book, I noticed some spelling/grammar errors that weren't caught by an editor. Another difference in this book is that you get to see more of Shepley, Travis's cousin, Abby's friend America's boyfriend. Because he lives with Travis. So we get to know him better. And I loved at the end, the little bonus bit that talks about Travis and Abby and their life further down the road. They've been married for awhile and have kids. It's great to hear about what kind of job Travis has. Although, I don't know. I guess just the dysfunctional codependency I saw in Travis makes me a bit hesitant to believe that was the type of job he went into. But what do I know?
A good, quick read. I will definitely be reading the book that got me to read this, Red Hill, when I get a chance.