Cascade by Lisa Bergren

Gabi knows she’s left her heart in the fourteenth century and she persuades Lia to help her to return, even though they know doing so will risk their very lives. When they arrive, weeks have passed and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence—while the Florentines will go to great lengths to see them dead.
But Marcello patiently awaits, and Gabi must decide if she’s willing to leave her family behind for good in order to give her heart to him forever.

I read Waterfall earlier this year, and it turned out to be an unexpected gem. The characters are fabulous, the story is compelling, and the conflict is realistic. Cascade was more of the same great stuff.

Gabi is just as awesome here as she was in the first book, and I love that we get to see more of Lia and Mom this time around. The interactions between the characters are fabulous, just like in the first book, and I liked that Gabi and Marcello started to see some clashes in culture in how they interact. I’m SO curious to see how that’s going to play out, and I’m glad it was introduced into the story.

I was also glad to see the developments between Lia and Luca, though I had see that coming from the first book. Still, it was pleasant to see. Plus, their interactions are sometimes more interesting than Gabi and Marcello’s. Luca is so straightforward, almost simplistically so, and Lia is more complex. They make a good pair.

The tension in Cascade is through the roof!! I seriously could not put this book down unless I absolutely had to, and even then I couldn’t stop thinking about it and wondering what was going to happen next. From start to finish, it’s an amazing ride. If you haven’t read Waterfall or Cascade, you should!