Owen and Mason are two great characters together and I liked their premise a little better than the previous book in the series. However, their story probably would have worked better with a subtler conflict. It's just way too many outlandish external things (and antagonists) going on that outshone what could have been amazing and organic character development. The fact that they have similar experiences of being the family breadwinner at a young age should have been focused on more, and Mason's family drama and the resulting way he approaches others (eg his lack of real friends, Owen and his family) could have been fleshed out more and perhaps could have been the main source of conflict instead of something that felt so contrived. 

The writing is solid though, and I'm enjoying the series so far.