The Beginning of Always wraps up the trilogy in a tight, conclusive ending for Nina and Daniel. The two are ready to devote themselves to as normal a life as possible, which includes partaking in Daniel’s Jewish marriage ceremony, an act that will literally free Nina from the thorny bracelet that remains dug into her wrist until the ritual is complete. But Daniel’s best friend, Paul, stands in the way of all of that, and it turns out he’s got a very personal and poignant reason for his actions.

I found this book to be a satisfying conclusion to the series. Much of the action is replaced by deep, human conversations about devotion versus respect, to honor versus obey, romantic versus unrequited love, and cultural religion versus spiritual religion. Pretty deep themes for a story about superheroes, but Janowsky crafts very realistic characters despite their sensational situations, giving them humanity and depth that keeps you rooting for them until the final pages, even if the ending does linger for longer than it needs to. If you enjoyed the first two books in the series, I highly recommend finishing what you started.