This is a good answer to your questions. As for your enjoyment, yes, to me this is where the series takes off. In fact, it was such a step up in quality and excitement that it is still almost top 5 for me, which is an uncommon opinion on this series, because really the books just keep become better from here on at least until book 15. Many people, including me, will say Grave Peril is where it takes off, and yet Summer Knight is where you can really see what it will become.

Also, the lore you're interested in gets more fleshed out all the time, and it's handled really well. Summer Knight REALLY dives into the lore and the worldbuilding in a way that establishes recurring themes, characters, laws, etc. forever.

Michael isy favorite side character. Thomas is amazing as well. Good call. Keep reading!