Garron Park, where hope dies and no one ever gets ahead. Until… __
When Devon Sawyer desperately searches for his brother in the middle of the night, beaten and broken, he finds Maddox Kane instead. With his dad on his trail, he has no choice but to stand on his enemy’s doorstep and let Maddox help. Maddox has never seen Devon this vulnerable. Living in Garron’s trailer park means families dole out discipline on the regular and violence is a part of life, but something about how far Jim Sawyer takes it this time has Maddox unnerved. Rivals in motocross, work, and life itself, they’re forced to work together for one night. Perspectives change and their friction morphs into something unexpected. Hatred turns to lust. Tensions switch from hostile to aroused. While their competitiveness remains, their dynamic shifts. Their acceptance is anything but graceful. Two guys who come from nothing, with very little to look forward to, find themselves craving each other in new and fiery ways.
GARRON PARK is book one (1) of two (2) in the From Nothing series. Potential to expand later, but for now remains a duology. They must be read in order as book 2 is a continuation of book 1 featuring the same main characters. It is an MM romance with explicit spicy times, foul language, and two main guys who are pretty down on their luck.
~~~
This was another MM romance title that has been on my radar for quite some time, and thanks to the urging of some bookish ladies who dubbed it as “required reading” I finally ripped off the bandaid and started this book.
It was very enjoyable! I love a good rivals-to-lovers storyline, and we definitely get that here. Devon and Maddox supposedly can’t STAND each other and throw fists and ask questions next, and are constantly at each other’s throats all over that dirt track where they race on the back of their bikes.
Then one night things don’t necessarily change, but rather begins a shift between the two of them. Devon unexpectedly appears at Maddox’s front door, looking more worse for wear than usual…like he should’ve gone to a hospital instead in all honesty. But the rivals reluctantly work together and mend him back to health, well as best as two motocross racers in a small trailer in a trailer park can do? BUT, the main thing about this is after spending the night together taking care of Devon and nursing him, there’s definitely a shift that occurs between them, like a mutual “….why are you so hot all of a sudden?” going on in their heads.
They begin to come to terms with their obvious attraction to each other as best as two trailer park motocross racers who cuss and get into fights out of boredom can do. it’s both rough and kind of cute at the same time!
BUT when they begin to act on the temptation and the lust with all the growing sexual tension that builds, woahhhh boy, enjoy that ride like I know they do *wink*wink.*
~~~
What I Liked:
How “Rough” Devon and Maddox Get With Each Other! Okay this one is weird because normally with how much these two get into fistfights with each other and how they show affection by bloodying each other up, you’d think it’s absolutely abusive and toxic….. however, you read this story and start to realize it actually works for them? It’s kind of hard to explain and it may not make sense unless you read the book yourself and experience it for yourself.
The Spice! There’s some bi/gay awakening spicy moments in here as Devon and Maddox explore their feelings–and each others bodies–and it gets HOT
The Brothers Pushing Them Together! I love how Xavi and Nate, the older brothers of the two MMC’s, are the BIGGEST shippers of them getting together and even make a forced proximity moment for them at one point too. In such a particular setting, it was cool to see this gay relationship get support instead of the opposite…honestly you’d expect a trailer park in the south to not be the most accepting place for this sort of thing.
What I Didn’t Like:
Some of the Angst/Arguing Felt Very Childish…Devon and Maddox are supposed to be in their mid 20’s, but with the arguments they get into and all the way they pout and don’t want to talk about their relationship/feelings and wimp out of that conversation as much as they can…it just made me feel like they were 14 still handling puberty instead full grown adults. Sure they were dealing with the fact that they were attracted to another man for the first time, but seriously some of this stuff was so eyeroll worthy.
I Wish There Was More Actual Motocross in the Story… I absolutely loved the Disney Channel movie “Motocrossed” and this book made me nostalgic for that movie IMMENSELY. What I loved about that movie is how heavily the sport itself had to do with the plot of the movie, and it makes an appearance or a few in this book, but I was disappointed how much it didn’t actually. Hopefully book two has way more actual Motocross sequences to make up for it!
Conclusion:
Overall, this was an insanely enjoyable MM romance title! It was unorthodox and rough around the edges, which is also perfectly how I’d also describe the relationship between Maddox and Devon. Two guys down on their luck who somehow find each other in what so many would consider a hopeless place…
The arguing and miscommunication might be a turnoff for some, but I was able to overlook it all for this book and still enjoy it either way! Hopefully any sports romance/MM romance fans who want to try this will do the same!
Publish Date: December 23rd, 2022 Number of Pages: 358 Pages Publisher: Independently Published Genre(s): New Adult Romance, Erotica, LGBT+
Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars
Falling in love wasn’t part of the deal. Hell, I was the one who went and told him not to fall in love with me, yet here I am doing exactly that. Catching feels in a fuck-buddy relationship, like a goddamn amateur.“
– C.E. Ricci, “Iced Out”
What It’s About:
The official synopsis:
All’s fair in hate and hockey.
My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas.
Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass.
We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep.
Constantly at odds or at each other’s throats.
The only thing we can agree on is hockey is our true love, and we’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top.
I never imagined that drive would lead me to do the unthinkable: falling into bed with my not-so-straight rival.
But athletes are a superstitious bunch, and when our hook-ups lead to victories, we tell ourselves we can’t stop.
Besides, it’s all for the sake of the team, right?
*Iced Out is the first in a five book standalone college sports romance series featuring two misunderstood rival teammates, pages of snarky banter, and more secret spicy times than any book should be filled with. Not suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.*
~~~
My first ever CE Ricci book, and this one absolutely stole my heart! I absolutely loved Oakley and Quinton’s story here as they go from bitter rivals/teammates to steamy AF lovers….but of course the story couldn’t go so smoothly and had to have some bumps along the way.
This story is a duo perspective surrounding both Oakley and Quinton, two Leighton University Varsity hockey players, and even though they’re teammates on the ice, they can barely stand each other…call it rivals, call it enemies, either way there’s some major animosity between these two. Quinton is the team captain, but when a drug test suspiciously turns up positive, the tables flip and Oakley gets the spot…yeah, that’ll smooth things over…
Now one thing to know about hockey players especially, if not all athletes, is that they can get extremely superstitious. If they find one thing that helps them start a winning streak, they stick to it. So when a losing season starts to turn around after a random night when these two randomly get down and dirty together, what do they decide to do??? Keep doin’ it of course! Boy logic for you.
But hey, at least this means you’re guaranteed for some hot, spicy MM action in this book that involves sneaking around, secret hookups, library shenanigans, and just lots of heat in general!
BUT that’s not to say there aren’t some softer and more tender moments that happen between them that really make you swoon for them. Quinton is especially a total sweetheart who just wants to find somebody to love him. He’s just the snarky, dark haired blue eyed bad boy who hides his hurt beneath a smirk that I’m a total sucker for!
The beginning is definitely a little slower paced than I’m sure some readers would want, BUT it also sets the story up for later conflicts so while it’s not favorable, it’s definitely necessary in my opinion. One could also argue the 3rd act breakup that OF COURSE occurs–not really a spoiler because it ALWAYS happens–was overdramatized, but again I think that just comes down to the specific reader and their personal opinion.
The book tied together very well in the end, and even if you don’t want to read the next book in this series, it feels satisfactory enough with the ending and doesn’t leave a whole lot up in the air with any major cliffhangers, and yes there is a HEA for anyone wondering.
~~~
‘Oh, baby,’ he murmurs, sex and desire dripping from his voice as he layers his body over mine. ‘You know all’s fair in hate and hockey.’”
– C.E. Ricci, “Iced Out”
~~~
What I Liked:
The Spice! Lots and lots of flavor with this book…I’d give it 3.5 or 4 peppers overall for the spice meter. These boys get naughty on several instances in this book, and MM spice fans will LOVE every second of it.
Quinn is Total Book Boyfriend Material! Quinn is basically everything…he’s got blue eyes, dark hair, great body, tattoos, snarky whit, a temper, and a smirk that hides the hurt he wants to keep from the world except when Oakley sees a side of him that no one else gets to see. Quinn stole my heart in this book, and while he was cynical and moody, all he really needed was somebody to be there for him!
Parents Aren’t the Main Conflict! Usually in these college romances, parents play a big part of keeping the two apart or driving a wedge between them, and at the beginning it really looked like this story was going that route since Oakley is a legacy kid and Quintons parents are the typical rich, ice-cold waspy types who don’t approve of him playing already. Luckily, this isn’t a huge conflict that keeps popping up in the story, THANK GOD!
There’s a Decent Amount of Actual Hockey Playing! Sometimes “sports romance” novels involve very little actual sports being actually played. This is not the case here, and a big chunk of the plot has to do with their hockey season and them playing games. I just can actually appreciate when the plot/conflict of a sports romance actually includes sports related issues.
What I Didn’t Like:
The Beginning Is A Little Slow…Maybe I was just impatient for the spice to happen, but yeah I can agree with some readers that the beginning could have been maybe a little condensed? Maybe not involve as much going on, especially if they ended up not being issues later on in the story?
The “Betrayal” Wasn’t Entirely One’s Fault…So the big third act breakup involves an act of “betrayal” and that’s all I’ll say about that, but part of me always felt like one kind of unfairly put more blame on the other when the other couldn’t fully even control that what happened had actually happened. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you don’t know the context, but I don’t want to spoil…
Conclusion:
Overall, I am now a HUGE fan of CE Ricci after reading this MM hockey romance she wrote! and even better that it’s a part of a series of standalone MM college romance novels! I will certainly be getting my hands on many more CE Ricci books now I can definitely confirm!
Here is my post with my fancast/dreamcast of the romantasy series that literally dropped like a gigantic dragon onto the scene in the summer of 2023, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros!
I’d known about Fourth Wing way before it was released, but WOW it is actually insane to see how much this book had blown up since its release date on May 2nd, 2023. It’s literally took over the bookish community, and its had so many people talking!
We loves to see it (for the most part)
The story is about a girl named Violet Sorrengail, who’s off to war college! This war has been going on for over 600 years, and there are four quadrants one can go into for the cause: flyers, scribes, healers, or infantry. As someone with a chronic illness, she’d been under the impression she’d become a scribe like her long lost father, BUT her mother is the head general and surprises her when she’s actually sent off to become a flyer! And to make matters worse, the son of the rebel leader her mother executed back in the day is one of the first people she runs into there as well…
Obsessed. I am obsessed with this book like so many others!
***Also a friendly reminder that these are how I VIEW the characters in these books…I never said you have to agree with me, but you definitely don’t have to be an internet troll and trash my opinions on here. Please keep things respectful, or by all means go make your own website and share your own fancast choices over there! I promise I would NEVER return the favor if someone was rude to me on here…
Warning:: This post does contain MAJOR SPOILERS so read on at your own risk!
To see my review of book 1 – FourthWing – Click HERE
To see my review of book 2 – Iron Flame – ClickHERE
~~~
Here’s my Fancast/Dreamcast of the Empyrean Series so far:
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Violet Sorrengail: Sophi Knight
Image courtesy of the actress’s IMDB profile
Sophi Knight is exactly how I pictured our FMC of this book series. She’s a young Canadian actress who’s so close to the actual age of the character, but she is 5’7” so maybe a little taller than Violet, but I still stand by this choice! If they can make Tom Cruise look taller than he actually is in his movies, they can do the opposite for her I’m sure!
~~~
Mira Sorrengail: Phoebe Tonkin, or Lyndsy Fonseca
Phoebe Tonkin, image credit not available
Lyndsy, image courtesy of the actresse’s IMDB profile
Both of these actresses are pretty recognizable I’d say; we know Phoebe of course from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and Lyndsy has been in so many shows like Kick-Ass and a list of CW/Free form shows too! They’d both be great choices to make a great older sister in Mira in my opinion.
~~~
General Lilith Sorrengail: Rebecca Ferguson, or Lena Headey
Rebecca Ferguson, Image courtesy of facts.net
Lena Headey, image courtesy of yahoo! movies UK
Whoever plays General Sorrengail has to be cold, ruthless, and have a resting bitch face that can shake you to your core. Rebecca Ferguson can for sure do just that. She’s played powerful women before in the new Dune movies and has a calculating, ruthless presence that would be perfect for Violet’s mother! Another amazing choice would be Lena Headey, aka the iconic Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones.
~~~
Rhiannon Matthias: Keke Palmer
image credit not available
Gotta give this character to my girl Keke Palmer, I would absolutely love to see her as Violet’s bestie and fellow dragon rider!
~~~
Ridoc: Taylor Zakhar Perez
Image credit not available
I don’t remember a whole lot of Ridoc’s looks being described, but I’ve seen some fanart of him, and it seems people are viewing him has Hispanic/Latino. I’m all for it! He’s kind of the comedic relief of the friend group, and I adore Taylor who was in the movie adaptation of Red, White, and Royal Blue! One of my absolute favorite books
~~~
Jack Barlowe: Alexander Ludwig, or Arthur Becari
Alexander, image courtesy of mensfashionpost.com
Arthur, image credit not available
Alright when we met the psychopath Jack in this book, I was having total flashbacks to “The Hunger Games” and pictured Alexander as him. I couldn’t help myself, and it’s didn’t help that Jack was described as blonde 🤷🏼♂️ The next guy is a model with probably no acting experience whatsoever, but MAN does he look like Jack Barlowe to me!
~~~
Xaden Riorson: Flamur Ukshini
Image credit not available
Xaden has been confirmed by Rebecca Yarros herself that Xaden is POC, and so I pictured this gorgeous guy I’ve been following on Instagram for some time now! He just needs to maybe pack on a little more muscle, but hey, Taylor Launter did it for Twilight!
~~~
Dain Aetos: Leo Suter, or Kilian Isaak
Leo, Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile
Kilian, image credit not available
This guy is the singular reason why I want to watch that Vikings: Valhalla show…I mean, LOOK at him! And as a grizzly, hairy Viking warrior?! *swoon* he also seemed to fit the character of Dain when he’s all cleaned up, like in this pic. Kilian is a model I discovered on Instagram who’s also got the looks of how I imagine this…..wonderful character.
~~~
Amber: Sydney Zmrzl
Image courtesy of the actress/model’s IMDB profile
This one could honestly be anyone, Amber was a very minor character. So honestly this could come down to just personal preference.
Liam: Chris Bednarik, or Leo Woodall
Chris Bednarik, Image courtesy of the models Instagram profile
Leo Woodall, Image courtesy of Forbes.com
Alright, I would be TOTALLY fine with either of these cute guys playing Liam, and yes, I made sure they both have the dimples too. That was like a requirement! Chris is a fitness model, and Leo was actually in season 2 of “The White Lotus”
~~~
Imogen: Cheree Crowley
Image courtesy of tuttowrestling.com
I always have at least one WWE person in my fancasts because WHY NOT? When I got the description of Imogen having pink hair, it reminded me when Cheree (aka “Dakota Kai”) had a similar hairstyle as well!
~~~
Garrick: Wolfgang Novogratz
Image courtesy of Getty images
By the time we reach book 3, we have a somewhat decent idea of what Garrick looks like! Rebecca Yarros is stingy with the character descriptions so it’s hard to come up with folks until physical descriptions are dragged out to help describe these characters…
~~~
Bodhi: Zayn Malik
Image courtesy of nogunk.com
The guy I picked for Xaden kind of looks like Zayn, and since Xaden and Bodhi are actually related, I thought this made sense! I mean, Harry Styles is trying to be an actor…why not Zayn too?
~~~
Tairn (Voice): Chris Hemsworth
Image courtesy of encyclopedia Britannica
If not Liam Neeson, Chris would be an excellent voice actor choice for Tairn! I just imagine him with his deep, booming Thor voice would do wonderfully at this!
~~~
Sgaeyl (Voice): Charlize Theron
Image courtesy of Vogue
Imma give credit to my friend Kat for this pick, and when she suggested it I was immediately like YES. Charlize has such a sexy voice, I remember how she did a crazy good job as the evil queen in “Snow White and the Huntsman” (or literally anything she does), and thought she’d make an excellent voice actor for a dragon like Sgaeyl as well!
~~~
Andarna: (Voice): Mandy Moore
Image courtesy of health magazine
Picking a voice for Andarna was difficult….would you pick an actual child to voice her? I was wondering Ariana Grande for a hot second, but nawww. I love Ari, but she wasn’t who I imagined Andarna sounding like. Then it hit me: TANGLED! Mandy Moore did such a great job as Rapunzel, I think she’d also make a great choice to voice Andarna!
~~~
…now for book 2 – Iron Flame – Here Are New Additions:
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Brennan Sorrengail: Sam Claflin, or Oliver Stark
Sam Claflin, image courtesy of the Wallstreet Journal
Oliver Stark, image courtesy of The Wrap
Honestly, both these actors I could totally picture playing the Sorrengail brother whom we believed to be dead all this time! Both just give me the vibe that Brennan also gives off.
~~~
Syrena Cordella: Lauren Cohan
Image credit not available
Lauren has been a WB/CW actress for many, many years with being on shows like “Supernatural” and “Vampire Diaries” so she’d definitely fit in with this new fantasy setting with dragons and gryphons! I think she’d be an excellent casting choice for the lead gryphon rider
~~~
Colonel Aetos: Christian Bale
Image courtesy of Just Jared
Christian Bale could crush absolutely any role he plays, and I absolutely know he’d do amazing as Dain’s evil father in this series. Christian has such a wide range of characters under his belt, and some are downright twisted in the head, so I think I’d really enjoy seeing him as the villain in these books.
~~~
Sloane Mairi: Scarlett Leithold
Image courtesy of Men’s Journal
Scarlett is a model, and her statuesque looks totally remind me of Sloane! I’m not sure about her acting abilities in actuality, but as far as looks go, she’s exactly how I pictured this important character whom we meet in book 2, Iron Flame!
~~~
Sawyer: Daniel Portman
Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile
This choice I’m not 100% about in all honesty…but I also don’t think there’s much physical description of Sawyer in general in the books, or I’ve missed it when it’s mentioned. Since its a dragon riding college, why not have the guy who played Podrik Payne in the number one dragon show ever made so far, “Game of Thrones” also make an appearance in here?
~~~
Aaric Greycastle: Alexander Breck, or Cody Christian
Alexander Breck, image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile
Cody Christian, Image courtesy of Bello Mag
Aaric was probably my favorite of the new characters introduced in Iron Flame, especially when we learn his big secret! I pictured him looking like either of these guys or maybe even NASCAR cutie Charles LeClarc!
~~~
Burton Varrish: Christoph Waltz, or Michael Keaton
Christoph Waltz, image courtesy of the actor’s Wikipedia page
Michael Keaton, image courtesy of Deadline
This character was like Umbridge and Joffrey level horrible…an absolute menace who made your blood boil whenever they popped up in the book. Christoph Waltz has a way of playing wonderful villains that are both obnoxious but still absolutely terrifying, just like in “Inglorious Basterds” and “007: Spectre” and who I pictured as Varrish. I could also see Michael Keaton too though, who I feel is more physically intimidating.
~~~
Viscount Tecarus: TBD
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Jesinia Neilwart: Josephine Langford
Image courtesy of TV Insider
She looks so sweet and innocent! just how I pictured this silent scribe who always is willing to help out Violet in tight spots.
~~~
Catriona Cordella: Elizabeth Gillies
Image courtesy of IMDB
Ever since she iconically played Jade in the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” Liz can SLAY the mean girl role and even just has that mean girl look to her (sorry if she’s an actual sweetheart, it’s the eyebrows and she’s just that good of an actress).
~~~
Professor Devera: Rosario Dawson
Image credit not available
I saw someone else propose this fancast choice and LOVED it and immediately agreed with it!
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Professor Kaori: Daniel Dae Kim
Image courtesy of Deadline
Despite recently playing the ruthless Firelord Ozai in the live-action version of “Avatar the Last Airbender” I see Daniel playing this professor in all honesty too, who gives me the total opposite vibes of the Lord of the vicious Fire Nation.
~~~
Commandant Panchek: Daniel Brühl
Image credit not available
For some reason, this actor from Captain America: Civil War” came to mind for this slimeball of a character, but I say he could definitely look the part!
~~~
…So there you have it for now! Expect more characters and fancast choices to be added as the series develops because this is going to be a 5-book series!
Publish Date: November 21st, 2022 Number of Pages: 448 Pages Publisher: Kindle Edition Genre(s): Erotica, Reverse Harem, New Adult Romance, Mystery/Thriller, LGBT+
**Warning! This Review contains spoilers to the previous book in this trilogy, so continue reading at your own risk! You’ve officially been warned!**
To see my review of book #1 – Kingston – Click HERE
Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars
Our girl is a fucking diamond – beautiful to look at, but impossible to crush.”
– Leila James, “Kingston”
~~~
What It’s About:
The official synopsis:
A Dark College Bully Romance
Shattered trust, twisted games, and ugly truths …
A female initiate is unheard of at Hawthorne Hall, but after forcing the brotherhood’s hand, they had no choice but to let me stay. My plan should have been simple: Find out what happened to my cousin and best friend in the world, Will.
But nothing is as it seems.
This brotherhood is steeped in tradition and built on loyalty, but the deeper I dig, the more I see fissures in their supposedly tight-knit group. And with the evidence I’ve found, every move I make seems more dangerous than the last. I no longer know who to trust.
Cannon. Archer. Kingston.
I don’t want to believe they’re guilty or that they could have harmed Will. But there’s only one way to find out—immerse myself in their world and keep my mouth shut. And hope they don’t break my heart along the way.
The games continue … but who is being played?
~~~
Book two, here we go!!
There’s not a whole lot to honestly add besides what I liked and disliked about this book if I’m being completely honest. There are definitely some new things to add though that I definitely found to be a highlight, so I’ll add that this book for sure improves from book 1!
You continue off literally right where the previous book left off: Elliott is in bed with Kingston after they had some incredibly hot sex and also grew closer by opening up to each other too, but she finds her missing best friend/cousin’s cell phone in his bedside table!
Duh Duh DUN!!!
Suddenly the trust she’d been building with Archer, Kingston, and Cannon is instantly shattered and she’s back to square one.
Who can she trust?
What do they know?
Where is Will now?
Do they know who she is?
Questions are popping up left and right, kind of like the dicks in this reverse harem/why choose story. but one thing that I’m entirely certain about is the spice definitely increases! it gets hotter, more intense, and oh yeah…there’s more, but you definitely have to read more to find out for yourself!
~~~
What I Liked:
The Spice Gets HOTTER & HOTTER! The Spice does not let up in this second installment despite how book 1 ended! THANK GOD!
MM ROMANCE! I won’t spoil who it involves, but I will say that I LOVE the addition of some hot male-on-male action going down as the plot thickens. I kind of wasn’t expecting it to be who it ended up being, well at least for one of the characters, but it was an addition to the story that I was all for!
The Three Guys Had More Character Development! This time around the three guys Archer, Kingston, and Cannon had some development tossed their way, and they’ve became much more three dimensional and more dynamic. You start to see more of their personalities now that you’ve become familiar with them, and while some of them you’ll still like more than others, a lot more starts to make sense around them all the same too!
What I Didn’t Like:
Elliott Continues To Be a Damsel…I mean, I guess this sort of makes sense since she’s digging around for clues and answers to something that is obviously being covered up, but it’s getting repetitive by this point that she gets herself into trouble, then has to rely on her men to help her get out of it. At least after it usually leads to spice, but again…it’s getting repetitive
Another Hall Getting Attention?…There was a LOT of emphasis on a rival fraternity/hall in this book with a masquerade auction event, like way more emphasis than I honestly cared for. It ended up the head of that house had some history with Kingston and the situation with his dead sister…so I could see this becoming a bigger subplot into the next book, or even a spinoff sort of thing, and part of me wonders if I even care?…
I Still Think There’s Not Enough Emphasis On The Mystery…I’m still wishing there was more to the mystery, like more surprising twists and reveals and an intricate plot that reveals way more is going on than we believed, but instead we get more instances of Elliott getting into trouble and needing Archer, Cannon, or Kingston to save her. At least the spice is abundant!
….SPUNK BUNKERS?!?!…Absolutely the worst way to describe testicles I’ve ever heard. NEVER AGAIN
~~~
Conclusion:
Overall, a better sequel than what book 1 had to offer, but I feel like these books are still just missing that extra something to make them absolutely spectacular! that extra ooomph to really set it apart and make it better than it already is!
They’re not bad books by any means, in fact, I’d say they’re like an addictive, sexy binge-worthy Riverdale, Elite, Euphoria-esque show you can’t help but get sucked into! I’ve enjoyed reading these tremendously; just because I have a few personal critiques doesn’t mean I didn’t like it! I’ll definitely be reading the third and final book to see what could possibly happen next!
Publish Date: October 3rd, 2022 Number of Pages: 468 Pages Publisher: Kindle Genre(s): Erotica, Reverse Harem, New Adult Romance, Mystery & Thriller
Total Star Rating: 3.75 Stars
What It’s About:
The Official Blurb:
Three men, two choices, and one secret …
A year ago, my best friend received an exclusive invitation to join an elite brotherhood at Kingston University. He went into Hawthorne Hall for his initiation … but never came out.
I intend to find out why.
The brotherhood would never knowingly invite a female into their ranks. So what if I forged my father’s signature on the recommendation? With a name like Elliot Ashford, they’ll never see me coming.
I’ll endure whatever hell these brutal brothers put me through because I have no intention of backing down or bowing out gracefully. It won’t be pretty. I’ve heard the rumors, especially about the three men in control of the brotherhood.
Kingston. Cannon. Archer.
I’m going in with one mission—find out what happened to Will. But the moment I set foot in this house, I have a feeling all my plans will go up in flames.
Kingston is a 94,000+ word novel, the first in a trilogy, centering around three men and one woman. It’s kind of like a sandwich—a quadruple decker with extra spice. There is a possibility that sandwich toppings will touch, if that makes sense.
WARNING: This trilogy contains dark elements, graphic content, and situations that some readers may be particularly sensitive to. If you have triggers or are even remotely unsure, please check my website, which you can access through my author page, for a full list.
~~~
This was a book that was highly recommended to me by one of my #bookstagram besties named Em because she knows I’m always game for any book that has some decent spice in it! When she started telling me the premise of these books, I will say I was immediately interested: a reverse harem, college, mystery thriller?? Ummmm LOVE that journey for me! Sign me up, and I couldn’t put these books on my kindle fast enough!
Now after reading the first book, what I can say is it’s definitely an entertaining, fast read with some really decent spice and just a dash of mystery. It definitely kept my attention, but it also could’ve been better in some regards. BUT I also didn’t care enough for certain things in the story to be better either because honestly, I just in it mainly for the spice, which definitely meets if not exceeds expectations, so that’s where most of the praise will go!
This story is about Elliot, who manages to sneak her way into Hawthorne house in order to solve the mystery of the disappearance of her best friend/cousin named Will. There’s absolutely no word as to what happened =, and everyone acts like it didn’t even happen, so she’s going on the inside in order to get her own answers. While she’s infiltrating the brotherhood as a newly incoming freshman, its there she meets the three enigmatic boys that throw everything off kilter for her: Kingston, Archer, and Cannon. Can she trust them? What do they know? And will she survive the initiation process before she’s considered a “brother?”
For the most part, I really did enjoy this book thanks to the characters! Elliot is your very typical spunky, sassy heroine who has a sharp tongue and isn’t afraid to mouth off to the alphaholes that practically infest that house that she must now call home. The boys in the Hawthorne house definitely don’t start off as very likeable, especially Kingston, who’s the frat president and a majorly bipolar a-hole through most of the book, but he’s also a HOT a-hole so it’s complicated….at leas the hate sex is hot? I like Archer the most right off the bat, but he also has camera’s set up throughout the whole house that includes people’s bedrooms, so I find that a bit creepy…and then there’s Cannon. Mr. Tall, stoic, and hot as hell, but hardly says a word. Like, his main way of communicating is text message even when he’s sitting right next to the person…it’s a little strange, but I’m sure there’s a story to it somewhere down the road…
What I Liked:
The Spice! There are some HOT moments in this book, and it’s only the first one in a whole trilogy! It makes me wonder what else is in store for later down the road! I will of course be keeping reading on to find out.
The Main Characters! Elliot and her boys definitely grew on me and made me keep interested to see what happened next, plus their group dynamic did add for some of the spicy scenes that I enjoyed too! Will things like that majorly change? Will she form alliances with one over the others? Turn them against each other with her vagina? Will the guys’ friendship shift with sharing? Who knows! I stand by what I said earlier, Archer is my favorite so far! BUT Kingston grew a lot on me as we got to know more about him too.
What I Didn’t Like:
Too Many Names to Remember…I had a hard time right at the beginning with the literal train of men who answered the door when Elliot first showed up at Hawthorne House. Too many names all at once and throughout the book I still had trouble differentiating between some of the other frat boys, but that could also be because the author doesn’t really do much to make them stand apart from each other too much either…
Not Enough Mystery… Not gonna lie, I was disappointed how it felt like the mystery took a back seat through quite a bit of the story. Sure, there was plenty of spicy scenes which I’m not complaining about, but more the several initiation scenes. I just wish the mystery and sneaking around to get answers was played up more, or a trail of clues or something!
The Insta-Love…This seems to always be a thing with RH’s, but at least one of the guys is always a lovesick puppy when he first lands his eyes on the girl, and its no different here.
Conclusion:
Overall, it’s a pretty good but not great RH read. I like that it’s a college, mystery thriller one too because I honestly haven’t read too many of those! I also haven’t read the Inheritance Games Trilogy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, but I’d imagine I’d like them more if they had a similar vibe to these books with the spice and less YA story features. Actually side note, but there are a LOT of YA books I look at nowadays and am like, “This story would be so much better if it had spice!”
I’ll definitely continue to read theses books; the author gives you a satisfying amount but also leaves you wanting more, and there’s a pretty decent cliffhanger of an ending that really adds to the mystery surrounding the main plot, so it definitely keeps my interest! Plus helloooo, more spice!
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