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Review

5 stars

I love this book! A mature YA read with amazing characters, fantastic dynamics, wonderful banter and chemistry, and a forbidden romance. I was completely captivated from start to finish, this is such a great read.

RJ’s mother has just landed herself a rich husband, and his life is changing in ways he never imagined. He has a new step-brother that he meets at the wedding (and who is equally as disgusted at the hasty parental wedding), and he’s being uprooted from his solitary life to attend Sandover Prep – an exclusive boarding school for wealthy delinquent boys. RJ is determined to keep to himself for senior year, concentrating on his hacking and not making any connections. But things don’t work out that way.

Firstly, RJ’s new stepbrother, Fenn, is his new roommate, and he’s not as bad as RJ originally thought. He’s funny and sarcastic, and surprisingly seems to genuinely care about his new family member. And Fenn comes with friends – Lawson, the manwhoring, drug-taking party boy, and Silas, the good guy. And then there’s the girl that RJ meets on a running trail, a gorgeous, stand-offish ice princess who wants nothing to do with him, but who captivates him like no other… and she just happens to be the headmaster’s daughter, which makes her completely off-limits.

It’s a great set-up, and I loved watching RJ in his new world. As much as he tries to keep to himself, Fenn’s friends go out of their way to drag him into their circle, and he finds his place amongst the wealth, privilege and debauchery behind Sandover’s walls. He’s also doing everything he can to win over Sloane – who just happens to be friends with his new friends. The group has a long history, and there are lots of secrets in their past, and the touch of mystery works really well to build intensity in the story.

The book is written in multiple POV. Obviously, RJ is the star, but we also get chapters from Fenn, Lawson, Silas and Sloane, which I really loved. It builds the world and allows us to see more of what is going on than just what RJ sees, and in a story with so many threads running through it, I love that Elle Kennedy chose to share so much of that with the reader.

As a die-hard romance fan, what surprised me the most about this book was that it wasn’t the love story that captured me, the highlight of this book for me was the boys! All so different, each of them with their own demons to battle, but each of them witty and intelligent with a great sense of humor. Their banter, teasing and dynamics are absolute gold, and I loved their interactions so much (the downside of audio is that you can’t highlight, and I would have highlighted so much of their conversations!). Getting to know each of them in the lead up to their own books added so much to the story.

I didn’t feel the romance as much as I was expecting. It took me a really long time to warm up to Sloane, and in the beginning I didn’t really like her at all. But I loved RJ so much, and I loved that he had such an intense attraction to her, and that everything about her appealed to him, so I was happy that he had found his happy. But Sloane develops a lot throughout the book, a lot of that due to RJ coming into her life, and I ended up really liking her. I enjoyed their relationship, and the ups and downs they battle along the way.

There’s a lot going on in this book, and most of it is extreme (extreme drama, extreme wealth, extreme bad guys, extreme behaviour, etc), and I was here for all of it. And while RJ and Sloane get their HEA, the book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, with big reveals and shifts in the story which will obviously continue to unfold in future books – next up is ROGUE.

I loved these characters, this world, and this book. It’s a strong start to the series, and I can’t wait to read more!

5 stars!

I listened to this as an audiobook, and Jason Clarke does an incredible job. He delivers the perfect amount of sarcastic apathy to his narration, but also manages to bring the feels when necessary. Stella Bloom and Nelson Hobbs also narrate additional characters, and together they all bring the feels. I recommend listening to this one.

Prep