Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Cruel King by Rina Kent

20 reviews

emilycruz1016's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

booklovinmamas's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve seen Rina Kent’s books everywhere on IG and have several of her books on my TBR, so I finally made time to read one of her books. I started with the suggested reading order on Rina Kent’s website and borrowed Cruel King from Kindle Unlimited. It’s one of her New Adult Romances with one of my favorite tropes, Bully Romance. I know bullying in romance books is not for everyone, but I love these books for some reason.

Storyline/My Thoughts: Cruel King is a prequel to Rina King’s Royal Elite series but can be read as a standalone, according to the author’s website and other reviews I’ve read on this book. This prequel does introduce other MMCs that get their books later in the Royal Elite series, which I now can’t wait to read after reading Levi King’s book.

This book is not only a bully romance but an instant hate-to-love romance between the main characters for different reasons. The FMC, Astrid Clifford’s father, specifically told her to stay away from the Kings at Royal Elite. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a predicament at a party and unexpectedly meets Levi King. After the party, Astrid’s life of invisibility flips upside down. Now she is visible and a target for everyone at Royal Elite, including Levi King, whose mission is to make her life difficult. He wants her to let go of her mission of finding out who targeted her specifically at the party, but she’s not bowing to his demands.

If you enjoy bully romance, as I do, you know eventually what will happen; the bully falls in love with the person they are tormenting. It’s inevitable, especially in the case of Levi King, when he starts to hang out and learn more about Astrid Clifford. You would think I would be bored of the same storyline regarding bully romances, but I enjoy reading how the bully falls for the girl and how he ends up becoming her savior at one point in the story. I crave these types of stories.

What were my thoughts when it came to Levi King? In the book, he is an ultimate jerk to Astrid, which is expected since he’s a bully. I liked his character, even if he was the bully of the story. He had his own issues that he was dealing with and acted out in ways due to what he had been put through. He lived with his Uncle, who tried to control his life, and his cousin. He and Astrid had similarities to what they were dealing with regarding family issues. Neither one was respected or even shown love, and both lost either one or both parents.

What did I think of Astrid Clifford? I liked her, but she sometimes drove me crazy with her choices. I felt for her character and how her father and his family (wicked stepmother and stepsister vibes) treated her. The poor girl was still grieving losing her mother to a car accident she had been in with her mother. Then, she ends up in another accident, and this time she believes someone is targeting her. The girl couldn’t catch a break, and then Levi King happened.

The book may be a bully romance, but there’s a mystery to solve involving poor Astrid. There is a shocking twist at the end that I was even surprised by and didn’t suspect to happen. I won’t spoil it for readers who haven’t read this book. I’m glad everything came together, and Astrid and Levi had a happy ending. More for Astrid since she deserved it.

Overall, I give the first book I read from Rina Kent four stars and will definitely continue to read the Royal Elite series. Rina Kent, a new-to-me author that I will now have to check out her whole backlist of books she’s written. Wish me luck, I will need it since she has a lot of books, but I’m one determined reader.

Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Royal Elite series.

Steam/Spice: 🌶 🌶 🌶

Genre/SubGenre(s)/Trope(s)/Element(s): Romance. YA/NA Romance. Bully Romance. Hate to Love. Enemies to Love. Sports Romance. Soccer/Football Romance. Athlete/Football/Soccer Player MMC.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoy New Adult Romances with the bully and hate-to-love/enemies-to-lovers tropes, this book/series may be for you.

Favorite Quote(s): “Those who don’t play chess think the king is the strongest piece because the game ends when he dies, but they don’t stop to think that if the queen dies first, the king doesn’t have a chance to survive.”

“What the hell do you want from me?” I’m glad my voice doesn’t crack like my insides. “Your fire.” His lips graze the lobe of my ear and a zap of shivers shoot through my body. “Your fight.” His voice drops to a low, tingle-inducing range. “Your everything.”

“He thought he broke me, but he shouldn’t have let me pick up the pieces because what doesn’t kill me, better run.”

“If you’re a mistake, I’ll still make it every fucking time.”

Content Warnings

briochebun's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 out of 5 ☆’s.

”I want to ruin him as much as he's ruined me. This time, I want to be the predator instead of the prey.”

ੈ✩‧₊˚

This novel was an interesting introduction into the Rina Kent-verse!

I also want to preface that I am a bit biased when it comes to novels that are set in high school (I prefer to read about older MCs + characters now that I’m older & find the situations that arise in novels set in high school a bit silly at times…some things are just too dramatic — even for teenagers) so my rating might reflect that.

ੈ✩‧₊˚

With that being said — I did enjoy Levi + Astrid’s story overall! There were some moments were I was frustrated with the characters’ decisions & I also felt that the ending was unnecessarily dramatic — but I did enjoy the epilogue + the way that Astrid + Levi acted around one another once they were officially together!

Content Warnings

readbyjaimes's review against another edition

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dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m so glad I started with this book!

So this was my first Rina Kent and I couldn’t be happier. I love Levi and Astrid and their love story was so cute. And while it was a dark romance, it definitely wasn’t terrible and I found it pretty easy to get through. One issue I have with it though is that the plot twist was just tossed in there. Instead of gasping in shock, it was more of a tilted head in confusion. But overall I really liked the book!

Content Warnings

rabbitsdolly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

thesmutsister_emma's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

We Are All Aware I Need Therapy

Look... I am completely and utterly aware I need therapy. WITH THAT SAID, this book reinforced this. I truly, honestly sat there half the book believing I could change Levi. I thought because I understand what it's like to have a father who has bipolar, I would be able to do it. Maybe I just need more frequent therapy sessions instead.

The Characters
Astrid: Girl. I have no idea how you did it. There was so much back and forth and fucking trauma. I literally could not. I would have given up so much earlier on. Jesus. I feel like I write about strong FMCs frequently but this is a different case. Astrid honestly did what few other FMCs I have seen could do. She held her head high though so much adversity and bullshit. There was so much she could have just looked at the whole thing and just turned in, yet she didn't. She persevered. And I don't even mean all the bullshit with Levi. That's just a whole other can of worms. Jesus.
Levi: Levi, honey, baby, child, love. I am desperately begging you to go to fucking therapy. Jesus Christ. So much of this book would not be an issue if you would. There was just. so. much. I'm not going to look too deeply into my love for the possessiveness or the toxicity. I just will book more and longer sessions with Rod. That is how I'm going to deal with that.

Things I Loved
Look. I'm going to be honest. I waited too long and loved my last book too much to be able to give any specifics other than I adore the writing style and fully intend on continuing the series, if not Rina's entire backlog.

The Final Verdict
If you can take the bully romance trope and are okay with getting your feelings hurt, you better run to Kindle Unlimited for this one.

Content Warnings

culzean's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

anovelglimpse's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was my first book by Rina Kent, but it won't be my last. I'm already wanting to know what's up for the younger King and the Ice Princess. That's another book, so I'll go back to talking about this one. Cruel King wasn't an Earth shattering read for me. It was similar to the other bully / dark romances set in high school I've read before. Astrid's a wallflower and invisible until Levi King makes her not with his bullying tactics. Things take a twisted and sexual turn with a mystery lurking in the background. I'm making it sound cliche, but it did actually surprise me at one point. I was also addicted to the story and its characters.

Content Warnings

uvsrdg's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

eupxx11's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Nice book. It has spice but there’s also a plot so it isn’t boring at all. It’s a dark enemies to lovers college romance so if you’re into dark themes (mainly moderate bullying) it’s ok for you to read it.

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