A review by romancingthereader
The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet, Part One by J.C. Hawke

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the best five-star book Iโ€™m going to tell you not to read - not yet at least. Because if you read it, youโ€™re going to be heartbroken. Then youโ€™re going to be mad at me.

Orrrrr, you can read it, yell at me, and we can be broken hearted together until the second part of this story comes out.

๐Ÿ“” ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ: The Grand Ruin, part one of Lance and Scarlettโ€™s story in the Grand amen universe.

๐Ÿ“š๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ: Brotherโ€™s best friend, forbidden romance, angsty romance.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Scarlet meets Lance, who works as part of her brotherโ€™s company. What starts as friendly banter quickly morphs into a secret relationship, which overcomes deep ups and downs as they navigate time and the space between them.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: Ok, so if youโ€™ve been with me since I recommended The Promise Duet, you already know where this story is going. But let me tell you, you donโ€™t know the emotional turmoil you go through to get there.

For those of you who havenโ€™t read any of JC Hawkeโ€™s work, start there and work your way forward. (P.S. see my note belowโ€ฆ)

I missed a huge context clue when it said this was part one of their story, so when I got to the end and was crying through the last few pages, I was probably more wrecked than I should have been. But The Grand Ruin stood up to its name and demolished me.

It was great to delve deeper into Scarlet and Lanceโ€™s characters. She turned out to be so much more than I thought and I really, really felt for her. And Lance was absolutely perfect. Cocky and independent, but when Scarlet comes alone heโ€™s completely undone. Likeโ€ฆ read thisโ€ฆ

โ€œ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ท๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ. ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด. ๐—•๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฒ. ๐—ฆ๐—ผ, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ.โ€

Cue me fainting with happiness. It also had just enough of Hawkeโ€™s British drama style. Itโ€™s all over the top, and I love it.

Bottom line, this is an excellent next chapter. Lucy and Elliotโ€™s story was epic, but turned out to be just a breather in between Mason and Nina and the heart break that is Lance and Scar. But it has me screaming for the next part NOW. And I canโ€™t imagine how emotionally taxing that will be.

๐Ÿ“ ๐—” ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒโ€ฆ Youโ€™ve got to start this one from the beginning. Start with Grand Lies and Grand Love, Mason and Ninaโ€™s story. Youโ€™ll love the series much better if you get the whole story.

๐—™๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 5/5 โญโญโญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 3/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ

๐Ÿ†“๏ธ on KU