Lords of Wrath: Royals of Forsyth University

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I was extremely excited for it when I finished Lords of Pain. There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book and I think sensitive readers (if any of them made it through Lords of Pain) should heed it. This book gets extremely dark, including a punishment scene that I stopped reading twice and took a break from because I found it beyond my personal squick threshold.Overall, I think the book is good, but not great. The pacing is slightly off, with the first half dragging and the second half feeling slightly rushed, particularly the ending. The editing isn’t quite as tight as the first book, where I noticed almost no typos. There are a number in this book. They didn’t detract from my reading experience as a whole, but there were enough that I noticed. That added to my impression that the book was rushed.Maybe the theme for this book is the adage (attributed to Confucius), “seek revenge and you should dig two graves, one for your yourself.” There’s a ton of revenge going on in these 300 pages. (The book felt much longer than that, perhaps because I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.) The heroine gets revenge on her bullies, but her whole “plan” struck a sour note with me. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the heroine’s revenge in the Rich Boys of Burberry Prep series or the heroine’s refusal to stoop in the Hannaford Prep series. There’s a point where one of the boys says the heroine has two M.O.s, run or make things worse. Unfortunately, that’s true from a plot perspective. When the heroine finally stops running and makes a stand against the boys, her revenge plan is just, frankly, stupid. There was no way the boys weren’t going to figure out it was her, and when they did, their retaliation went beyond sadistic into dehumanising. I can’t see any believable happy ending for these characters after that.There are also some D/s undertones in this book, particularly between Tristian and the heroine, where he tries to “train” her by giving her aftercare and incentivising her submission. There’s a particularly ugly kink theory that involves “breaking” a submissive, reducing the submissive to the point where nothing but the dominant’s will matters. As this literally strips the submissive of the ability to consent, I’m very wary of this theory, and it felt like that underrode this book in a way that made me uncomfortable. Whether it was conscious or not on the part of the authors, the boys do break the heroine. It’s unclear to me if, by the end, she’s starting to take control and build herself back up. The final scene with between the heroine and the boys suggests she is, but it felt more like a submissive returning to an abusive relationship and trying to negotiate some limits on her abuse instead of the heroine reclaiming her agency. I guess the third book will tell, but I’m not nearly as excited about it as I was for this book.

There were little plot holes I couldn't work past. The concept is ridiculous, sure. Writing isn't terrible. They call this book dark, but it's really not. I rolled my eyes a few times. It's rather light in most of it. Just spoiled rich boys trying to be tough. Would I recommend it? If you're bored and want to kill some time. Overall, I was just disappointed with how long it took to get where the authors seemed to want this tale to get to.Story was just so passive aggressive about everything and her revenge was underwhelming, especially with what she did to Killian. It was easy to see Daniel was involved with the whole Ted thing. Where it's going past that, considering someone seems to have stolen his Ted identity, might be interesting considering the authors didn't really leave much in the way of additional characters it could be. They'd have to really work some magic to make it believable at this point. Also, I found it unbelievable that suddenly Story has this past where she drove getaway cars for her gay roommate who was murdered by Ted, but she also mentions not having been close to him. You can't have a character driving getaway cars, living with a guy, and not knowing him. To add to it, she mentions how there's this photo of Jack resting his hand on her shoulder after they got out of work or something ridiculous (book 1?). Come on. Close up your plot holes and be consistent. Either she knew the guy or she didn't. Killian takes her shooting. She's a natural after firing off a few rounds. It's a .22. . .SMH. That's not how any of this works. What gangster chooses a .22? It's akin to a BB gun. People use it to take out small woodland creatures with, not grown men.Overall, I'd give this a 2/5. The authors were reaching, trying to shove all the shock factor into one book. It fell short for me. The darkness was lacking, the plot had some issues. The girl keeps having flashbacks but keeps coming back for more. It's just . . . ridiculous. Over the top. I know we should suspend disbelief, but give me a break here. Either she likes these guys or she doesn't. And if she does, then the games are pointless for her, making the entire story pointless (Story is pointless? She seems to be).Anyway, read it if you're bored but don't go into it thinking you're getting something special. It's an everyday, run of the mill attempt at darkness and a rather soft reverse harem. Which brings me to the fact that it lacked the steam that a lot of RH books have. It was just bleh. There are no group scenes.

1. If a woman/man didn’t give permission to have any type of sexual activity it’s rape.2. Everything Killian did to her in her sleep was either rape/ molestation ( one part of the book she asked him not to and he still did it)3. I wanted to like this book the whole lords and prince thing could’ve been cool but I’ve never heard of college students act so childish.4. The women in this book sound like they came out of a bad 1960’s sitcom. They could only do “lady” things and the strong men need to be around for protection.This is the first book where I disliked every character and I never want to read a book by these authors again. If i could give this a zero star I would have.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!This book didnt do it for me at all.. It went too far to me. The punishments .. were something else.The branding which was awful and permanent.. The tracking n chip inserting.. The sex while she was just a vessel basically.. and Finally the fun house incident.When she had the opportunity she shoulda left. Not one of the guys actions was redeemable..and kinda disgusts me. I mean she ran from the life she had to avoid being used abused and attacked..and yet.. these boys have prob done worse to her under the guise of some kinda relationship.I mean i cant see how she isnt gonna walk away physically emotionally battered and broken.The scars she already has are already pretty intense.. dread to think how many she'll have by the end of her time with them.Dont get me wrong ive read some twisted books before. But considering this is a teenage girl who was a virgin in book 1.. to treating her this way.. and not always consensually puts me off.. I ended up skimming the ending after the Pit scene.

Before I get into my review I want to start of by saying this book is dark and full of triggers, it comes with trigger warnings!!! Read them and judge well before diving in as its much darker then book 1.I struggled to like LoW at first, mainly due to being in a slump but that quickly changed as I followed Story and her plans for revenge. I was shocked, awed, sitting on the edge of my seat filled with anxiety and by the end I was left begging for more, I have my suspicions who Ted is, someone I suspected from earlier on in the book too and only time will tell if I'm right.Things I loved:•Character progression, the boys and Story made some amazing levels of growth in this book, we got to see some inner emotions as the story played out.•Story's attitude and personality took on a whole new light, I loved this strong revengeful character.•The whole book was jam packed full of action and addictiveThings I didn't like:There where certain aspects of the book that grated on my nerves, certain darker parts that where a tad too much for me, maybe because I felt like it was normalising something that shouldn't be normalised and should be consentful no matter what. I understood the why and the bases about it but this is my opinion of it, it didn't deter me from speeding through the pages but ill be relieved when that kink is twisted into something away from what u felt in this book.Overall an amazing read and if you love Dark bully romance then this is definitely a book to add to your TBR

I loved the first book, but this one surprised me in the best way.This was my level of dark and twisted, in times even surprising me with how dark it got, but always staying on the side of believable. I could actually see the things happening in the book take place and it didn't feel like something unbelievable.The story itself made me smile at how strom Story got, how the boys opened up and how ruthless they all could be. How equal. And I was feeling every emotion along with them, was able to see their points of view, acknowledge their reasons for doing all that shit.. and the bathroom mirror scene was exquisite and strong.Beautifully crafted and epic book! I was a mess waiting for this one and I am already an even bigger mess waiting for the conclusion.Because the next book is where everything will be different. And I am soooo ready for it!

Well, *stamps feet, having tantrum*. I need book three! I can’t wait 😤I’ve loved this series. So much more than ‘a bully romance’. It’s dark, horrifying and brutal. Book one I just wanted to see these abusive Lords suffer horribly somehow. I really disliked them and couldn’t get my head around it because surely I’m supposed to be gunning for these guys to find love with their gal?Book two alarm bells are going off in my brain! Like, wtf is wrong with me? I started softening a bit but kept puzzling how that could be possible? There’s no excuse, no forgetting nor forgiving the things these Lords have done.I think I need therapy, I’m so confused and feel so guilt stricken that I’m actually warming to these Lords!I liked book one better but book two still gets a full 5 stars. No other ‘romances’ dark or light have ever affected me this way. I need book 3 now! I need closure.

At the end of book one I was begging to know who Ted was, I had my own theories and we finally get some answers in this one. But as with every twisted and layered storyline there’s still so much we don’t know. Story shows us a different side to her personality in this one and it took me a while to figure her out and get on board with her plans.Unlike the first book, this one took me a while to get into. Not because the writing wasn’t amazing, just because everything I expected to happen, didn’t. I was so confused about some of the things happening and then everything started to reveal itself. And now I’m back to being desperate for more.Killian isn’t morally grey, he’s pitch black. And Rath and Tristan are his match. They’re harsh and cruel and Story is finally working out how to play their game. But please read those warnings ⛔️ this book is darker than book one and the trigger warnings need to be listened to ⚠️