Clarissa Wild

Spine Ridge University is not your typical school. It is meant to be a place for rich and powerful's children to take courses and learn the family businesses. But there is more to this University than anyone knows. The school has secret societies, parties of depravity, and your typical feuds between families that have not aged. Penelope has changed schools to come here - to the place where her sister committed suicide. All Penelope has left of her sister has of her diary. Inside, it is filled with images and secrets that Penelope needs to unravel to solve her sister's death.

But Penelope has trudged into stormy waters she should have never done so. She has found herself in the crosshairs of the boys of Skulls & Serpents- Felix, Dylan, and Alistair. As she is drawn into their web of depravity, they are determined to lay down their lives and protect what is theirs.

This story contains the following:

Reverse Harem
Touch her and Die
Possessive Males
Bully Romance

The first thing that drew me to this book was mainly the cover. It is beautiful and I thought I would definitely enjoy the dark romance it promised. Yet, it did not feel original nor did it set itself apart from the other dark bullying romances that have been put out there. The characters and their world seems to be a bit recycled and there has been nothing new to be added to the whole genre. The boys are still red flags. The sort of red flags which we know to stay away from but you know we won't.

I felt that Penelope's character did not grow whatsoever in the story. It still seemed flat and I felt that her determination to find why her sister killed herself seemed to sidetrack when she started being pulled into the boys' world. It was like her direction changed. I understand that she believed that they were suspects but she could find other means of looking into them, but then this would not be the story it is, right?… (more)

It took me a while to get around to this book, and I am glad to have gotten it off my shelved and into my archived library.

It was a good story but not really something that I would read again. It is worth a read when you don't have anything else pending. It grabbed me immediately and there was no needing to "get into it", so if you are in a slump and just need something that you can start and not have to wade through a bunch of backstory or getting into a scene, this would be good.

If you have read any other Clarissa Wild books like X, or Killer/Stalker, then you know the style of the book and the theme. It seems that even though all her mafia-type are alone books, they all seem to allude to other books. In Killer/Stalker there is mention of the main character in X, and in this one it seems that "Viktor" is brought up a lot too. I haven't read Viktor yet but wasn't given anything away so no spoilers there.

There are some major abuse themes regarding a young girl "Ava" who is the heroine in this book. She was abducted at the age of 7 when her family was murdered. She was sold into slavery and trained perfectly to be a "servant". She goes through and describes some major abuse.

Like I said, it was good story. If you have read Clarissa Wild's "mafia" type books before then you know what to expect. Also if you haven't it's ok to start with this one. Although I think starting with X would be better, but if you have this on your next up list go ahead and give it a read.
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