Year Three

I am completely speechless about this book here. It was so wonderful, addictive and kept me up all night reading. Which I don't mind, that doesn't happen too often. I was so intrigued by this one especially after "Rebel" ended but boy did Sophie Lark really satisfy me and this book is definitely worth the hype and I can see why so many readers love this book so deeply. I normally don't agree with hype books, I will be honest, but in Bully, this book is brilliantly written and one of my favorite reads from this author and I do think its one of her best mafia books read. I am so curious to see if we learn what happens in their HEA in later books, I just loved the connection to Ivan and Snow in this book. And I am glad that I had read that show more series before reading this one for sure. It was so interesting to see how this story was developed.

In the Bully we get a blend of aspects that seemed to really work so well together. We have a connection where there is some blackmail and some bully romance. I actually think this is one of the better bully romances. The hero is blackmailing the heroine because he learns a deep secret that if it becomes known its her life. So seeing this game that they play together was so delectable and when their relationship becomes more serious and BDSM comes into play....HOLY SMOKES....does the sexual tension raise up a notch or ten. Really adored their chemistry and Sophie Lark really did a superb job in building up the BDSM elements while also building on their relationship in such a profound way. And the way that the hero grovels and what is willing to sacrifice for her in the third act just melted my heart. I do feel like the heroine was dragging out the grovel way too much. Like girl come on the dude made a mistake, just forgive him already. If a grovel is to be dragged out longer, it needs to be super bad. And while he hurts her, she knew he had inner pain and lashes out at people, did she just conveniently forget about that? But despite my issue with how the grovel was did, this still turned out to be a five star read for me just because I loved everything else about the book and it had so much heart that won me over in the end.

Overall I had a blast with these two and am curious to see the pieces of the "spy" to really come together in book 4. show less

First of all, I suggest you read the preceding books in the Kingmakers series (which I didn't) to get a better knowledge of how all the characters connect and how all the Russian mafia stuff works. This book reads okay on its own, but I think reading books 1 and 2 beforehand would have cleared my confusion. Luckily, Ms. Lark provides family trees at the beginning of the book to get some sense of who was related to who.

This is not your typical college. Located on a remote island off the coast of Russia, Kingmakers' students take courses in combat, torture techniques, interrogation, extortion, and international banking to name a few.

Watching yet another young girl out of her league trying to navigate a prestigious school and a bullying show more bad boy, is something that seems to be all the rage. Cat has a terrible secret and she's terrified someone at Kingmakers will find out which would lead to death. After all, it's a school that churns out various divisions of mafioso. Unfortunately, that someone is the biggest bully at the school. As part of the Heirs division at Kingmakers, Dean Yenin has a lot to prove and he plays The Bully with anger and finesse. He's extremely unlikeable and evil at the beginning as he torments Cat by promising to keep her secret if she submits to what he wants for a whole month. Don't worry. Dean gets what's coming to him.

As you may guess, they play the BDSM game with Cat being submissive to the point where I want to slap her and Dean being a pig by humiliating her every chance he gets. But the tables turn as Dean grows a heart and declares his love to Cat only to turn into a raging lunatic and throw it all away by hurting the one person he has left in the world. And that's where it gets interesting as Cat grows a backbone and turns the tables on Dean by making him grovel...the best I've seen in a while.

In addition to Cat and Dean's story, there is a bit of espionage going on with someone called The Spy who is working with another person at the school to do exactly what I'm not sure. And apparently, we will learn about The Spy in the next book in the series. Well done, Ms. Lark.

Supporting characters are many including Snow, a boxer and important mentor to Dean; Sasha, Snow's equally important wife and doctor, Sasha; Leo Gallo, Dean's cousin and adversary; Lola, Cat's enemy and antagonist; plus many other friends and foes.

Again, I wish I had read the previous books, but I enjoyed the complex characters and interesting venue in this novel. How fascinating would it be to take some of the classes, without some of the sociopathic teachers, of course?

Thank you to Ms. Lark for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less

I have been dying a slow death waiting for Dean’s arrival and let me say I was NOT disappointed at all! Dean has had a bad rap when it comes to his time at Kingmaker’s because his first year, he was devious, out to be number one, insanely hot, but he could be an acquired taste to some. He has reputation as a cocky arrogant fighter out for himself. So, when he starts showing attention to the incredibly quiet Cat some take notice and wonder what Dean is setting out to accomplish. I don’t want to give too much away because Cat and Dean’s story is a crazy ride that will leave hot and bothered at times and then curious what will happen next. Dean has the weight of the world on his shoulders, but can he find someone to help share it show more with in Cat? Will Cat discover there is more to her than meets the eye and she isn’t meek but a very strong individual that fights for those she loves? Or will they both have to go down swinging when things get to be too much? This series leaves me craving more and falling so hard for characters that I want to join their world. I can’t wait to see what we have in store for the next book because I’m sure it will be more intense as well breathtaking.
“You don’t know what a monster I can be, but I’ll be your monster.”
“I’ll burn this whole f***king world down for you if that’s what you want.” show less

I love this book so much, Dean and Cat's story is fantastic, it's my favorite in the series. The world-building and characters in the series if brilliant but this book has become my favorite of them all, I wanted Dean's story so much and with all the twists and turns I got here I fell in love with him. I really enjoyed how Cat made Dean grovel and work for it. All the secrets, lies and everything you didn't think would get a relationship work kind of added the cherry on top for the story. You need to read them all! Brilliant 5 stars!


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