Brutal King
by Jagger Cole
He’s my only cure. And my deadliest poison.
Once upon a time, a scarred beast met a broken beauty.
But to keep my kingdom and appease the Bratva High Council, I’m going to marry a man who’s family my family tried to destroy.
A man who looks at me with cold, brutal blue eyes. A man whose very presence sucks the air from my lungs. A man with no past, shrouded in scars, pain, and darkness.
The rules are simple: get in, get out, don’t fall for the terrifying and magnetically gorgeous Lukas Komarov.
Because this isn't really about me. This is about securing a future for my sick sister. Even if that means binding myself to a man who hates me.
‘Til death do us part...but that’s going to come quicker than anyone knows.
You see, this story has an expiration date. I have an expiration date.
In six months, I’ll be dead.
Spice Level: 3/6 | Story Score: 7.5/10 | Rating: 4.25/5 |
I think the cover of this book is gorgeous. It’s been on my TBR for a long time, just making me nervous enough to not pick it up, and finally, I decided that it needed to happen.
This book somehow managed to be ABSOLUTELY not what I expected, NOTHING of what I was hoping for when I started, and, somehow, was still ENTIRELY enjoyable to read. I was expecting a dark mafia, forced marriage story with a certain level of maturity and darkness. I expected the darkness to occur during the story, even potentially between the characters. What I got was a high school, children of mafia, forced marriage of convenience story. The darkness was all past events (though they were REALLY dark and traumatic) but never between the characters. This story had some strong hints of bullying, but walked the other way pretty quickly. See: I’ve already listed two of my DO NOT READ triggers for myself: high school and bullying. But I ENJOYED this story.
The FMC is the daughter of a dead evil-Bratva-leader. Trying to get access to his money, she enrolls at this school and gains an audience with the Bratva counsel. They tell her that to get it, she’ll have to marry one of two boys. The enemy you know is generally safer, so that’s the direction she goes.
If you like high school romances, with a sprinkle of mafia, you should read this book. It was quite well done, the characters are enjoyable and the story was a bit gut-wrenching, but the HEA is worth it. These kids deserved that HEA…even if they are only 18. (Awkward)
My biggest complaint is that I still have some questions! But they’re pretty character-specific, so I don’t even think that if I read the rest of the series, I’ll get the answers I want. I want more of THIS story.
Also: trigger warnings: mentions and memories of child trafficking, child abuse, and rape.
-SPOILERS-
So did Lucas do all the things he thought he did, or did he just see Yanis doing them and think it was himself? I’m so confused as to how he remembered things when I don’t think he did it. Also, I give him MAJOR props for not freaking out when she followed him into town, or she barged into his meeting with the one lady, or when he figured out that it was her dad that hurt him and his brother. For a man that is so brutal, he was SOOOOOO patient with her. In all aspects. Sex is at the top of that list. Also, I’m real weirded out by the thought that her dad hurt both of them. Mostly because of the whole six-degrees-of-separation idea. I was terrified the whole time that his “dad’s” charity was going to actually be slimy and I was even more scared that it was going to be someone in that organization that hurt him. I’m happy with the way it turned out. Her mom deserves to be super-punched in the face though. I’m mad about her just ending up with some old boyfriend after the heinous way she acted.
Book #3 in the Savage Heirs series | 374 Pages | Trope Challenge: Shared Pasts |
“I want you to kiss me,” her eyes snap up to mine. “I want you to kiss me, and I don’t want you to stop kissing—” My mouth crushes to hers, searing away the pain, swallowing the agony. Bleeding out the poison. Re-wiring. Rewriting. Reforging.
- Brutal King by Jagger Cole
Find it on:
Comments