King of Corium: Corium University is the Alaskan Academy that houses the most dangerous criminals in the world’s children. They are sent there to learn to fight, torture, blackmail, and kill; skills they are already adept at. The only rule- no killing. But there are worse things than death and Aspen knows this. She is a ‘rat’ by extension of her father. He broke mafia code and worked with the FBI, and it backfired. Now he’s in prison, his wife is in hiding, and his daughter has been sent to Corium where she is the most hated person in the school. Quinton’s father is the head of the mafia and he is the top of the food chain at Corium. Aspen is his enemy. Her father tried to take on his father and although he failed, he made a terrible time, worse. Now Aspen will pay.
Drop Dead Queen: Aspen survived a helicopter crash and the elements and Quinton survived a bear attack and now they are back at Corium but she’s still not safe. This was an attempt on her life and whoever wants her dead, won’t give up so easily.
Quinton promises he can keep her safe but she knows better. There’s nowhere safe for her now.
Broken Kingdom: In the aftermath of a brutal gang rape and the loss of her baby, Aspen is determined to become stronger; to live for her baby. Quinton’s hands are covered in blood as he gets her revenge. But still, they can’t be together. There has to be a way. Otherwise, what was the point?
This is not an enemies-to-lovers story. It’s a crime scene. There is not one bit of romance, friendship, or even a spark. You cannot label it bully romance if you forget to include any romance. It was unoriginal in every sense. Aspen was hated through no fault of her own, and bullied or ignored by all. The guys tormented and sexually assaulted her. She has one friend, the librarian. Aspen was starved and poisoned to the point of hospitalization, raped repeatedly, and forced to live in squalor for part of the book. This is not quality writing. The blurb could be Welcome to Corium University starring Aspen Mathers as ”The one girl everyone wants to rape”. Meet her men, Quinton, Matteo, and Nash! I imagine the authors were going for shock-value darkness but it’s so poorly done, it only garnered my disgust. It’s boring, repetitive, and disgusting. There should be warning labels on this to keep young girls from reading it and thinking any of this is romantic. There was no character development, no redemption, only acceptance. It’s hard to believe the authors don’t hate Aspen and Quinton with this storyline. There is nothing redeemable about their characters, relationship, or storyline. And what about the side characters? Ren was the worst friend/plant ever. Big bad Xander threatened a teen over her father’s acts. Lucas went from disregard to affection before the obvious was stated. Their classmates never got a true speaking role. Vito, Phoenix, Anya? What was their purpose? And Mommy Dearest was never heard from again. Why create characters if you aren’t going to use them?
Zara Eden and Connor Brown narrated this series. Their efforts were uneven. I thought they did an excellent job in book one but by book three, their delivery was forced, especially during ’emotional’ scenes. I get it, I do. Considering the material I think they did the best they could but by the end, I felt both were reading lines, not delivering a great performance.
A reminder that I no longer review lower than a 3-star in recognition of the work involved in writing and editing a book. If I did, this would not be a 3.
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