Kings & Corruption

Aventine University #1

by Sadie Hunt

I hate them.
They want me.

I only came to Blackwell Falls to find my missing sister. First on my list of suspects: the notorious Kings of Aventine.

Now I’m forced to live with the three men I can’t afford to trust.

Rock tries to fool me with a soft touch, kind blue eyes, and the nurturing I secretly crave.

Brooding, dark-eyed Oscar takes pictures of me when I’m not looking and tempts me with his piercings, inked skin, and honeyed words.

And then there’s Neo: King of Kings. Savage street fighter. Bully.

Stepbrother.

He wants me as much as he hates me.

I came to Aventine ready for anything — except falling for the three gorgeous men who might have hurt my sister.

Will they be my saviors — or my destroyers?

Kings & Corruption is a DARK NEW ADULT, college romance featuring ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS, BULLY, LOVE/HATE, and STEPBROTHER tropes. It contains themes and situations some readers may find uncomfortable. If you're at all unsure whether this book is for you, please read the note at the beginning of the book, which includes a detailed CW.

Genres: Dark Romance, Why Choose, Dark, Romance, Enemies To Lovers, College, Contemporary

508 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2023

Reviews

[chanelmindedx · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️

Willa, the FMC, was panting like a bitch in heat during her first interaction with the guys knowing they could have been the ones to 'kill' her sister. She instantly got wet when they glanced at her. It was giving major betraying-body syndrome. 🤢 If Mara, her best friend, hadn't interrupted them, Willa would have let them SA her with absolutely no fight in the second chapter.

EVERY SINGLE PAGE that contained the guys had Willa describing how horny she was. She couldn't form one thought. She was just stupid and desperate. I genuinely think there's something wrong with her. She had sex on the brain 24/7. I'm not even exaggerating. She makes all women look bad.

ALSO, Willa decided to look for her missing sister 2 years into her disappearance. 2 YEARS!! 2 MFING YEARS!! That girl was probably deader than dead while she was out partying and 'grieving' her. Willa really didn't give a single fuck about her sister, to be honest. Her disappearance was a plot device. Finding her was usually the last thing on Willa's mind. The first thing was fucking her roommates.

Although I despise MOST of the FMC's actions, I like her style/sense of fashion. Nowadays, authors LOVE to write females who are 'not like other girls.' They don't wear makeup, hate dressing up and designer clothes. Willa, on the other hand, was a girly girl, which I appreciate.

I will not be continuing this series. I wanted to punch Willa in the face every second of this book.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here I am with my same old complaint. Timeline. How can she sleep until 11 and still make her 8am/9am class?

[irrelevant opinion · Rating 3 out of 5]

misleading & what’s the point ?

I didn’t know this was book one of a series when I started it. It’s not communicated on the blurb whatsoever. Kind of glad it is considering 80% there’s still no point to whatever the hell this was. I’m unsure why it’s called dark bully when it’s neither dark nor bully. The guys immediately fawn over her, are super protective and want to get in her pants ASAP. She’s constantly attracted to all three guys, but no one hooks up till after 80% and it’s only with one guy. The author didn’t label it as reverse harem/why choose so I’m unsure if the FMC will end up with all of them or not. But the entire book was her panting after all three and then being like “oh wait I can’t trust them”
The premise of the book was her to find out what happened to her missing sister, but really that’s like the side plot the entire time. The whole time Willa is more focused on making sure she doesn’t f*ck the three hot men she lives with because she “should be” looking for her sister. I really don’t understand the point of this and why it needed to be so long if it’s the start of a series. I won’t be continuing because by the end, I just wanted her to eff them all so she could shut up about wanting too and then feeling guilty about it.

[coffeeinlibraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ 2.5🌶️

I’ve read the mixed reviews and decided to take a chance on it because this has some of my fav tropes and whattaya know? I absolutely loved this! The writing was great, the story kept my attention the entire time thanks to the flawless flow.

The sexual tension was DELICIOUS. The suspense was delightful as well! I wouldn’t say this was super dark, or maybe my dark meter is just fucked up, but it did have some darker elements that I really enjoyed.

I actually laughed quite a bit which I wasn’t expecting. They were organically funny, nothing felt forced. I will say that Willa could be extremely dense at times, but I guess when you’re sorta desperate you’ll do whatever it takes. I say sorta, because while she keeps saying she wants answers to her sisters case… she’s really not doing much? She investigated one area, didn’t find anything important to her (I did, however.) went about her business and then talked to her sister’s roommate who was hella suspicious. Then things kinda fizzled out and she was waiting for the kings to tell her more. Which I wasn’t shocked by the cliffy whatsoever. Butttt, nothing is as it seems at that place so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also, I wasn’t HUGELY surprised by who was at the cabin. I called it when she found the condoms. And I think the person(s) helping are Enzo or the professor.

I do wish we had more POVs from the guys. I can’t wait for her and Rock to finally have their moment, and her and Neo of course because that teaser we had with them… woof 🥵🥵 Andddd, who was the guy Oscar talked to at the fights?? Can we add him to the harem next book or nah? Because his description was… nice 😏

Overall, I’m definitely looking forward to book two!!

[Mirthe Meulenbroek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gods it was bad.
I don't even know where to begin.
I think wat irked me the most was how incredably, unbelievably stupid Willa is. She is portrayed as this damsel in distress. It made me pull my hair out in frustration. Girl, make the right choice, it isn't that freakin' hard! Don't get your ass into trouble and then need saving from the kings, twice! How stupid can you be, honestly? And then she gets everyone into mortal peril, and needs saving (we are a strong species, we do not need saving!) she gets freakin home made cookies!?
When I am on my period and my uterus is killing me, I don't even get cookies but when she gets all kinds of people in danger, and needs saving because she made a whole bunch of really, really stupid choices, she gets home made cookies!? Where are my cookies!?

And another beef I have with the book is the way she is dressed all the freakin' time. She can only wear shorts that do not cover her ass and crop tops. WHY!? Even when she is cold, she wears those stupid flimly pieces of clothing and needs to be warmed up by the guys, all the while telling herself how independend she is. As Effing IF! The author makes it seem like this is the only way to be able to get attention, and when she gets it from other guys, it's immediately portrayed as creepy. What-Do-You-Want author!?
And when Willa feels down and is wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, all of a sudden the guys don't look at her anymore? Why? What's the deal with that!?

Allright here is the deal my dear girls/woman. You are freakin gorgeous even if you wear jeans, turtle necks, sweatpants, overzised hoodies and every other piece of clothing you want to wear. If you feel good in shorts and croptops. Great! If you feel good in a baggy pants and oversides sweater, also freakin hot! Feeling down and wearing sweatpants and overzised hoody, Girl, you are gorgeous! You do not have to dress like this Willa to be worthy of attention.
I wanted to have said that.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular

I loved this book

This was a new to me author an I just adore the characters in this book. Neo is an ass Rock is adorable and Oscar will stab anyone who threatens Willa.

Willa is a strong character right from the start she doesn’t think the guys like her an has always thought her sister is the one everyone loved she basically was a wallflower who was in her sisters shadow.

Rock an Oscar are Neos best friends since childhood. Neo is now Willa’s stepbrother. They’ve all know each other since childhood there families are Italian Mafia. We are told or hinted you could say that something happened when they all were children and it involves Willa.

Neo tries to stay away from Willa and is a total dick to her for reasons we find out further in the book. Rock an Oscar adore her even though she doesn’t know if she should trust any of them.

She’s basically thrown to them by having to attend the same collage an having to live with them an not in a dorm.

Some of the guys that live in the house hate her one in particular he’s a bad apple. One who wants to be her friend and the others no idea yet.

Picking a favorite out of

Neo
Rock
Oscar

Is hard but it’s RH who says you have to 😏

[Shyla Colt]

Wow. Willia has had one hell of a life. Born into a mafia family, her life is turned upside down when her father turns snitch, leaving her, her mother, and her sister behind. During that time, her sister goes missing, and she spirals out of control. Traveling and partying abroad to cope ( or not cope. When her mother lands a new husband, she's called home to attend the wedding and put under his rule.

Forced to attend the school in the same area her sister disappeared from; she's put under the watchful eyes of her step-brother and his crew. This school is unlike any other, full of future criminal masterminds it has a set of rules all its own. I loved the secrets revealed, how they were hidden, and the threads that unravel and connect while Willa seeks answers.

Her relationship with each of the boys is unique, and I appreciated the way they developed as the book went on. This will keep you guessing, and we still haven't gotten all the answers yet.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars for Kings & Corruption by new author ( for me ) Sadie Hunt

This is a series so please be advised it ends in a cliffhanger that being said you will be left wanting more ..

Readers should heed content warnings but personally I advise you to just jump on in … fantastic story set in the world of Aventine University.

Younger adult - college setting
Bully situations
All the Kings are kings those being Neo , Rock and Drago ( why choose )
Willa Russo is an amazing heroine
Storyline with great plot twists
Scorching , sizzling chemistry
Unexpected funny humor


This story definitely leaves you wanted so much more ! Can’t wait for book 2 !

I received a free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review !

[Ivelisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A university of mafia children where they learn how to manage and get around the system. Willa is thrown in this school 2 years after her sister went missing. Her goal, find what happened to her sister… but there are 3 men in her way… Neo, Rock and Oscar. There’s so much they know that they don’t tell her. In the few weeks she’s in the school, she’s trying to stay alive, find answers and work through her feelings.

[Bec · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of page time is dedicated to "I'm betrayed by my body" and STTL. The main plot device is very forced and the MC's motivation seems pretty meh.

[Spasticnontastic]

DNF at 40%

[CeCe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Did not hold my attention at all. So forced.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Willa might be the most moronic FMC ever and that’s really saying something. I’m usually the only one who likes the FMC in a book, but this bitch was on my last nerve. Her whole thing was “I’m only going to college to find my sister” and then she gets there and proceeds to do next to nothing about it. She barely even thinks or talks about her, and it’s weird, considering said sister is the supposed motivation of everything. The poor girl went missing 2 years ago, and during that time Willa was…partying in Europe. Now all of the sudden she wants to play Nancy drew, but she spends more time thirsting over her roommates than trying to find her sister, and on the rare occasions she actually did anything, it was in the most moronic way possible. She breaks into the dean’s office, which makes no sense, because there isn’t an iota of anything that leads to the dean. She doesn’t even know what she’s looking for, and then she leaves an earring behind on the floor? Like your sister may have been murdered here, so what in the world does she think she’s doing? Playing it by ear? And failing spectacularly?

She says throughout that she thinks the kings might know something about her sister’s disappearance, and it’s abundantly clear these guys are hiding things from her, and yet she does…nothing. Never confronts them with her suspicions, just hops right into their beds. A woman raised around sophisticated criminals should not be this clueless, especially in a RH. If she’s going to hold her own against three men, then at the very least she should have a good head on her shoulders, and this girl doesn’t. Even when one of her professors was being a blatant creep and hitting on her, she was like “hehe idk he’s cute just not as cute as my roommates” and I’m like babe…he’s a predator. What the fuck are you doing??? And then she says she understood why he was furious with her after the boys beat him up like AGAIN HE IS A PREDATOR.

I refuse to believe this woman survived backpacking around the world by herself. She doesn’t have enough sense. She calls herself a feminist throughout, but she certainly doesn’t act like one. Getting off on a man who’s intentionally disrespecting you isn’t cute, it’s embarrassing, especially when you’re paying more attention to him than your missing sister. Honestly, Emma deserved better. Her mother didn’t seem to care, and Willa was FAR more concerned with getting laid.

Also, if a man ever referred to me as a Jezebel, I’d knee him in the balls, not sit back and take it. I’m tired of these women putting up with misogynistic bullshit because they’re turned on. Get up off the floor and woman tf up Willa!

And all three MMC’s were beyond lame, too. Nothing remotely interesting or unique about them. They were a cliche at best. Neo was a weird asshole, and the other two were just…there I guess. I gave up by 60% which is unfortunate, because there’s potential in the story and concept, but it was just not readable. I was quite disappointed.

[Jeanette Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complete disappointment, all because of Willow.

She has the self-control of a cat in heat after a lobotomy and all I can say to this is, ick. At 54% I am so completely done with this female character I have to admit that unless the cliffhanger is magnificent I don't care to go on with this series because I detest this weak-willed shallow tramp. For the record I have no problem with somebody having multiple partners, I have no problem with somebody engaging in a reverse harem, I DO have a problem with a woman swearing they loathe someone, that they're not going to sleep with them and then can't control themselves. In. The. Least. A truly badass heroine I could have some respect for would keep to their words, say what they mean, DO WHAT THEY SAY instead of constantly spouting hollow crud that they have no intention and/or no CAPABILITY of sticking to. This female lead just needs to stop spouting empty meaningless declarations and stop with the childish tween inner monologues and "will I, won't I,' games (say it, think it, do it). Her whole 'I hate him but he's so hot,' is way past old and I'm not even done with this book yet and there's two others to go. I detest women who sleep with men who treat them badly, and buying a girl a bunch of clothes but yet talking to her like she's trash or an idiot, and behaving as if she's anathema is not good treatment, that's basically payment for expected future services rendered. Not my kind of in control, street savvy, driven woman.

[SilentSpectra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could unread what I've already read. The FMC is stubborn just for sake of being stubborn which is painted with the broad independent woman brush. She's also the most naive woman in regard to what the mafia families do, even though she supposedly grew up surrounded by that life. It grates to see how dangerous stupidly naive, and just plain stupid, she behaves that I couldn't even bring myself to sludge through the third book.

Why two stars instead of one? Well, the story had potential. The MMCs were great and fun to read about. Too bad the FMC sucked so bad it ruined the series for me.

[Engrossed Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read another of this author's series set in the town Blackwell and thought let me start on her back catalogue. I am now regretting this decision.

Willa is pretty annoying, it's unclear why she says she doesn't like the Kings but in the next breath her panties are wet on practically every occasion.

The guys are hiding something about Willa's missing sister but it is evident to even the blind that they are all in for her. So why isn't she sharing information that she has and why aren't they? I really hate when Mia or poor communication drives the plot

Just really average. I'm only invested to find out more about the missing girls and the meals that Rock makes. Willa can get in the bin.

[ListenWithNic · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 ⭐️

Gosh, Willa has to be one of the most annoying FMC’s EVER

Full review to come at end of series, just some notes while reading.

You can always tell when an author who writes a book about Long Island isn’t from Long Island because they use the phrase “in Long Island” instead of “on Long Island”

FMC talks entirely too much about how she’s aroused every five minutes from these boys from the jump

Take points away for ⬇️

Used the word “tunnel”
Used the word “channel”
Used the phrase “big dick energy” or some form of “BDE”

[Tiffaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I 100% enjoyed this book! Willa is a FMC I adoreeeeeee! She's so snappy and sassy and gave the guys HELL🤣 there were multiple moments she had me cracking up 😭 5🌟 I'd say 3🌶

[Natascha Ring · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second series I’m reading by Sadie Hunt and gosh I love how she writes! Love the book, the numbers of chapters and the length of the chapters!

[Brandi-Lynn Weiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great start to the series. I was hooked immediately and couldn’t put it down. I loved Willa, though I thought she talked about her vagina in third person a lot (lol), I still loved her. I loved that she was sassy and didn’t take crap from any of the guys, including the other guys living in their frat house. One thing though I wanted to know was who the blonde girl was she kept seeing Neo with towards the end. I thought for sure she’d confront him or at least ask Rock or Oscar, but she didn’t and I’m left dying to know. My only real complaint about this book is I would’ve liked to have gotten more POV from the guys. All but maybe 3 or 4 chapters were in Willa’s pov.

[Holly's Bookshelf]

DNF 28%. Writing was bad. Rolled my eyes so many times because of Willa. The horniest girl Ive ever met. Why do authors feel the need to make the heroine moan after eating food? No food has ever made me moan out load like a porn star. Also, who tf eats a donut, coffee, and OJ for breakfast? Wow, you showed us how adult you are.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

~My Review 🎧~
⭐⭐⭐.5
🌶️🌶️

~Kings & Corruption~Aventine University #1~Sadie Hunt~

Dual Narration~Lilly Drake & Michael Gallagher

"I bet I could make her purr like a kitten."

~This was my first read by this author & I overall enjoyed it. I'm excited to see how the story unfolds especially because why choose books are my weakness!!

~As Always Happy Reading~

[Naomi M · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️….and I am hooked!!! This book must be laced with something because I ate this up!! I would have finished it faster if I hadn’t been working all week but it was so, so good!!! Highly recommend if you like why choose mafia dark romance!! 😃

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m liking this so far! Very suspenseful. I hope we get the guy’s POVs in the later books. The ending had be gasp out loud!

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

so good. like this authors style. hooked on plot and 🌶💯🔥‼️

[Simona Dirmeikienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobook 🎧

[tane'a · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[blessing ♡。 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only gave her two stars because she had some tropes that I did enjoy (regardless if they're done well or not). Sadie Hunt's book seems like she read one of Elle Thorpe's books and wanted to replicate it but make it mafia. It did not succeed. She dropped in the 'touch her and die', 'attempted sa but gets saved by MMCs', 'watches her while she sleeps', 'bully romance', and even 'stepbro' like erm what??
Besides that, this book really needed an editor. Badly. Not even an editor to be honest. She just needed Grammarly. Or Quilbot. If she would've just used that most of the typos and clarity issues would've been resolved. If she didn't want to download a software then get a cheap editor off of fiver, cause girl you needed it. Also something an editor could've helped with--or at least notified her--was the timing in this book. In a part of the book the FMC is about to take her midterms, but she's only been in school for a couple of weeks. Now, not even talking about the actual mispellings or incorrect usage of apostrophes and so on, Sadie literally writes, "Wtf..". Miss girl. You're writing a book, not a wattpad, or notepad fanfic. We spell it out to be professional.
Another annoying thing about this book is how in EVERY SINGLE INTERACTION with the MMC's she can't decide to trust them (which is totally fine) but then in the same sentence, can't wait to sleep with them. Like we get it, they're hot, but if that's the case to you, don't say in every single interaction with them how much you can't because you don't trust them. We got it the first 68 times. And yes I know that because I searched and found she says the word trust in that context about 70 times.
We can tell this was your first book, and I would give you some slack, but most of these criticisms exist because you didn't proof read. I'm reading reviews where joggers turn into shorts and the FMC sleeps in till 11 but still makes it to her 8am class. We, the readers, are finding these problems, but you, or an editor didn't? I will not be reading anymore of her books or the rest of this series. Instead I'll be searching youtube for recaps or just reading spoiler reviews on the next.

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good storyline, although I have read a few others with almost the exact same story (twin missing, college games, mafia, why-choose). There were quite a few grammatical errors and continuity errors- when stealing the medals Rock’s friend’s name changes, and Willa goes from being at college for a few weeks, to a week, back to a few weeks, then it’s midterms, but then it’s not even Halloween… so nothing major, but still stuff that should have been caught during editing.

Also, Willa is pretttty annoying. She is obsessively trying to find out what happens to her sister and blames the boys for not trying to look for Emma for two years (which is her main reason for not trusting them the whole book)…. But why was it their responsibility to look for her to begin with? It seemed the only reason she was holding back on her feelings for them was because they didn’t seem to have done anything to try to find Emma but I don’t see how that should have ever been on them. Why would they have ever cared about Emma? Why should they have gone out of their way to search for her for all that time? I’m not saying they didn’t help… but Willa is acting like it was their responsibility to find Emma and she can’t trust them because they didn’t. She didn’t even try to find her sister- she was off vacationing around Europe for a year. Sooooo she is a hypocrite. At one point she says how Neo was abused as a kid and treated poorly but he should treat her better because she had a hard life too. What a horrible thing to say. I do nooooot like her. Willa needs to suck it up and stop making dumb decisions.

Literally every convo turns into her thinking how hot the guys are, or how turned on she is. Girl. Get a hold of your hormones. And she has to argue just for arguments sake during every convo. I could not take her character.

[Rina Jenkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really couldn’t find myself wanting to read any further than 20% and decided to skim through, which is such a shame because the blurb sounded so good. There’s no real tension or chemistry between the characters - don’t get me wrong, I understand and can enjoy a fast burn, but what I often find with the authors who include this trope is that they don’t take into consideration building actual relationships between the characters and just jump straight into cringe mediocre flirting and “don’t look at her, she’s mine” type bullshit. It’s so repetitive.

for the first twenty percent of the book, we are told that Willa’s dad is a traitor to the mafia and her family are shunned because of that, and her sister is missing and has been for two years. Should be devestating right?

On paper, (I see the irony) she claims she is, and has the need to find out what happened to her sister. But her actions are completely different, she spends a majority drooling over the guys who she believes have something to do with her sister’s disappearance. It’s so grating. If you want to write a romance RH story set in a college just do that, don’t add a plot line you’re not even interested in. It just shows in the writing, and trust me, if you’re not interested, neither will be your readers.

Yeah. It’s massively disappointing, even the guys had zero personality other than fawning over Willa the entire time and threatening people.