This is a ridiculous story and I can't understand why it has such high ratings. Nothing quite makes sense in it, it's so over the top. And it opens with Harlow drinking and driving, which I did not appreciate. I don't know why so many high school RH focus on gangs and fighting and shooting and drugs. And this "bully" trope... I still don't understand why a woman would fall for someone who mistreated her. This is like an abused wife clinging to her abuser and refusing to leave him; it's rather sick.
The author tries for a pseudo-incest stepbrother and stepsister pairing, just that the stepbrother comes with a posse and they have a rule that they always share women, they don't sleep with women individually. These four guys are junior gang members of a much larger and powerful organisation, The Sainthood, and the leader of the group, Saint, is the son of the president of the organisation, Sinner (who comes up with these names???).
Right at the beginning the four have a gang bang with Harlow and they record the session without her knowledge, then send it to her ex, who puts it online, with the result that Harlow becomes notorious in the school. Harlow says they shared the file with her ex to needle him as he's in a rival gang, which they don't deny, and also said that they have enough technological know-how to have protected the file from being copied and distributed, which they also don't deny. It almost seemed like they wanted it to get out and they wanted to get at her in some way, but I didn't understand why, because at that point she hadn't done anything to them. The lack of motivation left a sour taste in my mouth because I can understand retaliation and revenge or wanting to teach someone a lesson, but I don't understand just doing something mean so carelessly for no good reason.
Perhaps the author wants us to see these guys as anti-heroes, but they really aren't. I understand anti-heroes, I understand rooting for the Bad Guy who deep down has a heart of gold or who does bad things for good reasons, all that kind of stuff. You can have a violent guy who flies off the handle and doesn't hesitate to take down anyone who crosses him, but who spares innocent children from the crossfire, for example. But these boys, I don't get their motivation. I'm just seeing that they have power and they know it, so they decide to be assholes just because they can. They enjoy having the power and defending it, defending their turf and making sure their operations (drug running) aren't jeopardised.
Saint, Galen, and Theo all separately have some kind of past with Harlow, but we don't know what it is. It's hinted at but not mentioned. Caz is the only one who doesn't have any past with her. Harlow's own past also is shrouded in a lot of mystery. The pivotal incident is her kidnapping when she was 13. She was held and tortured for five days until her father paid a $3mil ransom for her. When she was 16, she found out that it was The Sainthood who was behind it, and that Sinner, the current president, was one of those who tortured her and gave her some of the scars she now wears on her skin. You'd think that, knowing this, she'd stay away from the four boys, because after all, they are junior members of the organisation. But for some reason, she doesn't.
Then her dad dies and it turns out that Sinner was her mother's first love, and he insinuates himself back into her mother's life and they are getting married. He moves in with Harlow and her mum, bringing Saint and his posse with him. Sinner, it seems, can't forgive Harlow's mum for choosing her dad over him all those years ago and is taking it out on Harlow, or at least, that's what I think because it's never made very clear. Harlow is now all alone having to protect herself because the boys are giving her shit both at school and at home and Sinner is also breathing down her neck and her mother is useless. Oh, but fortunately she's a badass because her father hired some dude to train her in self-defense and shooting after the kidnapping, and she can take down grown men twice her size without any problem. Hrrmph. Riiiiiight.
Although I like strong heroines and I like when they're capable and badass, it isn't believable to me. Harlow runs around with a knife strapped to her leg and an unregistered gun and burner phones, acting like some kind of special ops operative, when she's only in her senior year of high school. She can get hold of undetectable cameras and install them in the boys' rooms to spy on them and try to ferret out their gang's secrets. She has a secret hideaway where she goes away to meet her lethal trainer -- you know, the one who has been training her in self-defense. Honestly the suspension of disbelief required is just too great. Might as well have made it a paranormal story and given her some super powers, too.