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Science girl meets bad artist boy and takes him down but not without incurring scars of her own.

Waverly Alloway just wants to study, graduate and be a geek. If that makes her boring, then so 🐝 it. She loves spending quite time with her bee hives, but being the smartest girl in her class means she’s put on tutoring duty where each hour is torture.

Jax Palmer’s bad boy attitude is a facade. The artist in him craves solitude and silence, but to survive Rippton U, he’s created a persona to cover who he really is, and be what everyone else appears to want from him.

But with Waverly, the deception drops away. Jax isn’t the only one with a secret, and his past time of digging beneath the geeky-as-cute girl’s skin fast becomes a craving he can’t stop - nor does he want to. Her past could tarnish them both, but he refuses to let her crumble alone...

Even if it means showing who he really is to a judgemental world that will take his penance out on her.

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2024

25 people are currently reading
76 people want to read

About the author

Sofia Aves

129 books563 followers
USA Today Bestselling author Sofia Aves writes fast-paced police romances, sizzling military units, steamy cowboys with a Montana backdrop and the occasional cheeky god. Sofia writes kidlit for charity and has over one hundred and fifty publications across five not-so-super-secret pen names. She’s the acquisitions editor for Evernight and Evernight Teen publishing and is a mum of three crazies in a returned veteran household. Sofia has two overly large fur babies who think they’re teacup puppies.
Sofia lives near Brisbane, Australia where she has her own alpaca park, Lorendel.


Rep: Nicky Lovick at WGM Atalntic

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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Vonn Jess.
756 reviews7 followers
August 12, 2024
This book feels like a mumbo jumbo of words strung together and don’t always make sense. I don’t know, might be me, but it felt like diary entries, where you write whatever comes to your mind in that moment. The story had moments that didn’t flow well, some typos and punctuation issues.

At the 50% mark of the book, there was a plot and it made sense.

Waverly hides under layers of clothes and studies her bees. She wants to go unnoticed, but Jax who’s paired with her for tutoring, can’t “un-see” her. He feels a connection that even when he’s bullying her, he can’t get her out of his mind.

After 70% my “huh” face keeps appearing, because I suddenly don’t know what is happening or where we are. There’s roadtrips, confrontations and then an attempted S. that I don’t know how it came about…I’m so confused!!

The rest is a blur. I’m sorry, I finished the book, but it was a struggle.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Caroline F.
2,408 reviews52 followers
December 28, 2025
I found this story somewhat discombobulating!

It felt like I started reading it in the middle of the story. A whole lot felt like it was missing - how Waverly and Jax met, and how their relationship got to the point of where it was at the beginning of the story. Throw in the somewhat disjointed storyline as it progressed, and the fact that the manuscript could have done with another round of proofing, made for a read that was, at once, satisfactory and unsatisfactory! There was a lot of promise here - what Waverly and Jax went through individually was heart-wrenching, and the way that Jax was eventually all-in was both sexy and swoony. There were some serious issues being dealt with in this story, yet they weren't dealt with enough. Jax's hot and cold behaviour during the first half of the book gave me whiplash, as there was no real explanation for it. As I've mentioned, there was a lot of promise here, but I needed a bit more follow-through and a well-rounded story.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
Profile Image for Smut Cartel.
259 reviews31 followers
September 17, 2024
Science girl meets bad artist boy and takes him down but not without incurring scars of her own.
Jax Palmer’s bad boy attitude is a facade.
But with Waverly, the deception drops away.

Waverly, our cute scientist with an obsession with bees is a truly broken soul. Jax, our morally grey MMC needing a tutor to survive college also has secrets. Together, they are everything they need in each other. This read was filled with secrets, twists and turns, trauma and spice.

Tropes:
- Morally grey MMC
- College bully romance
- Touch her and d!e
- Tutor/Student
Profile Image for Melissa Houpt.
393 reviews10 followers
August 13, 2024
This was a quick read and I loved it. He bullied her but he drew the line at other’s bullying her. Their relationship quickly moved from him bullying her to them being in a full blown relationship. I loved his best friend! Honestly his friends having not only his back but hers also was awesome. Check trigger warnings, this was a bully romance but honestly on the lighter side.
Profile Image for Beba Andric.
1,592 reviews119 followers
March 22, 2025
Holy mother of plebs, this was a disturbingly brilliant read. Dark, very dark and decadent, there are lots of potential triggers so please be aware before embarking!

This read is difficult to wrap up in a neat little package, there is SO much to deal with, to review it, it's far from simple. This book highlights the worst of humanity, this book highlights torture on a basal level, physical and psychological, which has a profound impact. The thing about abuse and pain, to survive, one has to bury it deep or escape, and the characters in this book do both. But one thing neither can escape from is that it changes them, alters their perception, changes reactions and acceptance of what is "the norm".

Waverly and Jax are chalk and cheese, she's a small town girl with little to no money, he's the son of a billionaire with lots at his disposal. She's a scientist, he's an artist. Getting a scholarship at a university was a dream come true for Waverly, until one fateful night. What happens to Waverly has happened to so many others and the author didn't sugarcoat it, these things ARE real, they DO happen, it's one of those "I know it occurs but I'm going to ignore it" Except the author takes it one step further, she showcases bullying perfectly, she weaves in a larger conspiracy, one of control, debauchery and plays up the vileness of some. But it's not all dark and desperate, there is a beautiful love that sparks, a different kind of love because, let's face it, after what Waverly and Jax had done to them, their norm is theirs personally. This author's vivid description is beautifully non judgemental, just real.

Waverly is naive and trusting until that event threw her into major concealment mode, withdrawn into herself, her conflicting emotions surrounding Jax come full circle in an unusually warming manner. I liked the realism of her character, I liked her. She didn't lie down and play dead, the spark she had buried deep within her, emerges, like a butterfly and seeing her open her wings was a moment of great cheer for me. But it's Jax who wrecked my heart. Initially I saw him as the quintessential bully until his story, his past starts to take shape and oh my goodness, the horrors he experienced were insurmountable! Yet even he heals, even he saw the light at the end of the tunnel beckoning him, that light was Waverly.

So while this definitely is a darker read, darker topics, it speaks to friendship and personal growth, it speaks to accepting what was, irrespective of how traumatic and to overcome, to find peace within ones soul and to forge forward, leaving the past where it should be, in the past. It wraps up with a delicious HEA, a promise that the flawed together with the flawed can be made whole. A difficult topic to pen, one the author didn't shy away from, exposing all the rawness, all the ugliness and turning it into a positive. A story of hope and healing.
1,276 reviews
August 14, 2024
It is great to be back at Ripton U for a new series. Ripton U is a university for the ultra wealthy, it does offer a few scholarship places but the student's have to be good to get one and scholarship students just don't fit in.
Waverley Alloway has layers, layers of clothing to hide her body, layers that protect her mind. Waverley is a geek, she is at Ripton U on a scholarship, to earn money to live on, that is when she is not studying her beloved bees, Waverley tutors other students.
One such student is artist Jax Palmer, Jax's tough, bad boy persona is a cover, underneath he just wants peace and quiet to draw, he wants to forget his wealthy, toxic background.
Jax makes Waverley's life a misery with his taunting and teasing but he is strangely attracted to the bee girl and she to him even though they are polar opposites.
When Jax wants to know the reason why Waverley is so stressed and overworked, after much soul searching she decides to trust him with her secret, a secret that could make Jax hate her, a secret that could get her expelled, a secret that could ruin her life.
Jax is now on a mission, he needed to help Waverley but what he was to uncover was more evil, more depraved than anything that he could have imagined.
This book is dark, it is steamy, it is brutal, it follows two broken souls as they try to heal each other.
Another great unputdownable story from Sofia Aves.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary.
Profile Image for Danni Drummond.
281 reviews41 followers
August 12, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶

Study Games by Sofia Aves

-A New Adult Dark Romance
-Morally Grey MMC
-Touch her and pay the price
-Misunderstood artist MMC
-Sassy FMC with dark secrets in her past
-Mental health rep
-HEA

This NA darling romance pleasantly surprised me, I read it all within 24 hours 😆, while it is a dark romance it has an actual plot line, a brilliant story between Waverly (the FMC) who is a scholarship student at Rippton U, she is doing her thesis on Bees 🐝 and has a major secret in her past. She is also made to tutor Jax (the MMC) the rich and misunderstood artist who loves pain thanks to his father. The story follows the two and unravels even more secrets than the one Waverley is hiding.
What will the ending be?
I guess you will need to read to find out 😉

I enjoyed this book it was a great change to my usual reads, and would recommend to those dipping their toes into dark romance for the first time, or as a palette cleanser between books, the plot itself was AMAZING 👏 😍🖤

Sofia is an amazing author you should definately check out her books. The way she writes is "mwah" chefs kiss 💋

Available NOW on KU/Amazon 😘
1,599 reviews22 followers
August 13, 2024
Well written, full of drama, secrets, violence, action, emotions, anger, pain, abuse, gangs, twists and turns. May not be for some, does have some triggers. Jax is an artist who needs help with his studies at college. He lives in a dorm that he shares with others. Waverly is on a full scholarship to the same college but lives in an apartment that has seen better days. She only lives on noodles and not much else, so she tutors others for the extra money to survive. Jax likes what he sees in her but has a hard time understanding why she hides. As they spend more time together, they share some things about themselves. Add in the twins and what they do to bot Waverly and Jax and also how they help Jax's father. His Dad is a piece of garbage- a truly rotten person. Drugs, booze, parties, sex control and parties is what he does. Glad that Jax has the final word to his father. Has lots of action from the start to the finish. Would recommend to others.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Raecharmed.
9,306 reviews70 followers
August 30, 2024
Waverly is a bee loving girl who has been through a lot of traumatizing things since she came to school. She meets Jax because she is his tutor, and he brings out things in her with his bullying ways. However, Jax isn't what she fears and as he finally breaks through her walls does he learn what she has gone through. Will she risk being with him? can he protect her?

WOW! This book once I started it, I couldn't put it down even when I didn't want to read some of what Waverly went through. You want to hate Jax at first but then you see that he just wants Waverly and that why he acts like he does. This is a great story that will have you on the edge of your seat wanting to know how things will play out. This is a well written and very entertaining story. Its a book that any book lover would enjoy.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Nate.
24.3k reviews19 followers
August 26, 2024
I enjoyed Jax and Waverly’s story. Waverly Alloway just wants to study, graduate and be a geek. If that makes her boring, then so 🐝 it. She loves spending quiet time with her bee hives, but being the smartest girl in her class means she’s put on tutoring duty where each hour is torture. Jax Palmer’s bad boy attitude is a facade. The artist in him craves solitude and silence, but to survive Rippton U, he created a persona to cover who he really is, and be what everyone else appears to want from him. But with Waverly, the deception drops away. Jax isn’t the only one with a secret, and his past time of digging beneath the geeky-as-cute girl’s skin fast becomes a craving he can’t stop - nor does he want to. Her past could tarnish them both, but he refuses to let her crumble alone... it was an engaging read with great characters. And voluntarily leaving this review.
85 reviews2 followers
August 14, 2024
This new book by Sofia is a very dark & steamy read. The characters of Jax & Waverly seem to have a pull towards each other but they both seem a bit reluctant to find out why. He is the rich bad boy who seems to think he can do what he wants while she is the somewhat shy scholarship girl who wants to be left alone to study her bees. I think Jax is drawn to her because she is content to be by herself and left alone which is what he really wants for himself but can't seem to find a way to get it. I love the way Sofia writes these tortured souls & she also writes in a way that you don't want to stop reading until you finish the story!
I received a free advanced copy of this book & all opinions are my own.
323 reviews3 followers
August 21, 2024
My first book from the Rippton U series and I can't wait to go back!

Waverly is a girl with dark secrets and trauma that makes you fall instantly in love with her. Her caring nature and love for the bees is so different than many characters I have read before.

Jax is a bully. One who has his own demons and once he realizes that he does not need to be the old him, he changes for the better,

I loved watching both of them change into better people freeing themselves from their pasts.

Jax really stepped up and went from a character I was not a fan of to an amazing character.

Another must read from Sofia!
Profile Image for GKP2460 .
4,363 reviews73 followers
August 10, 2024
Study Games is book 1 in the Rippton U Creatives series. It's Jax and Waverly's intense, gritty, enemies to lovers story and it's quite a story. Did I say intense? These characters are fantastic and this storyline is spellbinding. Jax aggravated me a little to say the least and at one point I was wanting to do awful things to him. I couldn't figure out what the nerdy bee girl saw in him but as it turned out he was exactly what she needed and she was for him. It's going to be an interesting ride seeing where all of these characters lead.

"With Jax it was all different. New starts, a different sort of twisted torture. A lullaby, one of our own making."
651 reviews3 followers
August 18, 2024
Waverly & Jax: Book 1 of Rippton U Creatives: Check triggers. geeky girl-bad boy/ tutor help/ dark college romance: Sometimes all it takes is the right person to make you feel comfortable to open up and own who you really are. I enjoyed seeing how Waverly & Jax were drawn towards each other. Sofia Aves created a dramatic story with plenty of action, secrets, twists, and spice. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Arianna.
18 reviews
February 1, 2026
You know those dang vertical movies/drama shorts all over TikTok and Reels?? That’s this book. If you like those, then you’ll like this book.

It starts as your typical bully romance between nerd girl and tortured bad boy, and then there’s like 87 side plots (which all come out of nowhere), and then it ends with the two MC’s together and fine. At the end there’s still some suspense regarding some side characters but looking at the synopsis of book two it has NOTHING to do with the suspense you’re left with?? So I’m confused?? Idk. I finished it. 😅🤷🏻‍♀️
Profile Image for Joy Whiteside.
4,920 reviews114 followers
August 13, 2024
you will not be disappointed when reading this book. This book has everything needed to make for an enjoyable read. The characters are interesting and you cannot help but love them, it moves along at a pace that makes for an easy read and is perfect for the flow of the story and will grab you from the very first page and not let you go. This book is a must read and it needs to be at the top of your TBR list, no doubt about it.
1,177 reviews2 followers
August 16, 2024
This is an amazing story. The world building is so connected and has such wonderful depths to it. I love watching the intricacies play out. The plot has so many layers. I love how engaging it is. It keeps you guessing to the very end. The characters… oh my heart the characters. They are so heart wrenchingly real and flawed. They flow so well together. I love watching them both individually and together. This is such a great story.
348 reviews5 followers
August 26, 2024
A quick, college, bully romance

She was a nerd, he was a bad boy (though was he really?) She was his tutor, he was her bully. Jax and Waverly were interesting and diffas characters. The book was packed with dark elements, secrets, twists, danger, spice, demons (not the paranormal kind), trauma and triggers.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
2,300 reviews16 followers
August 27, 2024
Jax and Waverly. She has bee hives and just wants to study and graduate. He just wants to be an artist but has to put forth the bad boy image to survive college. They both are not who the present and as they dont seem to have anything in common they seem to have everything in common. They meet when he needs a tutor. Their journey is a little dark. But very delicous.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Genoveva.
1,521 reviews12 followers
August 10, 2024
Please check all CW and TW before you start this one!! Waverly is Jax's tutor who has a cute affinity for bees. I liked their interactions and that Waverly while being "nerdy" still had fire in her when she interacted with Jax. I will say her story as we got to know it broke my heart a bit but Jax is just the person that she needs in her life.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Lisa Bentley.
243 reviews11 followers
August 14, 2024
We all know by now that I like them dark and twisted and this was just what it promised! A Morally grey MMC that I couldn’t help but love and plenty of mayhem!
I loved waverley and Jax’s angsty but steamy relationship! Her a science geek in love with bees and him an artist with a penchant for pain. They shouldn’t work but they did and I enjoyed every second.
Definitely worth a read 😄
8,914 reviews63 followers
August 10, 2024
Waverly and Jax couldn't be more opposites, the sky needy girl and bad boy artist but when together sparks fly and Jax feels himself when arpund her but will pasts keep them apart? Well written engaging steamy collection drama and more!.

I received a free copy of this book via Sofia's Cowboy Romance Lovers and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
2,273 reviews35 followers
April 2, 2025
Wow wicked powerful read.

Jax is the bad boy, and Waverley can't and doesn't want to stay away from him. But will they get on?

But there's secrets and heartache 💔 and betrayal can and will he keep her safe.?

What a read 📚
201 reviews6 followers
April 27, 2025
Waverly is a geek bee girl, Jax is a dark damage bad boy. When Waverly gets mixed up in Jax world he's the only one who can save her. But darkness always comes with a price. Recommend it to all the dark romance enemies to lovers readers.
Watch out for all the triggers
Profile Image for Kellie Waldron.
795 reviews17 followers
November 27, 2025
This book was good but may have some possible triggers for some.

At first you don't think Jax and Waverly mesh. You don't realize they both have some dark secrets that are drawing them together. This was a really good read.
151 reviews
February 7, 2025
Once I started

Reading this book it was hard to put down I really enjoyed it even though it had some dark stuff in it.
Profile Image for Karen Zornek fitzcharles.
438 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2025
This was a really good book to another great series. Now I need to know about Nash. Thank you Sofia for another great one. Please read and review your books.
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