***Trilogy Now Complete!*** This cruel king won’t stop until he breaks me.
Dutch Cross, lead singer of The Kings, is a monster. Don’t let his amber eyes, chiseled jaw line, and crooning voice fool you. He prowls the hallways of Redwood Prep like he owns every inch. Brutal. Untouchable. Beast. And when his golden eyes meet mine, I know I’m his next prey. The monster wants me out of Redwood. But the fancy private school is my last chance at a better life for my sister. No one has ever dared to go against Dutch and his equally gorgeous brothers. I’m honored to be the first. See, the thing about kings and monsters is they always have a weakness. And for Dutch, his weakness… is me. He just doesn’t know it yet.
4.5⭐️ I didn’t think I was going to like this book at all but I was pleasantly surprised! Most of the characters weren’t annoying at all and the story line was really good. And the cliff hanger it was left on…. I. LOVED. IT
if it wasn’t for my pride i would’ve dnfed this. somehow i hated every single character.
first of all, dutch (stupid ass name) is blond which should’ve been my first sign that this book would be a waste of my time. he and his brothers are supposedly the kings of the school just because daddy has money and they’re in a boy band and everyone bows down to them like ok sure. also they actively disrespect women and apparently the cheerleaders pimp themselves out to them because they’re just sooooo cool. these mfers are literally 18 year old high schoolers. like you are a regular civilian.
don’t even get me started on cadence and her alter ego. like hannah montana did it first and better. you expect me to believe cadence is completely unrecognizable just because she put on a wig, some contacts, and makeup??? also somehow dutch is in love with her alter ego when he literally does not even know her let alone her name. sure. also the way cadence had zero self respect was truly astonishing. like this man bullied and harassed you and caused all these problems but just because he solved a few of them he’s sooooo great??!?!!? at one point cadence was talking about how he defended her in the cafeteria from someone who called her a slut but the only reason she was being slut shamed was because of a rumor HE MADE UP?!!!!!! and the way dutch picked her up and threw her over his shoulder multiple times in very public places. like you are a high school senior. what business do you have picking people up like that?
i get this is a bully romance but the way dutch treated cadence was so unnecessary. like she did absolutely nothing. sol was caught breaking into the school or something and was rightfully punished and expelled and cadence happened to take his spot. they acted like sol was being held hostage or something too like??? anyway, he relentlessly bullies her so sol could come back but like logistically would that even make sense? he was literally sent away by his family so even if the spot opened up would he even be allowed to go back? also, why did it have to be cadence that had to leave. i mean, from what i gathered, all the enrollment spots were filled which is why he couldn’t come back, but couldn’t they just get anyone in the grade to drop out so a slot would open up? also the way he blamed cadence for everything regarding sol’s situation is crazy.
don’t even get me started on the way dutch absolutely disrespected cadence in that once party scene. poor pathetic dutch couldn’t handle his big boy feelings so he decided to take it out on cadence after seeing her dancing with some other dude. like he gets jealous and doesn’t understand why (spoiler alert, it’s because he cares about her but he doesn’t like that) but then when he gets close to cadence he tells her he doesn’t even care about her??? what a bitch. oh but wait he saved her from drowning so he’s absolved from all his wrong doings and is forgiven!!! and on top of that cadence, in her alter ego form, repeats this mistake and gets with dutch. i don’t even know what she was trying to accomplish by swooning him in her fake identity but ok.
and on top of everything this isn’t even their only book, they really had to drag this pathetic story out.
also the names of the characters in this book were very unique to say the least. like breeze? jinx? dutch? and jinx is supposed to be a mystery but it’s pretty clear it’s serena. also finn (might’ve been the other brother idk) and his relationship with the teacher. absolutely not. i’m guessing they’ll get a whole book too which is one of many signs to not continue this series.
tiktok truly deceived me with this book. i was recommended this repeatedly so naturally i thought it would be good but clearly i was lied to. idk if i read something different but those tiktoks were pure lies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i haven’t been this addicted to a new book in a WHILEEE🫣🫣
i had so much fun with this🤭🤭😋
Dutch i hate him so much bro😭😭 HE PISSED ME OFF😓🙄🙄🙄 i get that he’s rich but he had no right acting as entitled as he did😒😣 HE messed up and took it out on cadence?? idc i want him to get punched in the face repeatedly (i may just be the one to do it👊👊🥊🥊🥊) - i felt bad for him at the end (i know, i know😔😶) but imo that doesn’t justify what he did- HE MESSED UP, how is that cadence’s fault??😒😐
Cadence I LOVE HER she’s the reason i read this as quickly as i did🙌 (she was stupid at times….. i don’t get why she sympathised with dutch…. but she redeemed herself at the end😁🤗)
the end in question: She steps close to me. Goes toe to toe. In a dark, warning voice, she whispers,”I’m your worst nightmare.” 👏👏👏🫡🫡🫡
i’m so excited to see cadence get her revenge🤭🤭
onto the next book!😛
(side note: WHO IS JINX?? i need to know. MDJSKKS she’s gossip girl 2.0💋🤭)
i had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised! I inhaled this book within a view hours ahh. It‘s not the type of book i usually like but it did indeed catch me. I‘m not a bigggg fan of certain characters and it‘s quite the Wattpad kind of book but it got me hooked and it was spicy and the tension was there the whole book soooo definitely a recommend :) can‘t wait to read the second part !!!
I'm not going to rate this one because in all honesty I went into it not expecting to love it and I went against my better judgement and followed a TikTok recommendation. I tried it mainly for one scene because it really fit my mood and for that it gave me what I wanted. And actually it even had me going on and reading book two as well which I wasn't expecting to do.
Overall the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. The issues I had mainly came from the writing style and I think it just wasn't for me. Especially by the second book where it started to feel very choppy and all over the place. There were these almost cliffhanger endings to chapters that then took at least another full chapter to find out what happened and that got to be very annoying.
So this was clearly a me-issue and also my own fault that I went into a book knowing it would probably not be for me. Even though I'll most likely never come back to read the last book I'm not sorry that I gave the series a try.
Girl, so confusing??? More like Dutch so confusing 😶💀. This man made me sooooooó mad 😐🙄.
I literally thought I would give this book 2 stars but I enjoyed it a little too much.
This is dark academia which follows Dutch...MMC and Cadence...FMC. It also has found family and a fucking slow burn 🤭 ✨.
I genuinely like Cadence because she doesn't fold easily which makes the book more enjoyable.....now Dutch on the other hand 💀....he needs to get his shit together!!!!!!
DNF, my god these characters are annoying as fuck. A dumb plot, even dumber characters, the main couple is shit and the protagonist alter ego thing is dumb as fuck. You’re telling me that by her putting on a wig and contacts makes her unrecognizable?? Is the ml seriously that dumb????? I gave up like half way trough the book. A 14 year old on Wattpad could write a better story than this SMH. Never taking up a BookTok rec ever again.
First of all, I wanna thank my dear friend Meriyem for recommending this book. Every part I read in this book I'd imagine your reaction about it tbh. I loved loved this book. I only gave it a 4 stars cause the begging was so slow and boring, but then everything was great, ⋆˙⟡ 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨
❀┃ 𝘾𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙨 I freaking love when the character stands up to her self and is strong. That is like the best, I mean it is okay if she felt scared of smthing like that it's normal anyway but she still stands up to her self <3
❀┃ 𝘿𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 No, I actually don't like the name at all. I don't looove the guy or hate him. It's I guess normal? But I do love his friend / brother though.. I love bully romance.
⋆˙⟡ 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨
❀┃ 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙣 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 yes, I love this guy sm. Too much. And I'm mad af that he doesn't have a book
❀┃ 𝙕𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 I was actually willing to read his book, but when I knew it was with a teacher, I trashed the whole idea of reading his book
OK WHAT?!?! I ATE THIS BOOK UP AND ALMOST FINISHED THIS IN ONE SITTING😍
But the ending?? I hate being left on a cliffhanger💀
OK BUT THIS BOOK IS THE LITERAL DEFINITION OF ENEMIES TO LOVERS this book devoured🙈
The tension and angst OMFG🤭
⚠️SPOILER⚠️
I JUST DONT UNDERSTAND HOW DUTCH IS SO DUMB TO NOT RECOGNIZE CADENCE?? BRO it’s literally like cat noir and ladybug like are you blind?!?
AND WHEN CADENCE DROWNED AND DUTCH CAME RUSHING AND SAVED HER?! NAH IT WAS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE LIKE BOY JUST ADMIT THAT YOURE OBSESSED WITH HER ITS NOT THAT HARD😭💀
~
But anyways I LOVE CADENCE SHE SLAYED😏
BOUT to read the next😜
PS: this book was more of the enemies stage so I hope to see the lovers stage in the next book🤭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Found this book on one of those advertisements that has snipets of the books with music and catchy background on ticktok. Lol. It gets me all the time, but the book was a fast read, and it is one of those books that will be enemies to lover kind of book. It has the bad boy and the innocent girl placed in a Rich high school academy, and of course, he is basically someone no one messes with. Whereas she is on a scholarship trying to meet her ends meet for her and her little sister. Overall, it was a good and suck you in kind of book. I'm reading the second book now.
𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 (H), the lead singer of the Kings, is used to getting what he wants alongside his brothers Finn and Zane. When new girl 𝐂𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 (h) takes the last spot at Redwood Prep, meaning his best friend cannot come back to the school, he plots to make her life impossible until she leaves. He doesn't anticipate Cadence to fight back or challenge him every step of the way. As he realizes that getting his best friend's Sol spot back might be more complicated than he thought, he knows he has to strike harder till she is out of school. The only problem is that he is more intrigued by her each time they interact because she is the only one with the bravery to confront him. At the same time, he is intrigued by a Redhead he connects to because she plays the piano in a way he has never seen before. He doesn't know that while he is fascinated by Redhead and tormenting Cadence, they are the same person.
·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳
The “romance,” if you can call it that, stemmed between Dutch and the Redhead because he didn’t know it was Cadence. He would let his guard down around her and share information he would not have exposed otherwise. However, if Dutch was so bright, how did he not realize it was the same girl, just in a wig and colored contacts? It was giving Hannah Montana and it was killing me. Then, he would go to school and bully the crap out of Cadence because he wanted her out of the school so Sol could come back. Again, if he was so influential in the school and had plenty of influence, he could have convinced someone else to leave… it was never that serious. He was a teenage boy pretending to be an all-powerful god; I was like, pack it up, Dutch. He seriously thought way too highly of himself, and half the time, he acted irrationally.
At times it made sense that he was intrigued by Cadence as the Redhead because they shared their love for music, but it didn’t add up that he was thinking about Cadence too when she was bothersome to him. He didn’t like that she was the first person who didn’t love the ground he walked on, which frustrated him. It seemed like he enjoyed the chase more than anything and never had real feelings for her. It was all about how she was different because she was the one person who didn’t feel scared to knock him off his high horse.
*. ⋆𝐎͢𝐕͢𝐄͢𝐑͢𝐀͢𝐋͢𝐋͢
This is the type of book you read for fun and not because it is going to be any good. Realistically, teenage boys are not going to run the school and I’m sure there isn’t a gossip site that people are paying to trade secrets. There is no way people would worship Dutch, Finn, and Zane no matter who their dad is. The fact that the school praised them was a bit far fetched, but still funny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Listennnnn this is a slow burn , dark bully romance and I ate this up so bad😩.
Dutch had me so fucked up this entire book bc I understand your reasonings baby , but she ain’t do nothing to you😭. The fact your brothers in chaos even was like you gotta chill spoke volumes and my baddie of a fmc Cadence was such a fire cracker I love it👏🏾
That ending OMFG this whole book is basically a dark version of Gossip Girl like okay Jinx I see you pookie lol. I’m jumping immediately into the next one bc that cliff hanger was rude 🤣
I dnf ed the book because: 1.felt forced, no chemistry 2.cringe 3.poorly written 4.cringe 5.did I say cringe? 6.18 y/o 'bad boy' that tries to growl and bark, pretending he's the king and people should bow, I hate books like these.
Some snippets that may convince you I'm right:
“W-what do you want?” I stumble back. “One little thing.” Dutch growls darkly. “Leave Redwood Prep. Immediately.” I tilt my chin up. “What if I don’t?” “If you don’t,” his lips move over mine, so close I can smell his cinnamon-scented breath, “then I will make it my personal mission to destroy you.” BRRR bro so cold 🥶🥶🥶
“You want us to warn her first?” Zane purses his lips. I shrug. “Fine. I’ll warn her first,” I say to Finn, because he seems the most unsettled. “Give her a chance to walk away for her own good.” “And if she doesn’t take that chance?” Zane asks. I focus on the desk where New Girl had been hunched over. “Then I’m going to turn her life at Redwood Prep into a living hell.” another cold line because he's the leader of the 😜🥶boyz😎👀 and needs to be cool.
All this over their MIA best friend?? They have issues.
“Let me make it clear to you since it doesn’t seem to be clear enough, Brahms. When I call you, you run yourself right over to me.” I giggled out loud.
“I don’t care what you do,” I cry out hoarsely, “I’m not leaving Redwood unless they’re carrying out my cold, dead body.” idk if it's cringe or cringe.
I absolutely devoured this book. Bully romance with Gossip Girl vibes and I was so there for 😏 😈. The characters are musical prodigy’s too 🎵 ❤️. This book has all the best things 🥹
Cadence and Dutch are both well written characters. Cadence is raising her sister and boy is this girl strong and so likeable. The female mc’s in bully book are ALWAYS the best when they are written with some steel and this girl had it in spades!!
Dutch is an hot entitled dickhead but despite that getting the story in his point of view made you like him as well. And his thoughts possessive about the redhead he is enamoured with … so hot 🥵
All the side characters are also super interesting and I’m thinking … ok hoping … that after this trilogy there will be more to come.
No. Just... no Dutch is a jerk. He and his brothers. From what I have understood, Sol is expelled because he trespass to steal a camera and they treat him as if he had been kidnapped by the mafia. And it can only be fixed by removing a student because apparently they have enough power for everything, expel teachers, skip classes, rule the entire institute... but not to add a place to their classes. That makes no sense. It's ridiculous.
I don't dislike Cadence, but she's also an idiot. It doesn't matter how Hot a guy is, if he makes your life miserable, bullies you and threatens you, you don't like him. Or you have to go to a psychologist to look at your head. I'm pretty sick of write the h in the books as an airhead that only looks at the physique of the H and everything else doesn't matter. it's ridiculous.
At the end of the book things get better, because Cadence wakes up a bit and doesn't have a monologue about how much she hate Dutch, just to turn the page to say the incredible attraction she feels and that she can't separate from him, and begins to behave like a human being. normal, and that is appreciated and even comes to have very good parts. In my opinion, the magical connection is a very cheap way of saying that you don't feel like writing the development of a relationship. but ok. To write this, make a book about fated bonds. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.
In summary, a meh start with an interesting plot but where the chemistry of the characters does not exist and they only attract each other magically. The final part is better but to get to this part you need to swallow a lot and it's not worth it. I will read other things by the author, I really wanted to like the book but it made me very angry that I didn't get hooked until the end.
3. The phrase "Dear Bach" is used twice (once was already too much)
4. The FMC plays piano over remixed hip hop audio (she is a genius and this has never been done before) (no this is definitely not just Step Up)
5. The MMC calls her Brahms (all I can think of is the killer from The Boy)
6. The piano hip hop combo is refered to as "melodies from her twisted soul" (yes this was unironic and yes I wanted to gouge my eyes out)
7. The MMC apparently smells like "angsty music", whatever the fuck that means
In conclusion, this is basically a Harry Styles fan fic where someone changed most of the names (one of the brothers is still named Zane and I attribute the incorrect spelling only to a skill issue)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
“I think it’s easier to choose darkness than light.” I play the dark keys to prove my point. “That way, rather than being hurt, you’re the one doing the hurting.”
...
I did NOT expect to enjoy this book as much as i did!! 😍 Like, seriously. I had ZERO expectations 😂, the plot did originally sound pretty good and I’ve been in a MAJOR reading slump for a while, so I was like, sure why not.
BUT DAMN DID THIS BOOK EXCEED MY EXPECTATIONS ENTIRELY!!! 😍
So, we start off with Dutch, Zane and Finn. The three brothers who have their own band called ‘The Kings’ (I know, cliché much? 😂) They’re the ultimate popular dominating kings of Redwood Prep.
Cadence is a pianist and scholarship student at Redwood Prep who suffers from traumatic stage fright.
She's been raising her little sister ever since her mother committed suicide and conceals her real identity with her alter ego persona, Soprano. As soon as Dutch sees Cadence under the disguise of her alter ego he’s immediately attracted to not only her, but her music. But he has NO clue that Sonata is actually Cadey. In order to save his best friend, Sol, from rehab and bring him back to Redwood Prep, Dutch forms a plan to bully Cadey into leaving the school, since she’s taken the scholarship position that Sol had before he was expelled.
In comes the ENEMIES TO LOVERS!!!!! 😍 THE VERY REASON AS TO WHY THIS IS A FIVE STARS!!! THIS WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FROM AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE!!! I freaking LOVED the tension and dynamic between Cadey and Dutch!!!!
Cadey is such a badass independent queen who will literally not take shit from ANYONE. She refuses to listen to Dutch and fights him EVERY step of the way. Even till the end, the attraction towards each other was more of complete anger and hate rather than love.
Duke on the other hand is brooding and closed off. We aren’t really given a back story for Duke, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s had some sort of shitty upbringing. He’s a possessive and dark character.
The musical references were what put the icing on the cake for me. I loved how the author used musical theory and composition to enhance the writing style. The chords used for different climax’s were perfectly placed and created an AMAZING aesthetic. 😍
“People evolve. I don’t see why music can’t either. Music is a reflection of us. Of who we are, where we come from and who we want to be.” “It’s also a measure of perfection. If we don’t play it exactly right, we don’t win.” I scrunch my nose. “I think our obsession with holding on to things, trying to preserve them so they’re exactly the way they always were, can keep us from seeing what’s important.”
...
BUT THE ENDING!!! HOLY CRAP THAT ENDING!!! 😍 I am SO here for the twist of revenge that’s happening now. I’m rooting for Cadey all the FUCKING WAY!! Cadey and Duke both think that the other person has betrayed them, and boy are they hell bent in getting their revenge...
“the broken shards that linger in the depths of my soul, scattered from years of living with pain and heartache, comes alive. A snake rising from smoke. The chaos in me gets louder. Wilder. I’m out for blood tonight. And I’m going to take that pound of flesh”
...
And we can’t forget about Jinx. She was totally giving me Gossip girl, hidden identity vibes and I LOVED her!!!
Hello, citizens of Redwood. I’m sending my royal proclamation through our school app for the last time. Going forward, no one’s secrets will be hidden. If you want to know what’s happening with the highest of the elite at Redwood, all you have to do is subscribe to my new app. Here’s a juicy little tidbit for free. Redwood’s very own Cinderella was seen poofing into the gym on the arm of her fairy god-father. And there was one prince who wasn’t very happy with that. It looks like a war may be brewing between Prince Charming and his working class love, but this Cinderella is not to be underestimated. Today’s showdown is proof. How will our blonde prince deliver his first blow? Join my app and you’ll be the first to know. Until the next post, keep your enemies close and your secrets even closer. - Jinx
...
If I could count the amount of times that I wanted to sucker punch Christa’s fake lips then I’d be a fucking millionaire.
SO, if you love music, a well written plot, aesthetic writing, intense enemies to lovers, bully romances and secret identity revelations, THEN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!!!
If Gossip Girl and Cinderella had a baby - this would be the written version.
This book contains some harsh triggers so please check them before proceeding with Cadences’ story.
Although this book had maybe 🌶️.5 of spice. I actually enjoyed the story enough to not need it. -yes I’m a smut slut leave me alone-
Cadence has had a rough upbringing and now she has to care for herself while caring for her sister. All while being 17 and in high school.
Cadence is somewhat badass but still someone I wish I could jump into the pages and protect.
Dutch.. he pisses me the hell off. I swear to everything holy with a side of matrimony he pisses me OFF. This man likes one girl but screws another then thinks of one while thinking of the other. Then has the audacity to try and end someone who he now understands for the deepest and darkest parts of??? No. Just no. I hope he gets trampled or maybe even DROWNED in a pool as payback. I mean — regardless of who it was he deserves it.
Your girl got distracted by a couple of reels and ended up devouring this book.
‧₊˚ ⋅ Actual rating: 3.5🌟‧₊˚ ⋅
⇢ What to expect & Tropes: ∘ Bully High-school Romance ∘ Rich boy x Poor girl ∘ Bad boy x Innocent girl ∘ Rockstar x Pianist ∘ Sexual Tension ∘ Slowburn ∘ Hidden identity ∘ Enemies to lovers ∘ Part of a trilogy
To be frank with you, I kind of fooled myself into thinking (based on the reels I saw) that this was going to be a book with a grumpy alphahole MMC who’s used to getting what he wants but is sweet to the FMC.
Oh, how wrong I was... He is not sweet. He might care, but he’s a bully, constantly "attacking" the girl he has the hots for, and despite that... I couldn't put this book down 🤣 They’re both hot-headed, and she’s definitely not the wallflower I expected her to be.
Why I willingly put myself through this sort of torture, I will never know. Two stars is for the basic level of consent present(better than most books)But fr why do I do this to myself.💀
This book is truly enemies. Like not the fake kind of enemies who just have banter, these two are out for blood and i’m hear for it. The cliffhanger was midish in my opinion, it’s not as jarring as I expected. Candace is literally a badass and I aspire to be like her. I am super excited to see what happens next though!
Romances like these aren’t usually my thing but somehow this was so good? I think a big part was that I really enjoyed the characters. The only thing that annoyed me was how long it took Dutch to figure out the red head WAS Cadence. like i was so frustrated reading that. Going to continue though!!