The Circle

Hellbent Academy #1

by Val St. Crowe

He doesn’t want me here. He is Blake Mephistopheles. They call him Phist. He’s hard, stubbled, leather-clad—and an asshole. And here is Hellespointe Academy, where black magic is a shortcut and the teachers turn a blind eye to spell-fueled cage fights. He thinks he can chase me off by making me uncomfortable. He wields his good looks and his charisma like a sharpened blade. A wide, thick, hard one. I’m affected. Any girl would be. Sure, he’s threatening. He’s huge, and he has all those gleaming muscles. And then there’s that sneer of his, that sexy sneer— But it doesn’t matter, because I’m going to kill him. He murdered my sister, and the only reason I came to this school was for revenge. One way or another, Blake Mephistopheles must die. Only one male love interest in this slow burn, steamy, college-aged, hate-to-love academy series. Careful if bad words bug you, as well.

Genres: Fantasy

212 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 20, 2019

About the author

Val St. Crowe is the fantasy and sci-fi pen name for USA Today Bestselling author V.J. Chambers.

Under the name V.J. Chambers she writes mysteries, thrillers and horror.

Under the pen name Jove Chambers she writes dark romance.

A Joss Whedon fanatic, she loves all that is speculative, from Elemental Assassin to Arrow to The Lost Boys.

She lives in Shepherdstown, WV with her partner Aaron, their son, and their kitty cat.

Reviews

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fab academy hate to love read! Well written with a great storyline and fab characters this series off to a great start with it twists and turns and slow burn and steamy romance , I’m excited to see what happens next!

[Scarolet Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellbent Academy 1: The Circle by Val St. Crowe is an awesome story to read. This is book number one in this awesome series that I fell in love with. I can not wait to read book number two in this awesome series. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about magic, fantasy and paranormal romance.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 1 of the Hellbent Academy, The Circle, was an unusual storyline--I'm still nor sure why I was so drawn to this story. The protagonists were so dysfunctional the storyline shouldn't have worked…but it did. At times, the plot seemed a bit off-tangent, or thin, but I have to say, I was hooked and picked up book 2 as soon as I finished this one.

[Kevin]

Typical paranormal teen academy book. I read then skimmed to 25%, when I gave it up as not interesting enough for me to continue.
A girl enrolls solely to get revenge for her sister's murder. One guy tries to get her to leave, and another guy offers to help her.
Typo: It's "toe the line," not "tow the line."

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This was a great start to a new series. It has a good plot and fantastic main characters. I wasn't sure that I was going to read this because I did not enjoy this author's last series but I'm glad I did.

[Kim Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG Great book

OMG this one was very good.I can't wait to read more about this series.This was so good I couldn't put it down.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting plot

Great character building. The story flowed easily. I enjoyed the author's writing style. I appreciated that every other chapter wasn't graphic sex.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Book one.

[Marcia Battles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting and will read on

[Zimt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phist is the ultimate anti-hero but a sexy, caring and protective one. It just does not really show only through his acts towards Suther it becomes obvious. So this is really a bully romance fantasy story. Phist and Suther hate each other and at the same time they feel a strong physical pull. During the whole book they say and do hateful things alternatingly. On the other side they stand up together and fight for the right cause. Therefore this book is full of action until the last sentence.