Devious Game

Brentson University #1

by Bri Blackwood

I left Brentson in the dead of night and made a promise that I would never return.

I was determined to leave my past behind, but here’s the thing about

It always has a way of hunting you down.

Now, I’m face-to-face with Nash Henson, my ex-boyfriend, heir to the Henson fortune, and crowned king of Brentson University.

He’ll never forgive me for what I’ve done.

And when he’s done playing his game with me, there won’t be anything left.

Because he’s determined to destroy me. Devious Game is the first book in a dark college romance trilogy that has enemies-to-lovers themes. This book may not be suitable for all readers due to dubious situations that might be triggering. It ends in a cliffhanger and the next book in the series will be Devious Secret.

Genres: Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Dark Romance, College, Dark, New Adult, Second Chance

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 11, 2022

About the author

Bri loves a good romance, especially ones that involve a hot anti-hero. That is why she likes to turn the dial up a notch with her own writing. Her Broken Cross series is her debut dark romance series.

She spends most of her time hanging out with her family, plotting her next novel, or reading books by other romance authors.

Reviews

[O’rion Risher]

DNF 28%

Gosh the writing is annoying! It’s like the writer was trying to make it the longest story possible by writing essentially the same thing a few times in each paragraph. It could literally be condensed down to one single sentence. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Direct quote as an example:
“I was able to confirm that she was still here, even after my warning at the library several hours ago. The beat-up car she’d walked out to when I’d first seen her was parked in the driveway. I had my answer about whether she’d left town or not and still I sat here. Seeing her still here was irritating as fuck, but I did think she was tenacious.”

If you can handle reading that kind of crap throughout, be my guest and read it.

Then there’s the amount of times in that 28% that each character thinks about “the reason she left” that makes you just roll your eyes. Ok, we get it now move on and tell us or give a hint or just shut up about it. It doesn’t make me want to continue reading, it actually does the opposite. And I have a feeling that the whole reason she left isn’t even something bad.

[Emily Guillory]

2 stars was generous. I don't know what this was but it was not enemies to lovers. It was mostly smut with a tiny bit of plot. And the stuff that was interesting happened in the last 5 pages of the book and then cliffhanger. I'm glad this was free on kindle unlimited cause I'm not out anything but time.

will probably read the 2nd one though lol I'm slightly curious about the cliffhanger

[Lammie]

3.5 ⭐️. I enjoyed the read and the chemistry between Nash and Raven but I’m not really pulled in by the plot yet.

Onto see what happens next.

[ellie]

fun and easy read! secret society, private school x second chance

[TMR]

Note: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Note 2: This is a trilogy. So please read in order.
Trigger warnings: dubious consent, kidnapping, death, murder, infidelity (mentioned - not by MMC), bullying, drugging

And the deviousness in this book lived up to it's name!

Here we have two broken characters.

One's a rich athlete who's now in university, with everything he could want, except for the girl of his dreams.

The girl of his said dreams had to leave due to her own past tragedies...but of course...since they all like miscommunication a lot...she doesn't bother telling him.

Two/three years later, she comes back. And utter chaos starts up. Including a secret society for some reason (we feeling ninth house vibes here?) that has something to do with the FMC's issues?

Damn, there's a whole lot going on and I was so there for it. Plus that plot twist cliff hanger ending though...I couldn't believe it happened...I mean after every happy interaction..this ended up happening instead.

I just loved it so much. The writing, the MCs (though both were damn...damn yeaah indeed), the chemistry was on point (no romance for now), the plot was just so well done with their behaviours and memories...even the betrayals, the confessions, and scary good plot twists.

Honestly...I am so ready for devious secrets cause this book got me spinning and wanting more.

I am just so ready, so hit me baby one more...yeah you got it.

Anyway until the next read,

-TMR

[tane'a]

i couldn’t tell you what just happened

[Lori Rivera]

Wow! This book took me by a storm and kept me reading! Nash And Raven are explosive together. Regardless of their hate and anger you can feel the sexual tension and the chemistry rolling off the pages.

This book has secrets, upon secrets, upon secrets… that some come to light… and some you will have to hopefully find out in the next book. At least I hope so… diving into Devious Secret now in hopes of finding out more! Even though I know more secrets will be uncovered and more will still be hidden and only alluded to!

If you like friends to enemies to lovers… then this is an amazing series.

[Melluvsbooks]

Lowering from 4 stars - my original rating was giving the series the benefit of the doubt that my questions and concerns would be answered in the next books but they never were.

How is it possible that they were so in love but when they are back together again they never discuss the 2 years they were apart? Did he have relationships? Did she? Where was she? Does she have friends? Is an ex going to pop up looking for her? When did she move on to having sex with others? Was that a difficult decision? She had all the info and left him devastated. Did it take a long time to move past that?? Why is he not asking who she’s been with?? He’s so possessive. It makes no sense that he’s not asking questions.

And the reason she left him is horrible. Not what I was expecting at all. If you’re expecting it to be some noble decision she was forced into, you’re going to be disappointed. Why was he not livid that the girlfriend he loved made these ridiculous decisions based solely on greed and never told him what was going on???

Nerp. I was really hopeful that I was finally gonna like a trilogy but this one got progressively worse and the more I found out the LESS I liked the MCs (the heroine, in particular).

😐

[Sadhbh Rubinson]

Helped me avoid a reading slump! go billionaire college romances!

look up tw

[Felicia's Review]

First time reading Bri Blackwood and I'm hooked. This book had my attention from the blurb but also from the first chapter. Raven and Nash story wow. We go from love to enemies in the span of 2 chapters. Raven left town only to get mysterious letter to come back to Brentson. Nash omg I can't wait to see how he will be in the next book. I am so glad I found this author.

[Carrie Plohg]

I love a good hate fuck

[Wendy Livingstone]

This is the 1st in a new series, and this is Raven and Nash’s journey. These two were high school sweethearts until she left town without a word, and now 2-years later, she is lured back to Brentson by a mysterious message. Nash is crowned the king of Brentson university and is vying for the leadership position in a secret society, where he is tasked with conquering Raven. Nash is nothing like the boy Raven left behind, he is bitter and hates her. This story ends in a cliffhanger, and I cannot wait to read the next book. This is a well written story which is fast paced, enemies / lovers’ story, and is dark, raw, gritty, and intense, with emotions, secrets, tension, family, friendships, betrayal, suspense, twists, and is a thrilling page turner.
I received a free copy of this book via Elle Woods PR and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Miranda (mirandalovesbookss)]

ARC Bookreview, Rate 4/5 stars

Lovers to Enemies. I really liked this book. The vibe it gave off was thriller, smut and mystery. This is the first book of this series, Brentson University. A dark college romance.

This was kinda twisted in its own way, but enjoyable that kept you wanting for more. The end left you on a cliffhanger, which I'll be reading book two shortly 😉

[Gerry]

I have to admit I'm not usually into college romances (a little too young for me!), but this one really sucked me in! Nash and Raven are high school sweethearts with big plans for their future. But on graduation day, Raven secretly leaves Brentson without even saying goodbye. Two years later she's back and enrolled in Brentson U. Nash is shocked and very angry that she is back. Meanwhile he is being initiated into a secret society. Lots of stuff going on and lots of secrets being kept. Really good story and great characters. Nash is so angry but can't stay away from Raven. Their attraction leads to some dark sex scenes. Dratted cliffhanger! On to the next book!!

[BP34]

This is the first book in the Brentson University Series and is a great start to the trilogy. This is a dark romance with an enemy to lovers theme. Raven and Nash's story will pull you in and take you on an emotional roller coaster like no other. Gripping and full of drama. No shortage of angst or suspense. A page turner that ends with a cliffhanger that will have you begging for the next book Well written with amazing characters and an engaging story line. i read an advance copy via the author and voluntarily chose to review it.

[➳ johanna]

2,5 stars*

it starts of so sweet and innocent and then BAM!—dark! broody! drama! betrayal! trauma!

too bad the very short but innocent intro is ingrained in my brain now because that’s how i view the characters now and it made the rest of the book feel off.
it’s fast paced tho so that’s something

[Brandi-Lynn Weiser]

Didn’t 100% love it, but I certainly didn’t hate it. I am definitely hooked and can’t wait to dive into book 2. I’m kinda already guessing Nash’s dad is responsible for Raven’s mom’s death and it’s his dad who drove her out of town and then lied to Nash. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[vivi]

2,5/5⭐️

[Mirjam hoffman]

I almost didn’t finish. Long winded story leading up to nothing.

[Neraldis]

2.5
For all the details she had them mention during the book about all their minor daily task she could have spent on actually having a plot.

[Joan Phillips]

Who is who

I read a very similar book. For those that are into secrete societies books, you'll enjoy this story.

How was the heroin able to live without any income? Why did he hate her so much when she left to the point he was willing to her physically (harsh sex) and mental abuse?

[Bookobsessionn]

I loved this book so so much!!
This was my first time reading Bri and I am certainly going to be back for more! Raven & Nash are the definition of high school sweethearts and are madly in love with each other🤍
I CANNOT WAIT FOR DEVIOUS SECRET!!!

[Duchess]

Dude, this was fucking boring. The beginning was so nauseatingly sweet, it was almost a DNF before the end of the chapter. We get it, rich, powerful, popular dude and the poor kid. No one thought they'd last, but they did and the dude couldn't stop saying he loves you. Snooze fest.

Fast forward to 2 years and a bunch of shit the writer kept to herself, cuz nothing was revealed, except maybe one dumb sexual alluding comment in the last chapter. I love a good suspense, but this broken condom accident was useless. It was overflowing with so much jizz that it exploded with a below subpar anticlimactic ending. All there was to it was sex, a bunch of texting, keeping secrets, late night stalking, monotonous secret society and random friend scenes thrown in.

It just felt stale, nothing pushed me to want to read more except trying to see why my friend liked this. I didn't find it. It was fucking dull and mediocre.

[lelê! ✧]

“i hate the way that i love you and i need you. i don't want to, but i want you.”


foi uma leitura bem rápida e bem viciante. quando pisquei, já tinha acabado.

estou curiosa o bastante para ler a continuação, então vem ai!!!

[brenda]

n é tao ruim quanto falam ! a autora fala e repete umas coisas desnecessárias mas é legalzinho e rapido de ler

mal posso esperar pra saber oq a raven tanto esconde aposto q uma grande bosta EBA

[Alexandreya Laney]

This is my review for the entirety of the trilogy, and I’m posting it on the first one because maybe then someone will see it before they’ve wasted their time like I have.

2.5 ⭐️ (for every book)

And even that rating for the entire series is generous. The only thing I applaud about this trilogy was its ability to keep me reading even when I truly could not care about the story, I was so curious to finally get all the answers, only to get them and find out that like none of it made sense? Maybe I’m just stupid and couldn’t piece everything together properly but literally none of it made any sense to me at all.

The entirety of this series felt like it was plot overload with no real direction or answers to anything. It’s like the author just had a bunch of ideas she threw together and didn’t bother to construct them properly. Everything felt like an afterthought.

Surprise! You have an entire family from your biological father! Oh, you want more information? Too bad, sorry. We’re just gonna announce to the entire world that you’re blood related to this huge, wealthy family empire and that’s the end of that.

Raven is.. I don’t even have words. I felt nothing for either of these characters, and after finding out what this huge secret was that was built up for damn near the entirety of this series, it’s so incredibly stupid. His dad couldn’t have thought of a single better lie than that one? I spent the whole time expecting the reveal to be that he had sexually assaulted her in one way or another.

The fact that she just.. refused to tell Nash the truth for so long is just so frustrating after finding out what it really was. Then, the way she went from being so distraught over watching him literally kill somebody and then at the end is like you know what? Murder is cool, if you guys are gonna kill whoever is behind this that’s perfectly fine with me, I don’t care. Hello?

Nash is somehow, my least favorite character. I love a good dark, morally grey man, but that is not Nash. He’s a man-baby. All of the chapters in his perspective are of him being so angry and not knowing how to deal with it, that he resorts to either violence, or surprise, hate-sex. The complete 180 from I hate Raven and this is some game for me to enact my revenge to oh my god I’ve never stopped loving this girl, is so completely sudden and poorly executed. I don’t even have words. Then, when he got ‘better’, he actually somehow managed to get worse.

I felt no connection to either of these characters, and I certainly didn’t feel a connection between them either. I’ll be honest and admit that I did a lot of skimming reading this trilogy, which I never do when reading, but I physically could not read it all. Which is saying a lot considering how minimal the page count is in comparison to what I normally read.

The only thing that kept my attention in reading any of these books, was the fact that I wanted answers so badly despite how little I cared about the plot or the characters.

Please do not even get me started on their stupid secret society. What was the point of any of that? What did it even achieve? It brought absolutely nothing to the story and I think you could skip literally every single thing about that stupid ass group and not miss a damn thing.


To keep an already long review from getting any longer, this entirely trilogy is poorly thought out and somehow, even more poorly written. Everything felt like an afterthought, like she had a plot idea when writing it down and intended to come back and touch more on it, and then never did. The writing felt entirely juvenile, and so did the characters. Not to mention, it felt like she was throwing a bunch of random words together to reach some sort of word count. You could probably remove about half of the words in this book and you’d still reach the end result the same. So much filler.

I feel no connection whatsoever to the main characters, let alone the side characters, I don’t see myself reading anything else in relation to this series.

I truly feel as though I’ve wasted my time reading this series. I blame TikTok for telling me this trilogy was absolutely amazing, and most of all I blame myself for not allowing myself to DNF a book/series. If any of the books or series I’ve read have ever deserved to be DNF’d, it would be this one. Unfortunately, I probably won’t learn my lesson and will continue to torture myself, but maybe if someone reads this they’ll save themselves from whatever this series was supposed to be.

[CrystalRose]

Right now, I’m not even itching to read the next book when I SHOULD’VE been. If I thought the plot in the previous book was manageable in the previous book than the plot in this book was absolutely UNMANAGEABLE!

THE WRITING AND GRAMMAR didn’t improve from the previous book. THE STRUCTURE AND PLOT were horrendous and completely absent. Most of the book is of them in the cabin which may had this element of them forming a bond and kind of developing and understanding their relationship. But the thing is, Blackwood does this awful and confusing thing with her writing where she constantly has her characters contradict themselves. One moment we have Raven be like “I love this moment” and then the next moment she’s like “we can’t ever go back.” Not to mention that the ENTIRE hating each other thing was a fluke and so stupid because they didn’t even have a solid base of doing do (ok, mostly Raven didn’t have a solid base of doing so) and the whole hate thing was only just them being unable to communicate with each other (mostly Raven again).

The one star this review has is half because of the snu snu and half because of Nash. As much as I feel like I can’t grasp the situation of him being close to a psychopath who genuinely likes killing people, I still find myself liking him and the way that he was perhaps the only character that did decent things. His love for Raven is genuine, something I cannot say for Raven’s love for Nash.

He was willing to forgive and forget all that she did and start dating her. He does things to protect her, his POVs are filled with his care for her, his worry for her. I have to say though, it was quite sad that young him accepted the lie his father told him and hated her for it. But at the same time, he was young and was heartbroken. I guess he accepted the ONLY explanation for her leaving that was given to him.

I think Cheveliers (however you spell it) are such over the top. And I think the whole mysterious, cool, dark atmosphere that Blackwood wanted to describe around them was lost to me. Nash is NOT an antihero! He enjoys killing and the people he’s probably killed didn’t even do enough to warrant themselves to be killed. That’s why I feel the whole group is just so fake and I just can’t take them seriously. I can’t understand their reason for even banding together like? What’s the purpose of this “secret society”?

Raven. Uff. I hate her. She’s just a complete and utter idiot. I was really hoping that she had a bloody good reason to doing all that she did. But damn. Did she fall even further down from grace in my eyes. Like girl, you left the love of your life for money? Like you needed money so bad? You wanted to go to uni so you could be with him, so you needed money, but you took the money and left him? Let’s not even talk about the whole escort situation because what was that even? She was willing to cheat as if it was the most natural thing and I didn’t hear remorse in her voice at all. Her reason was stupid!

I would’ve liked her more, and the whole plot if her life was threatened, or Nash’s was. But no, it had something to do with something stupid and it was so so stupid of her to choose money over Nash, who might I remind you said in the previous book that he was waiting for him to get his trust find access at 21 so that he could but her a new car. This guy deserves better

I feel so bad for Nash. He’s in all this mess because of her.

[Renee]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review for Stephanie's Book Reports.

I left Brentson in the dead of night and made a promise that I would never return. I was determined to leave my past behind, but here's the thing about it: It always has a way of hunting you down. Now, I am face-to-face with Nash Henson, my ex-boyfriend, heir to the Henson fortune, and crowned king of Brentson University. He'll never forgive me for what I have done. And when he's done playing his game with me, there won't be anything left. Because he's determined to destroy me.

This is the first book in the Brentson University Series from Bri Blackwood. This is a dark college enemies-to-lovers romance trilogy and may contain triggers for some readers. You need to heed the warnings in the beginning of the book. It will end in a cliffhanger.
This is the story of Raven and Nash. Raven and Nash have a past and we get to see that past and Raven has left town and never looked back. Until, she receives a mysterious message one day that tells her if she wants to find out more about her mothers death then she need to return home to Brentson right away. It s been two years since she left the town and Nash. Returning was never her intention and she is shocked when she gets there and she is met with some horrible hostility. The boy that she was in love with when she graduated high school in now this hostile bitter man that she doesn't even know anymore. She left without saying a word because she had to and maybe she should have explained everything to him if she could have but she couldn't and his hostility has had years to grow and is shocking to Raven. Now a man who is about to join a prestigious society known as the Chevaliers, he has been invite to try for the position of chairman but first has to complete a challenge that is laid before him. His challenge is to own his greatest enemy and weakness, Raven Goodwin. However just like he has grown into a young man, Raven has grown and changed too and is not longer the girl he knew in high school and she is going to need all of the feistiness she now has inside her to stand up to Nash since his is more than determined to complete the challenge and take his place in the Chevalier's.
There is so much going on in this book that you are going to be reading and turning pages as fast as you can. After all this is a fast paced book that sucks you in from the first chapter and you are fully immersed in the battle raging between Raven and Nash. I can promise you that you are going to want to slap Nash up the side of his head more than one time. I was a total Raven fan and was cheering for her the entire time. I loved that feisty personality that she had going on when she was standing up to Nash. I have to say too that the cliffhanger is going to cause you some major omg do not throw the kindle against the wall stress. Or your going to be sitting there with your mouth hanging wide open. Either way you react you will be wanting the next book, Devious Secret in your hot little hands right that second. Good thing it is only until September and that in the grand scheme of things will be here before we know it!! Thank Goodness!!! This is a book you do not want to miss.

[Misty (Red's Romance Reviews)]

She is a means to an end, the challenge he was dealt, he will conquer her and own her, and get his spot with the secret society... and definitely not fall for her again. Raven completely broke him when she left town in the dead of night without so much as a goodbye, and it has taken him a long time to come to terms with what she has done. His hate for her and what she has done just continues to grow with each passing day and now that she is back in Brentson, he is ready to exact his revenge and make her hurt the way she hurt him!

The pages of Devious Game play out like an intense game of cat and mouse, Raven hides from Nash at every turn, doing all she can to avoid interactions with him, only for him to always find her... she can't escape him. Nash is on a mission to crush her the way she did to him and exact revenge for all the pain she caused him and his family. And his quest comes with a handsome reward, he will earn the coveted spot with the society that he has been dreaming of since Freshman year. But what happens when it starts to become harder to hate her? He can't let his feelings cloud his judgment or it will cost him everything...

From the very first page this one had me addicted, I could not put it down, I had to see how it would all play out... which inevitably lead to a late night of reading, and let me tell you it was SO worth the lost hours of sleep! As I flipped through the pages I was hit with so many emotions, and left with so many questions... I cannot wait to see what the second installment holds for these two!! This first time read did not disappoint, the story line was unique and captivating, the words emotive and well written, and the characters perfectly drawn... I loved every minute of it!! Highly recommend!!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Elizabeth Horbaczek]

New author

I started looking through what I could get through kindle unlimited. This book popped up and it's in my room of realm of reads. I really like the college romance bully romance and stalkerish romance All of that meets to criteria of what I love to read. Now let's get to the book itself. I love raven she is a character that is completely flawed and I still don't know why she left in the 1st place. So the story begins raven has to leave because her WiFi is dad has something on her and that's what I'm getting at I'm not really sure if dad is correct or if there's something more going on that hasnt been revealed yet. So instead of telling Nash what is going on she decides that just leave on a day she graduates.... With all of that 2 years passes and a note comes to her and says if you wanna find out what happened to your mom come back home. So she does all this not knowing what to expect.... Nash on the other hand it's a whole different person now he is a football guy his parents are still very political and the town but now so I feel Like Nash has not really got in to the true feelings of what happened graduation day and how it effected him when raven left. So with all of this there is a secret society the Nash is trying to get into also so with raven coming back she is part of the bigger scheme of things. So as Nash is plotting destruction with raven this is side is plotting something else with raven it seems like but there are so many unanswered questions in this book that going to the second book I'm hoping I I learn more because I like the riding in this book but I still felt a little disconnected with everything that's going on. So at the end of the book with the cliffhanger I just still fill a little lost in it still.