Cruel King: Special Edition Print (Royal Elite)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️🌶️🌶️ I love Rina Kent books. I have read a few out of order but have decided to read them all in order. This is the first one in order and I loved it. Levi is a bit unpredictable and decides he wants Astrid. She is stuck living with her estranged father after her mother dies in an accident. The evil step mother, step sister trope is heavy in this book. Levi is super sweet with Astrid, even with all his crazy. This does have a bit of a mystery involved. This book was dark, spicy, with a touch of sweet to end it all out. Having read God of Fury it was fun to get the back story on Brans, Mom and Dad.

I’ve seen Rina Kent’s books everywhere on IG and have several of her books on my TBR, so I finally made time to read one of her books. I started with the suggested reading order on Rina Kent’s website and borrowed Cruel King from Kindle Unlimited. It’s one of her New Adult Romances with one of my favorite tropes, Bully Romance. I know bullying in romance books is not for everyone, but I love these books for some reason. Storyline/My Thoughts: Cruel King is a prequel to Rina King’s Royal Elite series but can be read as a standalone, according to the author’s website and other reviews I’ve read on this book. This prequel does introduce other MMCs that get their books later in the Royal Elite series, which I now can’t wait to read after reading Levi King’s book. This book is not only a bully romance but an instant hate-to-love romance between the main characters for different reasons. The FMC, Astrid Clifford’s father, specifically told her to stay away from the Kings at Royal Elite. Unfortunately, she finds herself in a predicament at a party and unexpectedly meets Levi King. After the party, Astrid’s life of invisibility flips upside down. Now she is visible and a target for everyone at Royal Elite, including Levi King, whose mission is to make her life difficult. He wants her to let go of her mission of finding out who targeted her specifically at the party, but she’s not bowing to his demands. If you enjoy bully romance, as I do, you know eventually what will happen; the bully falls in love with the person they are tormenting. It’s inevitable, especially in the case of Levi King, when he starts to hang out and learn more about Astrid Clifford. You would think I would be bored of the same storyline regarding bully romances, but I enjoy reading how the bully falls for the girl and how he ends up becoming her savior at one point in the story. I crave these types of stories. What were my thoughts when it came to Levi King? In the book, he is an ultimate jerk to Astrid, which is expected since he’s a bully. I liked his character, even if he was the bully of the story. He had his own issues that he was dealing with and acted out in ways due to what he had been put through. He lived with his Uncle, who tried to control his life, and his cousin. He and Astrid had similarities to what they were dealing with regarding family issues. Neither one was respected or even shown love, and both lost either one or both parents. What did I think of Astrid Clifford? I liked her, but she sometimes drove me crazy with her choices. I felt for her character and how her father and his family (wicked stepmother and stepsister vibes) treated her. The poor girl was still grieving losing her mother to a car accident she had been in with her mother. Then, she ends up in another accident, and this time she believes someone is targeting her. The girl couldn’t catch a break, and then Levi King happened. The book may be a bully romance, but there’s a mystery to solve involving poor Astrid. There is a shocking twist at the end that I was even surprised by and didn’t suspect to happen. I won’t spoil it for readers who haven’t read this book. I’m glad everything came together, and Astrid and Levi had a happy ending. More for Astrid since she deserved it. Overall, I give the first book I read from Rina Kent four stars and will definitely continue to read the Royal Elite series. Rina Kent, a new-to-me author that I will now have to check out her whole backlist of books she’s written. Wish me luck, I will need it since she has a lot of books, but I’m one determined reader. Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Royal Elite series. Genre/SubGenre(s)/Trope(s)/Element(s): Romance. YA/NA Romance. Bully Romance. Hate to Love. Enemies to Love. Sports Romance. Soccer/Football Romance. Athlete/Football/Soccer Player MMC. Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoy New Adult Romances with the bully and hate-to-love/enemies-to-lovers tropes, this book/series may be for you. Favorite Quote(s): “Those who don’t play chess think the king is the strongest piece because the game ends when he dies, but they don’t stop to think that if the queen dies first, the king doesn’t have a chance to survive.” “He thought he broke me, but he shouldn’t have let me pick up the pieces because what doesn’t kill me, better run.”

Wow, I’m really late to the Rina Kent game and I wish I’d started sooner. This book hooked me in since the beginning and I was reading nonstop when I had time. 😍 I absolutely loved watching this relationship blossom, I think the back and forth for this book def made sense so I’m ok with it. These two are def made for each other and I don’t think anyone else fits Levi the way she does. I’m so excited for what comes next in the storyline. 😮‍💨 Overall a good Possessive MMC, toxic dark romance in a high school setting. Talk about a good enemies to lovers romance with a mystery added in. 🤭

This was my very first Rina Kent book and I wish I would’ve liked it a lot more 😅 It was a really fun and interesting story, it had a really interesting story line and some of the plot twists were really good. The spice was definitely spicy 🥵 But I found it really hard to get into the characters, neither one of the MC’s grabbed my attention and I felt like they were very surface level. I just felt like I couldn’t connect with either one, Levi was straight up rude sometimes and borderline controlling and not in like a fun, spicy way lol Astrid felt flat to me. I still want to continue the series and see what’s next so there’s that lol

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶 💕 Possessive Anti-Hero 💕 High School Romance 💕 Some Romeo/Juliet Vibes 💕 Some Cinderella Vibes 💕 Virgin FMC 💕 Touch her and die vibes My Thoughts: When I realized Astrid was living with her dad becuase her mom passed, it broke my heart since I know how hard it is to lose your mom. Astrid and Levi are soo good together and I loved the way she changed him (for the better). The vibes during this book were great to me and I felt drawn in the whole time. Summary: Astrid lives with her father, stepmother, and stepsister and has for two years since her mother passed away during a car accident (she was also in the car but cannot recall the whole night). Her father has two rules: 1. You will not disgrace the Clifford surname. 2. You will stay away from the King surname. But it hard to stay away from Levi King when she throws herself at him at a party (because she was drugged) and now he has his eyes set on her. But she will not go down without a fight. The same night, she was hit by a car and wants justice for it. Levi King wants Astrid ever since she threw herself at him and he turned her down because she was drugged. But then he makes demands and she does not do well with demands. His attempt to silence her investigation into the recent accident backfires when she retreats into silence. Once she gives up, he wants her fighting spirit back. Levi learned why their families have so much hate for each other and he pushed her away. But her the past and present start to unravel as she recalls memories and things are not what they seem at home.

I had this book in my TBR list, for the longest time, and am so glad I took the time to read it, I can’t wait to read the next ones, it was spicy 🥵, chaotic sometime as well as sweet! Super recommended

I have seen people say they don't like this story out of all the King stories but I actually like it because it was very normal. I mean the others are a bit out there but this one was well paced and beautiful.

I loved the snippets we get of Levi and Astrid in their kids book so naturally I had to read their story as well. I have to say so many things make sense now. Good story, in typical Rina style the plot is scarce but the focus is the relationship even if here the focus was the push and pull. It’s and introductory book for the rest of the characters in the series.

Love it from start to finish. Great read. Keeps you waiting until almost the end to find out what happened at the start.

Ein toller start in das rinaverse