This review is for the entirety of the series. This also was marked for spoilers.
To sum up the trilogy: the author was doing too much.
CHARACTERS
Echo. FMC. 18-19(?). Became a teen mom. Loves her son. She and Royal had an illicit affair in their youth, but her brother is an overprotective bitch ass, which contributed to Echo eventually lying about her abortion. She never really hates anyone. Legacy at a sorority. Sins of the father.
MMCs
Royal. 21-22(?). SIN frat brother. Imprisoned falsely. Hates and loves Echo. Wilder and Beckham are his best mates and, eventually, lovers. Hates Echo’s brother but they were once best friend. Loves his son.
Wilder. 21-22(?). SIN frat brother. Has a sister who is/was in an abusive relationship with a cop. The charmer. Fighter.
Bechkam. 21-22(?). SIN frat brother. Was groomed and raped by his nanny. Abusive and neglectful home life. Voyeur…for no reason. Enjoys making jokes at inopportune times.
Summary of Events
Book 1. Echo attends university as a freshman as a legacy to TZE while her brother is a frat brother at SIN. Echo learns her ex Royal is at SIN as well, and they have a run in that, of course, makes her wet with need and a bit frightened. A “gay couple” (Wilder and Beckham) take her back to her sorority, and Royal has best mates Beckham and Wilder come into his plan to make Echo be repaid for his wrong imprisonment. Both men agree with Beckham sneaking into her room and leaving notes and Wilder playing nice guy. Something something feelings that never left burn brighter something something sex something something the real bad guy appears, and Royal finds out he has a son.
Book 2.. With Echo terrified about a man coming into her room and leaving notes, she and her elder sister and brother involve the police. Royal reconciles he has a son, and that he was in the wrong for thinking Echo is at fault for what happened to him. Echo cries and cries about not trusting the trio after learning and dealing with their assholery, but, as we all know, sex is always on the table. They need to remain on campus as to not involve Echo and Royal’s son into this, per the bad guy. And…
Hmm…
Ah! Freya (Echo’s sorority big sister who is hardly there) and her boyfriend Zane die!
Book 3. Murder mystery! Who dunnit? Well, this is where the book is basically Royal understanding his dynamic with Wilder and Beckham, how SIN is some secret “justice league” underground society with connections everywhere, and…yeah?
Huh.
Take my advice: go watch CW’s Riverdale.
This was a trilogy that was very CW and that is not a compliment. Everything felt so contrived and last minute in all these reveals on top of reveals on top of reveals. They remind me of CW shows that really wanted to look smart and mysterious, but the creators had no idea how to do it, so they pulled connections out of their ass and hoped we would all gasp.
The gasp that I did not, in fact, guspt.
WHAT WOULD HAVE IMPROVED MY RATING.
✨ A bit more from Echo, honestly. I understand she never stopped loving Royal, but she does have a son now. That doesn’t mean she needs to be perfect. She should make mistakes. But her flaws should be recognized as flaws. Having her make these mistakes and then snap-to. I want more indicators that she was hiding something. We have her POV for the love of Christ, be useful with it! I wanted more raw mother bear anger from her regarding what all three men did. I wanted to see when she went cold, and how she decides her son’s safety takes priority, meaning she’s staying away from the three men who, by correlation, caused this shit into her home after her parents died.
✨ A little less from Echo’s brother. He’s a bit too over the top. And that’s a flaw of his, understandably. But as the trilogy progressed…why didn’t he receive any sort if character arc in simmering down? He feels like the Walmart version of Killian. Speaking of the Lords…
✨ Why is Beckham a voyeur? Tristian in Royals of Forsyth is an artistic voyeur and I love him for it. He’s a control freak. Naturally, voyeurism is there too. And this is nonsexual surveillance for him too. This extends to his mates and his little sisters. You could say this stems from his ex cheating on him. So why is Beckham a voyeur? You don’t need to psychoanalyze him but give some sort of basis. Let alone, when he revealed he was a voyeur to a rightfully upset Echo, the fuck was he whispering sensually about explaining himself. That entire scene tanked my like of Echo and Beckham’s dynamic.
✨ Romantic nonsexual bonding needed a priority. It just felt like the author thought “If they have enough sex, it’ll be a relationship!” No! Echo and Wilder honestly had the most romantic chemistry while Royal and Echo had the most sexual chemistry. I wanted to see nonsexual intimate bonding with all the relationships involved. Instead, sex = romance. Sex can contribute to romance but romance is a collective effort of various intimacies. But all right 😒
Only reason this series gets 2⭐️ is that this had good bones. It just needed some more developmental editing, IMO.