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Ravenwood Elites #1
Brutal King
WINTER
Mason King...
Brutal, cold and so filled with hate.
Hate for what? The simple answer is ME.
Our families have hated each other for years, or at least that’s what I used to think.
But us? We didn’t care because we were in love.
That is until he saw what they wanted him to see.
We went from soulmates to enemies in a matter of minutes.
Once upon a time, I loved Mason with every fibre of my being.
Until he shattered my soul and left me to pick up the pieces alone.
Now I’m back in Ravenwood and I’m about to find out just how brutal my king has become,
Only he isn’t the only one after me...
MASON
Winter Crowne...
Liar, fake and the thing I intend to break.
I thought I was in love with her but that was before I saw her betrayal first-hand.
The last time I saw her I told her I’d make her pay if she ever came back here,
She didn’t listen and now that she’s back I can finally exact my revenge on her.
She never should have come back to Ravenwood and I’ll be the one to make sure she knows it.
TRIGGER WARNING: this book contains material that is suitable for ages 18+ with themes that may be triggering to some which includes bullying and non-con
NOTE: This is book 1 in a trilogy and it does end in a cliffhanger.
Mason King...
Brutal, cold and so filled with hate.
Hate for what? The simple answer is ME.
Our families have hated each other for years, or at least that’s what I used to think.
But us? We didn’t care because we were in love.
That is until he saw what they wanted him to see.
We went from soulmates to enemies in a matter of minutes.
Once upon a time, I loved Mason with every fibre of my being.
Until he shattered my soul and left me to pick up the pieces alone.
Now I’m back in Ravenwood and I’m about to find out just how brutal my king has become,
Only he isn’t the only one after me...
MASON
Winter Crowne...
Liar, fake and the thing I intend to break.
I thought I was in love with her but that was before I saw her betrayal first-hand.
The last time I saw her I told her I’d make her pay if she ever came back here,
She didn’t listen and now that she’s back I can finally exact my revenge on her.
She never should have come back to Ravenwood and I’ll be the one to make sure she knows it.
TRIGGER WARNING: this book contains material that is suitable for ages 18+ with themes that may be triggering to some which includes bullying and non-con
NOTE: This is book 1 in a trilogy and it does end in a cliffhanger.
270 pages, ebook
Published April 11, 2021
493 people are currently reading
2386 people want to read
About the author
Nikita.
8 books1,116 followersNikita is an introvert at heart who loves to procrastinate. She spends most of her time reading or watching crimes shows because she hates to leave the house unless it's absolutely necessary.
Her love of Dark Romance really began when she moved to the US and fell in love with reading all over again. She had no plans on ever writing a book or publishing but Cole was very persistent and now she can't think of doing anything else!
She loves writing as much as she loves reading and can't wait to bring you more dark romance reads! The journey so far has been a dream thanks to all her amazing readers and she can't thank them enough for taking a chance on her books and loving those characters as much as she does!
Her love of Dark Romance really began when she moved to the US and fell in love with reading all over again. She had no plans on ever writing a book or publishing but Cole was very persistent and now she can't think of doing anything else!
She loves writing as much as she loves reading and can't wait to bring you more dark romance reads! The journey so far has been a dream thanks to all her amazing readers and she can't thank them enough for taking a chance on her books and loving those characters as much as she does!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 198 reviews
August 15, 2022
For a bully book this hit the perfect spot, it does have triggers so heed the warnings, our hero doesn’t muck around and takes things to a dark level and doesn’t redeem himself in this book, this author definitely took a risk with this book, stepped where many before her will not step.
These two are beyond toxic, he did, she did and around and around they go throwing daggers at each other, alls fair in love and war, when love and hate go hand in hand, from the ground up they destroy each other and everyones left burning in their wake.
From her childhood sweetheart seeking revenge ,to a mother who despises her, a stalker wanting her dead, she’s all alone with no one in her corner makes for a gut wrenching read.
This also doesn’t throw out the warm and fuzzy feelings, these guys are brutal and take no prisoners. Does end on a cliffy but thank god the next book is released!
These two are beyond toxic, he did, she did and around and around they go throwing daggers at each other, alls fair in love and war, when love and hate go hand in hand, from the ground up they destroy each other and everyones left burning in their wake.
From her childhood sweetheart seeking revenge ,to a mother who despises her, a stalker wanting her dead, she’s all alone with no one in her corner makes for a gut wrenching read.
This also doesn’t throw out the warm and fuzzy feelings, these guys are brutal and take no prisoners. Does end on a cliffy but thank god the next book is released!
April 15, 2021
2.5⭐️⭐️
Style: Dark Romance (New Adult)
Story: 3/5
Enjoyment: 2/5
Dark Level: 1.5/5
Sexual Level:
Triggers: Yes
Violence: No
Male: Mean & Hateful
Series: Book 1(Cliffhanger)
Pages: 270
Audio: N/A
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
STORY:
I had a lot of stages of emotions that I went through while reading this book. This was more a me thing and not an author thing. I don’t think this was a bad book, but I didn’t find myself enjoying it as much as I thought I would.
With that being said, I liked the way the story started out showing us key moments of Mason’s and Winter’s story bringing us to their present at ages 22 and 24. Around 35% of the book and up, I felt myself becoming disinterested. By 76% I found myself stirring with a bit of excitement because I felt as though the story was picking up for me. At 80% my mind could not get into the dynamic that these are 20 plus year olds as this story is not high School or college based.
Most of the story I felt as though I was still reading teenagers in High School. Yes, Mason is following the blueprint of your typical bully wanting revenge and to hurt because hurt people hurt people, but I did not get grown and sexy being groomed to take over companies. Winter, I felt the same. She is 22, but I still felt like she had the mind set of her 16 possible 18-year-old self, especially the scene where she came out of the hospital and went home confronting those in the home. Basically, my mind was not grasping that these were grown ups, and I think that’s what hinder me from enjoyment. I have read bullying concept with adults and teenagers, but this felt like they were in high school. Sometimes it’s hard to assess a book with cliffhangers because again, I don’t know how the story will progress as there is more to come.
CHEMISTRY:
The beginning of the book, Mason’s and Winter’s physical chemistry was ok to good. As the author notes there will be triggers as there is a non-con scene along with the treatment of the Winter.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
Mason had his best friends Grayson, Royce, Nate and Beck along with Winter who has Riley, Avery and Luna. The friends were ok. I did not find myself salivating over anyone. Mason’s best friends follows him around wherever he goes and again that did not appeal to me because this wasn’t a high school read. These were 24 year olds that brought me in a teenager mindset.
Overall, I will not discourage anyone from trying a book based on my rating as I can only speak on my specific preferences and tastes. My mindset was in a specific space while the story was taking place in another and that hinder my enjoyment.
****I don’t equate these stories to real life. It’s about personal taste and what you would or want to tolerate with the books you read. I know we all have different opinions and preferences with what we read. I based my book reviews on my preferences and what I like, and while these preferences may not be the same for others, I hope this review was still helpful.
Style: Dark Romance (New Adult)
Story: 3/5
Enjoyment: 2/5
Dark Level: 1.5/5
Sexual Level:
Triggers: Yes
Violence: No
Male: Mean & Hateful
Series: Book 1(Cliffhanger)
Pages: 270
Audio: N/A
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
STORY:
I had a lot of stages of emotions that I went through while reading this book. This was more a me thing and not an author thing. I don’t think this was a bad book, but I didn’t find myself enjoying it as much as I thought I would.
With that being said, I liked the way the story started out showing us key moments of Mason’s and Winter’s story bringing us to their present at ages 22 and 24. Around 35% of the book and up, I felt myself becoming disinterested. By 76% I found myself stirring with a bit of excitement because I felt as though the story was picking up for me. At 80% my mind could not get into the dynamic that these are 20 plus year olds as this story is not high School or college based.
Most of the story I felt as though I was still reading teenagers in High School. Yes, Mason is following the blueprint of your typical bully wanting revenge and to hurt because hurt people hurt people, but I did not get grown and sexy being groomed to take over companies. Winter, I felt the same. She is 22, but I still felt like she had the mind set of her 16 possible 18-year-old self, especially the scene where she came out of the hospital and went home confronting those in the home. Basically, my mind was not grasping that these were grown ups, and I think that’s what hinder me from enjoyment. I have read bullying concept with adults and teenagers, but this felt like they were in high school. Sometimes it’s hard to assess a book with cliffhangers because again, I don’t know how the story will progress as there is more to come.
CHEMISTRY:
The beginning of the book, Mason’s and Winter’s physical chemistry was ok to good. As the author notes there will be triggers as there is a non-con scene along with the treatment of the Winter.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
Mason had his best friends Grayson, Royce, Nate and Beck along with Winter who has Riley, Avery and Luna. The friends were ok. I did not find myself salivating over anyone. Mason’s best friends follows him around wherever he goes and again that did not appeal to me because this wasn’t a high school read. These were 24 year olds that brought me in a teenager mindset.
Overall, I will not discourage anyone from trying a book based on my rating as I can only speak on my specific preferences and tastes. My mindset was in a specific space while the story was taking place in another and that hinder my enjoyment.
****I don’t equate these stories to real life. It’s about personal taste and what you would or want to tolerate with the books you read. I know we all have different opinions and preferences with what we read. I based my book reviews on my preferences and what I like, and while these preferences may not be the same for others, I hope this review was still helpful.
April 13, 2021
ALL MY REVIEWS CAN BE FOUND ON MY BLOG: ABSTRACT BOOKS
Star Rating : 4.5/5 Stars
POV : Dual
Cliffhanger : Yes
Hero : Mason
Heroine : Winter
Pace of the story : Moderate
Angst Rating : 6/10
Heat Rating : 7/10
Triggers Involved : Non Con , Dub Con , Bully
Plot Summary :
Mason and Winter were in love. They had everything until Mason saw Winter's betrayal first hand. He saw how much she destroyed him. So he destroyed her back. What he didn't know was that things were not what they seemed.
Years later they both are back. Winter's whole life has been uprooted and she has nowhere else to go so she returns to the one place she swore she would never return. The place with her personal devil. She only hopes that she doesn't run into him again.
Mason is not happy to see the girl he loved again. She is a reminder of how she betrayed him. Last time he didn't break her completely but this time there would be nothing left of her by the time he is done with her.
Overall Opinion :
Have you ever read a book that just grips you by the balls? A book that has this sharp pain curling in your chest and it hurts to breath after every sentence. This book is that and so much more!
The story is raw and don't even get me started on the cliffhanger!! I need so many drinks after that jeez. Mason is Cutthroat. The things he does to winter had me feeling so bad for her. All the while seeing Mason's pain to being betrayed by the one girl he loved was bad too! But still, geez, communication is the key!!! Although I swear I will murder a lot of people if Mason doesn't grovel properly in the upcoming books. My heart hurts so much for Winter!
I am definitely Recommending this book to all those dark romance lovers out there. This book is not very dark and has a bit of dub con and non con scenes but there is no physical and mental torture like the debut novel of this author. This one is a lot tamer than that.
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June 18, 2024
A refreshingly creative dark love story
This story contained all my favorite themes - dark romance, bullying, friends to enemies to lovers, stepbrother, other woman drama, antihero, dubious consent, stalker; added to these, a thrilling, entertaining, easy to immerse myself into storyline.
With the death of her CEO, billionaire father, Winter inherits the family business at 22 and returns to her hometown of Ravenwood after a 4-year stint abroad for corporate expansion. But Mason warned her that he would crush her if she ever returned, a threat stemming from her supposed betrayal of their childhood love. Winter, while having some confidence, is vulnerable even if spritely at times. Meanwhile, Mason is fierce, a stalwart of uncompromise, and complicit in her bullying. He is a consummate antihero, a character you love to hate -- and also her stepbrother. Into the mix of bullying and Mason's retribution include other enemies -- Winter's mother, a stalker, mean girls -- with emotional distress, and Winter has a daunting, uphill battle.
Here's what I loved:
- All the deliciously dark themes -- dubious consent, bullying, other woman drama, evil characters - in the midst of a suspense thriller. The story was easy to read.
- A jealous-possessive, unapologetic, and unrelenting Mason who at times seemed unhinged, just the way I like my antiheroes.
- Winter's personality, a certain element of softness which I prefer to bravado.
- The truly despicable characters adding their special brand of unrest and disquiet to the plot.
- The pace: the storyline did not feel unnecessarily long and was always intriguing.
Some areas worth noting, but that I felt could have been better:
- The writing style was sometimes too colloquial, simplistic; it was also repetitive and lost its focus, for example, over the course of several not necessarily sequential chapters on the heroine's loss of her father.
- Unrealistic outcomes, for instance, a billionaire heiress with all the means available to her to control any situation and any person, not being able to "handle" her mother, who realistically was in a weaker position.
- As much as I liked Winter's softness, she was rarely defiant enough to turn the tides in her favor, BUT I suspect we might see more fire in later books.
- Mean characters depicted to the point of literary melodrama, caricature.
- As much as I loved his being a supreme jerk, the depths of Mason's hatred seemed at odds with the "injury."
These, however, did not make me like the storyline any less. It was decidedly engaging. I could not put down the book. A captivating storyline that I will definitely be reading into book 2. In fact, I wait on edge of that shocking, colossal cliffhanger to know what comes next.
This story contained all my favorite themes - dark romance, bullying, friends to enemies to lovers, stepbrother, other woman drama, antihero, dubious consent, stalker; added to these, a thrilling, entertaining, easy to immerse myself into storyline.
With the death of her CEO, billionaire father, Winter inherits the family business at 22 and returns to her hometown of Ravenwood after a 4-year stint abroad for corporate expansion. But Mason warned her that he would crush her if she ever returned, a threat stemming from her supposed betrayal of their childhood love. Winter, while having some confidence, is vulnerable even if spritely at times. Meanwhile, Mason is fierce, a stalwart of uncompromise, and complicit in her bullying. He is a consummate antihero, a character you love to hate -- and also her stepbrother. Into the mix of bullying and Mason's retribution include other enemies -- Winter's mother, a stalker, mean girls -- with emotional distress, and Winter has a daunting, uphill battle.
Here's what I loved:
- All the deliciously dark themes -- dubious consent, bullying, other woman drama, evil characters - in the midst of a suspense thriller. The story was easy to read.
- A jealous-possessive, unapologetic, and unrelenting Mason who at times seemed unhinged, just the way I like my antiheroes.
- Winter's personality, a certain element of softness which I prefer to bravado.
- The truly despicable characters adding their special brand of unrest and disquiet to the plot.
- The pace: the storyline did not feel unnecessarily long and was always intriguing.
Some areas worth noting, but that I felt could have been better:
- The writing style was sometimes too colloquial, simplistic; it was also repetitive and lost its focus, for example, over the course of several not necessarily sequential chapters on the heroine's loss of her father.
- Unrealistic outcomes, for instance, a billionaire heiress with all the means available to her to control any situation and any person, not being able to "handle" her mother, who realistically was in a weaker position.
- As much as I liked Winter's softness, she was rarely defiant enough to turn the tides in her favor, BUT I suspect we might see more fire in later books.
- Mean characters depicted to the point of literary melodrama, caricature.
- As much as I loved his being a supreme jerk, the depths of Mason's hatred seemed at odds with the "injury."
These, however, did not make me like the storyline any less. It was decidedly engaging. I could not put down the book. A captivating storyline that I will definitely be reading into book 2. In fact, I wait on edge of that shocking, colossal cliffhanger to know what comes next.
dnf
July 28, 2021DNF - not enough love - H is still having sex with OW after sexxing up the h — he’s just mean. Not sexy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2021
Long and drawn out!!
It was too much unnecessary details and now added villains for a cliffhanger that doesn't come out for a few MONTHS!!!! The book would be forgotten by then I don't think authors think about that.
Also she was a grown a%$ woman who stayed in 2 different homes with people who hurt her and couldn't catch on to what was clearly going on in her face but we are to believe she could run a billion dollar company...I mean really!!!
It was too much unnecessary details and now added villains for a cliffhanger that doesn't come out for a few MONTHS!!!! The book would be forgotten by then I don't think authors think about that.
Also she was a grown a%$ woman who stayed in 2 different homes with people who hurt her and couldn't catch on to what was clearly going on in her face but we are to believe she could run a billion dollar company...I mean really!!!
July 4, 2021
This is seriously a book?
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The h has the emotional range of a teaspoon. She gets raped numerous times but gets over it like its nothing? The H is brutal with her, he physically hurts her, rapes her, is just overall inhumane! I don't mind miscommunication romances but man this one is just horrible. You could have had a great story.. This isn't just DARK.. its BATSHIT CRAZY!
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The h has the emotional range of a teaspoon. She gets raped numerous times but gets over it like its nothing? The H is brutal with her, he physically hurts her, rapes her, is just overall inhumane! I don't mind miscommunication romances but man this one is just horrible. You could have had a great story.. This isn't just DARK.. its BATSHIT CRAZY!
April 15, 2021
Interesting plot but not an alluring read
I am not sure about this book. The plot is not bad, but too much drama for one person; it is a little messy. There is much I do not understand about the female character. At times it feels as the main character is brainless or naive or just lost in her head. The author writes a self-dialogue for the characters with no follow-through with action, and at times, it is annoying and repetitive. The female character is warned by the father not to trust her mother or anyone else. Winter waits forever to get a PI to investigate her mother. There is so much she can do to gain favors and trust with the kind of power that she is holding, but she acts like a college student going to work, school, and home and then repeats the following day. Her father was upset with her because she went out without a bodyguard. After all the mess and people trying to hurt her, she has no protection and no security. There is a lot of nonsense written in the book such as, why she is not hiring bodyguards or more of PI to investigate all the threats that she is receiving. Winter is taking over a big company as the new CEO and does not arrange to meet with the stakeholders. The mother is blackmailing her with how she can destroy the company. Winter does nothing to protect the company's interest and be ahead of the game so she can be free of her mother’s threats. The scenes and dialogue are poorly written and childish. The mystery and plot are apparent, and it is easy to figure out what is going on. The ex-boyfriend Mason is just an ignorant evil that does unforgiven things to Winter. The sex is not even hot but evil, disgusting, and cowardly. Maybe both can avoid all the pain if he says what happened at the party, all set up by two evil parents. Even winter’s father's death is suspicious. As I mentioned, the book is interesting but not so captivating or alluring. I honestly skipped some paragraphs that were too simple, and obviously, and boring. I am curious if my theories are correct, so I am reading the following book but not exciting waiting as “I just can wait for book 2”.
I am not sure about this book. The plot is not bad, but too much drama for one person; it is a little messy. There is much I do not understand about the female character. At times it feels as the main character is brainless or naive or just lost in her head. The author writes a self-dialogue for the characters with no follow-through with action, and at times, it is annoying and repetitive. The female character is warned by the father not to trust her mother or anyone else. Winter waits forever to get a PI to investigate her mother. There is so much she can do to gain favors and trust with the kind of power that she is holding, but she acts like a college student going to work, school, and home and then repeats the following day. Her father was upset with her because she went out without a bodyguard. After all the mess and people trying to hurt her, she has no protection and no security. There is a lot of nonsense written in the book such as, why she is not hiring bodyguards or more of PI to investigate all the threats that she is receiving. Winter is taking over a big company as the new CEO and does not arrange to meet with the stakeholders. The mother is blackmailing her with how she can destroy the company. Winter does nothing to protect the company's interest and be ahead of the game so she can be free of her mother’s threats. The scenes and dialogue are poorly written and childish. The mystery and plot are apparent, and it is easy to figure out what is going on. The ex-boyfriend Mason is just an ignorant evil that does unforgiven things to Winter. The sex is not even hot but evil, disgusting, and cowardly. Maybe both can avoid all the pain if he says what happened at the party, all set up by two evil parents. Even winter’s father's death is suspicious. As I mentioned, the book is interesting but not so captivating or alluring. I honestly skipped some paragraphs that were too simple, and obviously, and boring. I am curious if my theories are correct, so I am reading the following book but not exciting waiting as “I just can wait for book 2”.
June 1, 2021
Wow I couldn't finish
I got to 22% and had to stop.🤷 I just couldn't even get over her being stupid or the way I'm guessing these two were virgins when they has sex but their long distance relationship was just so open sexual in language. 4 years and I guess a hormonal teen that's had sex once was so knowable🤷but the worst was the childish unsounding twenties that these two spoke. They spoke like non mature teens . I raised two teen girls and ima just say the over the top way they spoke is not teen language. It annoyed me so much. Then to get to the little plot of him walking in On her but not confronting the usual behavior of cheating but waiting for her to come around for tit for tat ( at 20 now) was just blow my mind . but wait she was ruffied ( enough to be in hospital unconscious for 2 days) and and, and, and her two best disappear without a trace 🙊 that along with the way they talk I had headache and as I say lol I'm a migraine suffer not gonna read something that makes head hurt, have enough headaches thank you 😘
I got to 22% and had to stop.🤷 I just couldn't even get over her being stupid or the way I'm guessing these two were virgins when they has sex but their long distance relationship was just so open sexual in language. 4 years and I guess a hormonal teen that's had sex once was so knowable🤷but the worst was the childish unsounding twenties that these two spoke. They spoke like non mature teens . I raised two teen girls and ima just say the over the top way they spoke is not teen language. It annoyed me so much. Then to get to the little plot of him walking in On her but not confronting the usual behavior of cheating but waiting for her to come around for tit for tat ( at 20 now) was just blow my mind . but wait she was ruffied ( enough to be in hospital unconscious for 2 days) and and, and, and her two best disappear without a trace 🙊 that along with the way they talk I had headache and as I say lol I'm a migraine suffer not gonna read something that makes head hurt, have enough headaches thank you 😘
March 20, 2025
Mason and Winter
This book suffers from Trilogy syndrome. It’s slow getting started as it bogs down In The minutiae. I skimmed a lot because there is a good story buried under a lot of boring details that really
Don’t bring anything to The tale. There’s a lot of filler including rehashing the MMcs POv verbatim to the fmcs pov in the previous chapter.
This book suffers from Trilogy syndrome. It’s slow getting started as it bogs down In The minutiae. I skimmed a lot because there is a good story buried under a lot of boring details that really
Don’t bring anything to The tale. There’s a lot of filler including rehashing the MMcs POv verbatim to the fmcs pov in the previous chapter.
April 23, 2021
***4 "Always & Forever???" stars***
!OUT NOW!
"My monster was a brutal king in the place he ruled, and I was no match for him and his hatred."
Wow!!! I don't really know from where to start in here!!!
This book was my first one by Nikita and surely she had made an impression!!!
This story was filled with so much hate. You wouldn't believe me how much hatred there was in here. I could almost tasted on my tongue!!! That bad, I'm telling you!!! And in the middle of all this hatred, it was poor Winter!!!
OMG!!! My heart was breaking for her!!! She couldn't catch a break, and i just wanted to jumb over the pages and save her from all these poisonous vipers that were surrounding her!!!
"Family, wars, greed, hate and lies...
The only question is, by the end of it, would I rise again or would I fall just like our empires did?"
Winter Crowne and Mason King.
Crownes and Kings were rivals and hatred was running between them.
And between these two families, Winter and Mason defied the odds and fell in love with each other feom very early on life...
They started as friends and then became a couple, even though distance were standing between them.
Their happiness lasted four years until something made them drifted apart...
"I hate Mason King. He promised me forever only to take it all away in the blink of an eye."
"If Winter ever steps foot in Ravenwood again, I will make her pay for ruining us..."
Two years after their breakup, Winter is forced to return back to Ravenwood to claim what is rightfully hers. But it seems that everyone around her is against her and she has a long road ahead of her to become what she wants and what her father wished for her...
And among all the people that are against her, Mason King is the one who can break her irreparably. And trust me when I'm saying that he did his best to break her. His hatred were shining so brightly and it was giving me goosebumps.
"Crowne never bows and never breaks just because her crown is tilted."
"I will do everything in my power to make her life a living hell and I'll be as brutal as I can since she deserves nothing less."
What else can happen to this girl??? I'm really scared for her behalf...
Why everyone is so determined to destroy that poor girl???
Why Mason is sooo hellbound to break her???
What will happen after that ending???
"How do you resist the man you were in love with for years even when you know he's no good for you anymore? And all he wants to do is see you suffer?"
Mason and Winter had something great between them and honestly, I believe that everything was staged by someone very close to them... They didn't deserve to get through hell just like that!!!
Winter doesn't deserve to be tortured all the damn time from the person that he was supposed to love her.
I can understand why Mason is mad with her, but if he could just listen, everything will be better.
After everything that he had done to her, honestly, I don't know how he can be forgiven at the end... Even though I'm a romantic at heart, I couldn't forgive him, if I was Winter.
"She destroyed me, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over that."
"When you get your head out of your ass, I'll take great pleasure in hating you forever."
OMG!!! I'm losing my mind over this story. It intrigued me so much, and my heart was beating wildly while I was witnessing the atrocities that everyone was doing to this girl!!! I might hate everyone in here at this point!!!! But still... I need a ton of answers and I can not wait for the next book!!!
The only reason that I had to cut out a star of my rating, even with the great potentials that this story was having, is because the constant calling of names from here and there was making me cringe every time. Especially from people that suppose to have some class!!! It was so foreign for me and it was making me feel uneasy... But that was my only issue here!!!
"What the hell happened to you?"
"You happened."
**I recieved an ARC for the exchange of an honest review**
!OUT NOW!
"My monster was a brutal king in the place he ruled, and I was no match for him and his hatred."
Wow!!! I don't really know from where to start in here!!!
This book was my first one by Nikita and surely she had made an impression!!!
This story was filled with so much hate. You wouldn't believe me how much hatred there was in here. I could almost tasted on my tongue!!! That bad, I'm telling you!!! And in the middle of all this hatred, it was poor Winter!!!
OMG!!! My heart was breaking for her!!! She couldn't catch a break, and i just wanted to jumb over the pages and save her from all these poisonous vipers that were surrounding her!!!
"Family, wars, greed, hate and lies...
The only question is, by the end of it, would I rise again or would I fall just like our empires did?"
Winter Crowne and Mason King.
Crownes and Kings were rivals and hatred was running between them.
And between these two families, Winter and Mason defied the odds and fell in love with each other feom very early on life...
They started as friends and then became a couple, even though distance were standing between them.
Their happiness lasted four years until something made them drifted apart...
"I hate Mason King. He promised me forever only to take it all away in the blink of an eye."
"If Winter ever steps foot in Ravenwood again, I will make her pay for ruining us..."
Two years after their breakup, Winter is forced to return back to Ravenwood to claim what is rightfully hers. But it seems that everyone around her is against her and she has a long road ahead of her to become what she wants and what her father wished for her...
And among all the people that are against her, Mason King is the one who can break her irreparably. And trust me when I'm saying that he did his best to break her. His hatred were shining so brightly and it was giving me goosebumps.
"Crowne never bows and never breaks just because her crown is tilted."
"I will do everything in my power to make her life a living hell and I'll be as brutal as I can since she deserves nothing less."
What else can happen to this girl??? I'm really scared for her behalf...
Why everyone is so determined to destroy that poor girl???
Why Mason is sooo hellbound to break her???
What will happen after that ending???
"How do you resist the man you were in love with for years even when you know he's no good for you anymore? And all he wants to do is see you suffer?"
Mason and Winter had something great between them and honestly, I believe that everything was staged by someone very close to them... They didn't deserve to get through hell just like that!!!
Winter doesn't deserve to be tortured all the damn time from the person that he was supposed to love her.
I can understand why Mason is mad with her, but if he could just listen, everything will be better.
After everything that he had done to her, honestly, I don't know how he can be forgiven at the end... Even though I'm a romantic at heart, I couldn't forgive him, if I was Winter.
"She destroyed me, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over that."
"When you get your head out of your ass, I'll take great pleasure in hating you forever."
OMG!!! I'm losing my mind over this story. It intrigued me so much, and my heart was beating wildly while I was witnessing the atrocities that everyone was doing to this girl!!! I might hate everyone in here at this point!!!! But still... I need a ton of answers and I can not wait for the next book!!!
The only reason that I had to cut out a star of my rating, even with the great potentials that this story was having, is because the constant calling of names from here and there was making me cringe every time. Especially from people that suppose to have some class!!! It was so foreign for me and it was making me feel uneasy... But that was my only issue here!!!
"What the hell happened to you?"
"You happened."
**I recieved an ARC for the exchange of an honest review**
April 28, 2021
Book club read...
April 8, 2021
Well now.
I'm honestly not a fan of these kinds of tropes, but this author has a talent for the push and pull, the AHOLES, the talent of making you question why you are attracted to these Aholes.
Misunderstandings.
Friends to enemies. Revenge and bullying/making the other's life a living hell.
The new player.
Dang, that cliffy. I will definitely be looking out for the next book.
Kudos again to this author! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.
*4.5 stars. I rank this book grey on my darkness scale.*
I'm honestly not a fan of these kinds of tropes, but this author has a talent for the push and pull, the AHOLES, the talent of making you question why you are attracted to these Aholes.
Misunderstandings.
Friends to enemies. Revenge and bullying/making the other's life a living hell.
The new player.
Dang, that cliffy. I will definitely be looking out for the next book.
Kudos again to this author! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.
*4.5 stars. I rank this book grey on my darkness scale.*
May 15, 2021
Awful Characters, Poorly written
The absolute worst characters I’ve ever read about and so very poorly written. The dialog alone is enough to make you cringe and that’s on top of the stupid, insipid excuse for a plot. It’s so bad.
The absolute worst characters I’ve ever read about and so very poorly written. The dialog alone is enough to make you cringe and that’s on top of the stupid, insipid excuse for a plot. It’s so bad.
Read
July 21, 2021Not for me.
New Adult
Triggers- Rpe
New Adult
Triggers- Rpe
December 20, 2022
Spoilers:
Very uncomfortable read. .
At the start the Mason & Winter are introduced as children and then as teenagers. Both seem fairly normal and certainly Mason appears to be kind and emotionally empathetic. [This is a total disconnect with what follows thereafter]. Both come from billionaire family backgrounds, but Mason's dad appears to not necessarily be fully on the right side of the law.
They engage in a hidden long distance relationship for 4 years from when Winter 17-21yrs, to which they both seem to be fully committed, despite their young age.
We have a bizarre episode where Winter goes to a party with her 2 friends from college at one of her family's hotels in London. She gets roofied and wakes up in hospital after 2 days. The friends entirely disappear and no one questions this at all. Nor does anyone do a rape kit on her, because they found her fully dressed... The whole thing was a set up as in fact Mason is in London with his father, sees her go into the hotel and finds her in a room naked with a man on top of her. He then storms off and declares war on her if she ever comes back to Ravenwood.
She actually goes over to see him but he is having sex with another woman and turns violent choking and threatening her. She then effectively has a nervous breakdown and suffers from ongoing anxiety/depression.
I found this all really bizarre. Why is Winter and her family not more concerned about what happened to her re the roofie incident? why is a rape test not done? why does Winter not worry about this? why do alarm bells not ring re the 'friends' that fall off the face of the earth?
In any event a number of years later her dad dies in suspicious circumstances and leaves her in charge as CEO of his billionaire business but on the proviso that she return to Ravenwood and with a warning not to trust anyone. At this stage she hasn't even finished College, so none of this makes sense.
It turns out her mother is a total sociopath and starts to become physically abusive and threatening. Why Winter tolerates this or continued to live her with her, totally baffled me. She is supposed to be 22+ years old, billionaire and CEO of multi million corporation. Yet she doesn't have any 'people' around her and doesn't have the ability to live independently from her mum. Simultaneously she has to go to College where she gets bullied by Mason and his buddies. Lets be honest, if she is still in college, the CEO thing would not be happening - so this all appears very muddled and unrealistic.
When she bumps into Mason again, he appears to have turned into a psychopath. He is always grabbing her by the neck and choking her. This is NOT normal. Why is choking becoming a theme of some of these books? His behaviour is simply abusive and does not connect with the boy that is described at the start of the book. Also frankly, even if she had cheated on him, he needs to get over it and develop a sense of proportion. Ruining someone's life for this, tormenting them and raping them is not remotely justified. Be sad, be angry and then move on, like normal people.
The bullying behaviour just gets worse and worse. He makes her life miserable at College. He throws her in a pool and almost drowns her, knowing she can't swim. He is gratuitously verbally abusive to her in front of their group of friends. He burns her tree house down with lots of family momentos (arson is a significant criminal offence). He destroys research that she had been working on for years (although of course Winter is probably the only person with access to technology in the world, who has never backed this up on computer) . This is particularly awful as Winter is psychologically fragile and suffers from depression.
Things get more bizarre when her blood sucking hateful mother gets engaged within a matter of months to Mason's dubious dad and insists that Winter move in with them, which for some unfathomable reason, she unduly does. The 'step father' is a groper and is openly violent to her, hitting her in front of her mother, Mason and his brother - but no one seems to think much of this and it certainly doesn't occur to Winter that she should use some of her considerable financial wherewithal to MOVE OUT.
On top of all of this someone is trying to kill Winter. She gets shot at during a press conference and someone dies. But when she gets threatening messages, of course, it doesn't occur to her to report this to the police, because she is - ta da - TSTL!
At one stage Winter tries to get revenge by destroying Mason's car (criminal damage/arson) but he then corners her at a house party and rapes her. He cuts her. Beats her. She tells him to stop and not to do it. Somehow she orgasisms (trope) but this is pretty brutal stuff and is an unambiguous rape. He injects her with a drug and she passes out. She wakes up in the morning to find herself naked and in bed with Mason and his 4 male buddies (all of whom were also allegedly her friends before all of the rampant dysfunction). Mason tells her that they all had sex with her/ a Gang bang in really brutal terms and shows her pictures of the the men all with their hands and mouths all over her (this is chronic sexual assault/rape). She has a panic attack/ seizure and ends up in hospital. However, again somehow the doctors don't notice the obvious signs of physical abuse/sexual assault....
Winter's attitude thereafter is totally bizarre. She has an exchange with Mason's brother Grayson which demonstrates the dysfunction of it all. She is angst torn about the fact that Grayson and his friends did this - but it's not because they raped or sexually assaulted her when she was unconscious. No , it is because her girlfriends are in love with these creeps and how can she live with herself for this and her girlfriends will never forgive her. I mean, I really struggled with this rational. Most right thinking people would!
But because our heroine is truly TSTL she returns to the house, where Mason then almost immediately rapes her again. He corners her in the shower, chokes her, rapes her whilst she is crying out that she doesn't want this. It is made clear that the sex is painful and violent. Even afterwards though it is not clear that either of them have any basic understanding that he has just raped her and the next day it is as if it didn't matter. It's a couple of days after this, that he and his psycho friends hold her down and burn all her research.
Winter runs back to her old house, gets further assaulted and then decides to go to Aspen with her friends for a break. This is her property. However when Mason and his crew arrive with a key from her mother, at NO POINT does she tell them to get out /call the police etc. The whole thing is just totally bizarre.
Anyway she storms off, the stalker grabs her, tries to kidnap her, stabs her and then shoots at her. We leave it with her falling into an icy lake as the ice cracks... To be continued...
All in all, I thought the writing was ok but that story line was confused and at times made little sense. I agree with other reviewers that this read as if it was teenagers rather than people in their 20s. There was no sense that Winter had any financial or emotional independence and this was entirely inconsistent with this idea that she was taking over as CEO of a multi million corporation which in turn made no sense as she was still attending college. The whole concept was fairly ridiculous.
The friends were pretty one dimensional and there was no separate character building. I couldn't differentiate between them and this was not assisted by the general reference to each other as 'bitches', which was just horrible.
Mason's descent into sociopathic rapist was fairly unfathomable. It goes beyond saying, but even had she cheated on him, that would have been life and he needed to just move on. He deserved to get locked up for years for his actions. What was worse was that there was no sense that he understood that his conduct was wrong/ criminal and that he was committing rape. Rather, he thought he was fully entitled to do what ever he wanted. Moreover, it wasn't clear that the hapless heroine understood that she had been raped/sexually assaulted ( by Mason and all her so called friends). There was limited sense of this taking any emotional toll on her and her whole angst seemed rather to be around her girlfriends finding out as they were in love with the other guys. Overall, the whole things was really worrying in terms of male/female attitudes on so many levels.
That said there undoubtedly was a readability to it and I do think the author captured an escalating sense of desperation from Winter in terms of her mental health issues. [Though frankly, she went through so much, that most people would have been struggling by the end of this.] Likewise, the cliff hanger ending did make you want to find out what happened to the heroine next.
Conflicted.
Very uncomfortable read. .
At the start the Mason & Winter are introduced as children and then as teenagers. Both seem fairly normal and certainly Mason appears to be kind and emotionally empathetic. [This is a total disconnect with what follows thereafter]. Both come from billionaire family backgrounds, but Mason's dad appears to not necessarily be fully on the right side of the law.
They engage in a hidden long distance relationship for 4 years from when Winter 17-21yrs, to which they both seem to be fully committed, despite their young age.
We have a bizarre episode where Winter goes to a party with her 2 friends from college at one of her family's hotels in London. She gets roofied and wakes up in hospital after 2 days. The friends entirely disappear and no one questions this at all. Nor does anyone do a rape kit on her, because they found her fully dressed... The whole thing was a set up as in fact Mason is in London with his father, sees her go into the hotel and finds her in a room naked with a man on top of her. He then storms off and declares war on her if she ever comes back to Ravenwood.
She actually goes over to see him but he is having sex with another woman and turns violent choking and threatening her. She then effectively has a nervous breakdown and suffers from ongoing anxiety/depression.
I found this all really bizarre. Why is Winter and her family not more concerned about what happened to her re the roofie incident? why is a rape test not done? why does Winter not worry about this? why do alarm bells not ring re the 'friends' that fall off the face of the earth?
In any event a number of years later her dad dies in suspicious circumstances and leaves her in charge as CEO of his billionaire business but on the proviso that she return to Ravenwood and with a warning not to trust anyone. At this stage she hasn't even finished College, so none of this makes sense.
It turns out her mother is a total sociopath and starts to become physically abusive and threatening. Why Winter tolerates this or continued to live her with her, totally baffled me. She is supposed to be 22+ years old, billionaire and CEO of multi million corporation. Yet she doesn't have any 'people' around her and doesn't have the ability to live independently from her mum. Simultaneously she has to go to College where she gets bullied by Mason and his buddies. Lets be honest, if she is still in college, the CEO thing would not be happening - so this all appears very muddled and unrealistic.
When she bumps into Mason again, he appears to have turned into a psychopath. He is always grabbing her by the neck and choking her. This is NOT normal. Why is choking becoming a theme of some of these books? His behaviour is simply abusive and does not connect with the boy that is described at the start of the book. Also frankly, even if she had cheated on him, he needs to get over it and develop a sense of proportion. Ruining someone's life for this, tormenting them and raping them is not remotely justified. Be sad, be angry and then move on, like normal people.
The bullying behaviour just gets worse and worse. He makes her life miserable at College. He throws her in a pool and almost drowns her, knowing she can't swim. He is gratuitously verbally abusive to her in front of their group of friends. He burns her tree house down with lots of family momentos (arson is a significant criminal offence). He destroys research that she had been working on for years (although of course Winter is probably the only person with access to technology in the world, who has never backed this up on computer) . This is particularly awful as Winter is psychologically fragile and suffers from depression.
Things get more bizarre when her blood sucking hateful mother gets engaged within a matter of months to Mason's dubious dad and insists that Winter move in with them, which for some unfathomable reason, she unduly does. The 'step father' is a groper and is openly violent to her, hitting her in front of her mother, Mason and his brother - but no one seems to think much of this and it certainly doesn't occur to Winter that she should use some of her considerable financial wherewithal to MOVE OUT.
On top of all of this someone is trying to kill Winter. She gets shot at during a press conference and someone dies. But when she gets threatening messages, of course, it doesn't occur to her to report this to the police, because she is - ta da - TSTL!
At one stage Winter tries to get revenge by destroying Mason's car (criminal damage/arson) but he then corners her at a house party and rapes her. He cuts her. Beats her. She tells him to stop and not to do it. Somehow she orgasisms (trope) but this is pretty brutal stuff and is an unambiguous rape. He injects her with a drug and she passes out. She wakes up in the morning to find herself naked and in bed with Mason and his 4 male buddies (all of whom were also allegedly her friends before all of the rampant dysfunction). Mason tells her that they all had sex with her/ a Gang bang in really brutal terms and shows her pictures of the the men all with their hands and mouths all over her (this is chronic sexual assault/rape). She has a panic attack/ seizure and ends up in hospital. However, again somehow the doctors don't notice the obvious signs of physical abuse/sexual assault....
Winter's attitude thereafter is totally bizarre. She has an exchange with Mason's brother Grayson which demonstrates the dysfunction of it all. She is angst torn about the fact that Grayson and his friends did this - but it's not because they raped or sexually assaulted her when she was unconscious. No , it is because her girlfriends are in love with these creeps and how can she live with herself for this and her girlfriends will never forgive her. I mean, I really struggled with this rational. Most right thinking people would!
But because our heroine is truly TSTL she returns to the house, where Mason then almost immediately rapes her again. He corners her in the shower, chokes her, rapes her whilst she is crying out that she doesn't want this. It is made clear that the sex is painful and violent. Even afterwards though it is not clear that either of them have any basic understanding that he has just raped her and the next day it is as if it didn't matter. It's a couple of days after this, that he and his psycho friends hold her down and burn all her research.
Winter runs back to her old house, gets further assaulted and then decides to go to Aspen with her friends for a break. This is her property. However when Mason and his crew arrive with a key from her mother, at NO POINT does she tell them to get out /call the police etc. The whole thing is just totally bizarre.
Anyway she storms off, the stalker grabs her, tries to kidnap her, stabs her and then shoots at her. We leave it with her falling into an icy lake as the ice cracks... To be continued...
All in all, I thought the writing was ok but that story line was confused and at times made little sense. I agree with other reviewers that this read as if it was teenagers rather than people in their 20s. There was no sense that Winter had any financial or emotional independence and this was entirely inconsistent with this idea that she was taking over as CEO of a multi million corporation which in turn made no sense as she was still attending college. The whole concept was fairly ridiculous.
The friends were pretty one dimensional and there was no separate character building. I couldn't differentiate between them and this was not assisted by the general reference to each other as 'bitches', which was just horrible.
Mason's descent into sociopathic rapist was fairly unfathomable. It goes beyond saying, but even had she cheated on him, that would have been life and he needed to just move on. He deserved to get locked up for years for his actions. What was worse was that there was no sense that he understood that his conduct was wrong/ criminal and that he was committing rape. Rather, he thought he was fully entitled to do what ever he wanted. Moreover, it wasn't clear that the hapless heroine understood that she had been raped/sexually assaulted ( by Mason and all her so called friends). There was limited sense of this taking any emotional toll on her and her whole angst seemed rather to be around her girlfriends finding out as they were in love with the other guys. Overall, the whole things was really worrying in terms of male/female attitudes on so many levels.
That said there undoubtedly was a readability to it and I do think the author captured an escalating sense of desperation from Winter in terms of her mental health issues. [Though frankly, she went through so much, that most people would have been struggling by the end of this.] Likewise, the cliff hanger ending did make you want to find out what happened to the heroine next.
Conflicted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2025
What’s brutal is the awful writing and the unresolved miscommunication. Every character ended every sentence of theirs with either a b*tch, babe or cara. I wish I was exaggerating.
May 13, 2021
O M G this book was intense...Holy shitballs this book had me wanting to reach through and strangle someone one min and hold them the next.
I don't even know where to begin after reading it. This is only the 1st book in the Ravenwoods Elite and I was already wanting to throw my kindle. Winter Crowne and Mason King have been secret childhood sweethearts, but something happened and now their bitter vengeful enemies.
I tell you Idk if I wanted hug Winter or choke her one minute to the next, because even though this girl has a bit of a backbone and a smart mouth with attitude she sure does take a lot of shit that's thrown in her face, but you have to give her mad props for taking it...I'd already would’ve wanted to stab somebody lol.
I can't help but feel so sorry for her as she's trying to hold it all together by a shoestring. This girl needs to get some help but with everyone out to watch her fail who can she turn to? Mason says he hates her that he wants revenge for what happened those years ago, but in the next breath he won't stop touching her. I think he protests to much anyway I have to wait to see what happens in Bk2. That freaking ending Nikita why must you do us that way...just whyyy? This is a must read.
I don't even know where to begin after reading it. This is only the 1st book in the Ravenwoods Elite and I was already wanting to throw my kindle. Winter Crowne and Mason King have been secret childhood sweethearts, but something happened and now their bitter vengeful enemies.
I tell you Idk if I wanted hug Winter or choke her one minute to the next, because even though this girl has a bit of a backbone and a smart mouth with attitude she sure does take a lot of shit that's thrown in her face, but you have to give her mad props for taking it...I'd already would’ve wanted to stab somebody lol.
I can't help but feel so sorry for her as she's trying to hold it all together by a shoestring. This girl needs to get some help but with everyone out to watch her fail who can she turn to? Mason says he hates her that he wants revenge for what happened those years ago, but in the next breath he won't stop touching her. I think he protests to much anyway I have to wait to see what happens in Bk2. That freaking ending Nikita why must you do us that way...just whyyy? This is a must read.
April 12, 2021
O M G this book was intense..
Like the title of this book, fits this story to the T. Everything about this book was Brutal. The whole way this book was executed and the way the characters were portrayed, This book had me wanting to reach through and strangle someone one min and hold them the next, my heart was really torn in which way it should go to.
I don't even know where to begin after reading this book and I've been sitting on this review for days and days trying to figure out which words best represent this book and when I come down to thinking long and hard, there is no words that could put this book into context. It's an experience in itself, a brutal one better yet.
This book is the 1st book in the Ravenwoods Elite and I was already wanting to throw my kindle. Winter Crowne and Mason King have been secret childhood sweethearts, but something happened and now their bitter vengeful enemies.
Throughout reading, you soon realise how much this book keeps you on your toes in suspense of what's going to happen next, it keeps you guessing, craving and wanting more. This book keeps you on you're toes in suspense of what's going to happen next, it keeps you guessing, craving and wanting more.
After that ending, I was left saying HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
This book mind fucked me in the best way possible, it gave you so many questions to digest and made you just have to absorb all the information you've been dealt with. It was basically handed all to you on a silver platter with a note saying "Here you go, I hope you enjoy all this fucked up mess".
I won't tell you about the plot as you need to read this book yourself and experience the Brutal King called Mason. You're either gonna love him or hate him, now that's for you to decide.
I do say this, hold on tight as this book is a ride with its so many highs and lows. I can't wait for the next book to make its way here as I need it asap.
Like the title of this book, fits this story to the T. Everything about this book was Brutal. The whole way this book was executed and the way the characters were portrayed, This book had me wanting to reach through and strangle someone one min and hold them the next, my heart was really torn in which way it should go to.
I don't even know where to begin after reading this book and I've been sitting on this review for days and days trying to figure out which words best represent this book and when I come down to thinking long and hard, there is no words that could put this book into context. It's an experience in itself, a brutal one better yet.
This book is the 1st book in the Ravenwoods Elite and I was already wanting to throw my kindle. Winter Crowne and Mason King have been secret childhood sweethearts, but something happened and now their bitter vengeful enemies.
Throughout reading, you soon realise how much this book keeps you on your toes in suspense of what's going to happen next, it keeps you guessing, craving and wanting more. This book keeps you on you're toes in suspense of what's going to happen next, it keeps you guessing, craving and wanting more.
After that ending, I was left saying HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
This book mind fucked me in the best way possible, it gave you so many questions to digest and made you just have to absorb all the information you've been dealt with. It was basically handed all to you on a silver platter with a note saying "Here you go, I hope you enjoy all this fucked up mess".
I won't tell you about the plot as you need to read this book yourself and experience the Brutal King called Mason. You're either gonna love him or hate him, now that's for you to decide.
I do say this, hold on tight as this book is a ride with its so many highs and lows. I can't wait for the next book to make its way here as I need it asap.
December 9, 2024
Unrealistic plot, a 22y old is made CEO but she is still in school, bullied and pranked and she spends a lot of time doing a lot of stupid things but the author wants us to believe that she could run a company. She acts childish, like she has only two brain cells and has no spine.
May 13, 2021
The worse
August 22, 2022
This was so stupid, the girl, the boy the whole story.
February 22, 2023
So I guess I started reading this a while ago and stopped. I decided to finally finish. I am giving it a 3 star bc I did finish it, as I’ve been dnf books lately but it’s honestly a 1-2 star read.
This book makes absolutely no logical sense. At no point did it ever occur to winter to tell mason she was hospitalized after being drugged? Her friends knew what happened and are friends with him and his boys and never mentioned it? Wtf?
She doesn’t tell her friends that she was possibly gang r bc she thinks they will be mad at her since those guys are their crushes? I have a bigger issue if they are all in their 20s, if these guys were interested in her friends they would’ve already been dating them. I don’t really know who is who of masons friends since all they seem to do is stand around and do his bidding.
The conversations are soo reoetative. Why did you destroy us? I hate you! You whore! I’m sick of this whatever….I can’t believe you would do this fo me!
Rinse and repeat. Someone tried fo assasinate her and she doesn’t know who would want her dead. Despite her mother and ex boyfriend physically assaulting her and threatening her life. Her thoughts constantly are “he/she can’t be that cruel” why would that be your thought every single time! So the line is crossed when he burns her notebook of top secret anxiety medicine science folder. So not only is she a college student earning her bachelors, party girl, socialite, billionaire ceo, but also a pharmaceutical researcher who is discovering anxiety medicine formulas on her own, in her college chemistry lab that she rented out in her spare time when she isn’t being drugged and assaulted and running a billionaire dollar business.
What does Mason do? Is he in college? He is 2 years older so he should’ve graduated. Does he work? I mean there was absolutely too much going on in this book. Why exactly is she letting her mother threaten her? Seems she is ruining the reputation of her company all on her own. Why does she specifically need to run the company? Why can’t they hire an interim ceo for longer? Why does she think she deserves this again? That wasn’t a sexist question. Her feeling like it’s her right despite having no experience, no education, and not knowing wtf she is doing is actually far worse as nepotism. She is also flirting with the business associate who showed her just the slightest kindness ? That is bad for her reputation as well, that she sleeps with her business associates.
Idk this reminds me of amo Jones books, just too much stuff going on. Plus this weird stalker that she thought was harmless? Despite being almost assassinated, the threats, the photos, her tree house turned down? You still thought it was all harmless? I’ve only concluded she is an idiot. I hate her friends. Again I understand still speaking like a teenagers as 20 year old but not a billionaire ceo. They behave like they are in middle school. SMH
This book makes absolutely no logical sense. At no point did it ever occur to winter to tell mason she was hospitalized after being drugged? Her friends knew what happened and are friends with him and his boys and never mentioned it? Wtf?
She doesn’t tell her friends that she was possibly gang r bc she thinks they will be mad at her since those guys are their crushes? I have a bigger issue if they are all in their 20s, if these guys were interested in her friends they would’ve already been dating them. I don’t really know who is who of masons friends since all they seem to do is stand around and do his bidding.
The conversations are soo reoetative. Why did you destroy us? I hate you! You whore! I’m sick of this whatever….I can’t believe you would do this fo me!
Rinse and repeat. Someone tried fo assasinate her and she doesn’t know who would want her dead. Despite her mother and ex boyfriend physically assaulting her and threatening her life. Her thoughts constantly are “he/she can’t be that cruel” why would that be your thought every single time! So the line is crossed when he burns her notebook of top secret anxiety medicine science folder. So not only is she a college student earning her bachelors, party girl, socialite, billionaire ceo, but also a pharmaceutical researcher who is discovering anxiety medicine formulas on her own, in her college chemistry lab that she rented out in her spare time when she isn’t being drugged and assaulted and running a billionaire dollar business.
What does Mason do? Is he in college? He is 2 years older so he should’ve graduated. Does he work? I mean there was absolutely too much going on in this book. Why exactly is she letting her mother threaten her? Seems she is ruining the reputation of her company all on her own. Why does she specifically need to run the company? Why can’t they hire an interim ceo for longer? Why does she think she deserves this again? That wasn’t a sexist question. Her feeling like it’s her right despite having no experience, no education, and not knowing wtf she is doing is actually far worse as nepotism. She is also flirting with the business associate who showed her just the slightest kindness ? That is bad for her reputation as well, that she sleeps with her business associates.
Idk this reminds me of amo Jones books, just too much stuff going on. Plus this weird stalker that she thought was harmless? Despite being almost assassinated, the threats, the photos, her tree house turned down? You still thought it was all harmless? I’ve only concluded she is an idiot. I hate her friends. Again I understand still speaking like a teenagers as 20 year old but not a billionaire ceo. They behave like they are in middle school. SMH
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2022
holy flipping hell… I’m in shock.
i feel sick to my stomach. this book is flipping crazy.
the bullying, the lies, the stalking, the disgusting pranks and messages, the vile behaviour from Winter’s mum and mason and his father… this is a dark bully romance in every sense of the bloody word.
this story really isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s dark, it’s twisted, it’s thrilling and it’ll have your heart racing while you’re body is covered in goosebumps and your heart feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest.
Mason made me want to scream, if he only he knew the truth then he wouldn’t be such a vile person to Winter. There is so much hatred between them but also soul crushing love. They always say that there’s a thin line between love and hate, and these two are on that line like it’s a bloody tightrope and they’re part of a circus.
the things that occur in this story have made me feel like my heads going to explode, i was pacing my room like a headless chicken trying to wrap my head around the craziness. all I keep repeating to myself is ‘wtf’ and ‘who tf is trying to kill Winter?’ I have some theory’s and they all have the same outcome… it’s Winter’s mother and Mason’s father… I could be wrong BUT I have a very strong feeling that those psychos are to blame for all of this messed up madness.
If you’re into a dark bully romance that’ll have your head spinning then this is definitely for you… be warned there is a lot of things in this that some may find distressing! but I definitely recommend this as it’s bloody incredible.
i feel sick to my stomach. this book is flipping crazy.
the bullying, the lies, the stalking, the disgusting pranks and messages, the vile behaviour from Winter’s mum and mason and his father… this is a dark bully romance in every sense of the bloody word.
this story really isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s dark, it’s twisted, it’s thrilling and it’ll have your heart racing while you’re body is covered in goosebumps and your heart feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest.
Mason made me want to scream, if he only he knew the truth then he wouldn’t be such a vile person to Winter. There is so much hatred between them but also soul crushing love. They always say that there’s a thin line between love and hate, and these two are on that line like it’s a bloody tightrope and they’re part of a circus.
the things that occur in this story have made me feel like my heads going to explode, i was pacing my room like a headless chicken trying to wrap my head around the craziness. all I keep repeating to myself is ‘wtf’ and ‘who tf is trying to kill Winter?’ I have some theory’s and they all have the same outcome… it’s Winter’s mother and Mason’s father… I could be wrong BUT I have a very strong feeling that those psychos are to blame for all of this messed up madness.
If you’re into a dark bully romance that’ll have your head spinning then this is definitely for you… be warned there is a lot of things in this that some may find distressing! but I definitely recommend this as it’s bloody incredible.
April 19, 2021
Brutal King (Ravenwood Elites #1)
by Nikita.
5 STARS
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brutal King is the first book in the Ravenwood series by author Nikita, it is written in dual POV and tells the story of Winter and Mason.
I loved how to story began. It was love at first sight for both Mason and Winter, since they were kids. They make it work through so many things for 4 years, and to end the way it ended.
After 2 years of heartbreak, for both Winter and Mason, Winter's world crumble down. Her father is dead and her mother hates her now more then ever. Winter is the only heir on his will, so now she is the CEO of Crown Enterprises. She is forced to come back to Ravenwood and all the hell breaks loose in her life. Mason being the most scary of all.
This book took the meaning of "bully" to a whole another level for me. Brutal Bully.
The book had so many twists and turns.... OMFG I was speechless, but it also had some moments that I didn't see myself past them. I think I hate Winter more then love her. I wanted her to be much stronger with her mother behavior, and I do love that she actually fight for herself and she didn't back down every time she was attacked by men.
I hate Mason with all my heart, he has no excuse for how he acts Winter.
What I love most of this book is that I can't figure it out who is actually the bad guy. Poor Winter has so many enemies, and so many people are hating her, that I couldn't figure it out so far.
And that ending.... I am DEAD. I need book 2 like my next breath.
If you are looking for a very BULLY and dark read, full of twists and turns, this book is the perfect one for your.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
by Nikita.
5 STARS
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brutal King is the first book in the Ravenwood series by author Nikita, it is written in dual POV and tells the story of Winter and Mason.
I loved how to story began. It was love at first sight for both Mason and Winter, since they were kids. They make it work through so many things for 4 years, and to end the way it ended.
After 2 years of heartbreak, for both Winter and Mason, Winter's world crumble down. Her father is dead and her mother hates her now more then ever. Winter is the only heir on his will, so now she is the CEO of Crown Enterprises. She is forced to come back to Ravenwood and all the hell breaks loose in her life. Mason being the most scary of all.
This book took the meaning of "bully" to a whole another level for me. Brutal Bully.
The book had so many twists and turns.... OMFG I was speechless, but it also had some moments that I didn't see myself past them. I think I hate Winter more then love her. I wanted her to be much stronger with her mother behavior, and I do love that she actually fight for herself and she didn't back down every time she was attacked by men.
I hate Mason with all my heart, he has no excuse for how he acts Winter.
What I love most of this book is that I can't figure it out who is actually the bad guy. Poor Winter has so many enemies, and so many people are hating her, that I couldn't figure it out so far.
And that ending.... I am DEAD. I need book 2 like my next breath.
If you are looking for a very BULLY and dark read, full of twists and turns, this book is the perfect one for your.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
June 29, 2022
This is a reread as i wanted to go straight into Bleeding Crowne afterwards.
Winter and Mason were childhood sweethearts deeply in love.
An event leaves them broken apart.
Years lately their reunited and this story goes from there. Mason is cruel, vengeful and damn right hot.
He wants her gone from Ravenwood Winters having none of it. What will Mason do to make her see shes not wanted...
This book is full of triggers and I was here for it all. Mason is my number on Alphahole.
Winter and Mason were childhood sweethearts deeply in love.
An event leaves them broken apart.
Years lately their reunited and this story goes from there. Mason is cruel, vengeful and damn right hot.
He wants her gone from Ravenwood Winters having none of it. What will Mason do to make her see shes not wanted...
This book is full of triggers and I was here for it all. Mason is my number on Alphahole.
June 30, 2022
I really did enjoy this one. The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because I wished it was a bit longer. I feel like certain story lines could have been more details.
June 3, 2022
SPOILER ALERT! Absolute garbage!
I went into this blind without reading any reviews and because it was constantly in my recommendations. When that happens, I usually give the book a try. Worst mistake ever. I really just finished it to see if it got better by the end. It only gets worse AND it ends in a cliffhanger.
Everyone has their own opinion. This is my very own personal one.
Utter trash. The writing is juvenile, though I guess it makes sense when you consider the characters are barely adults. They act and speak like teenagers! Also, why is the H still in college? College feels like high school.
The two mains are the worst! The h is a little better than the H, but not by much. She pretends she's strong, but she's a doormat. Like girl, didn't you inherited millions or billions? Get yourself a security team, a legal team, and just a team to run your stuff. There's no way you can let your biatch of a mom run all over you. Kick her out! Seems the dad didn't leave her with much after he died anyway. Also, get yourself some good friends who aren't constantly berating you, calling you crap, and making you feel like trash when you've gone through and back. Also, when she went to the hospital a second time, she could've been tested for drugs and easily put all the sh!theads behind bars. Her mind flips very easily. One moment, she's shot at. The very next, she's accepting a dinner invitation from a hot guy like it's nothing. Then she's basically r@ped like two or three times AND her life is threatened multiple times... but she decides to go to Aspen... like her life isn't in danger? So many plot holes.
The H is grotesquely terrible! I honestly cannot see how he could ever redeem himself from all the sh!te he's done. I mean the h is a doormat and she's always crying and making garbage decisions, but this guy is the worst of the worst - and I've read a lot over the last years. He's lesser than the scum of the Earth. I honestly hope he ends up alone, but knowing these trash storylines, he'll get a pass and get his HEA. I mean, he goes off on the h after he thinks he sees her fu(k!ng some guy. And he wants to kill her for it, but "not yet". He's definitely mental. And a rap!st. And he "allegedly" tried to kill the h on several occasions, but it's fine because he's hot and the stupid doormat still gets wet for him... 😒 EVEN when he's gang and solo r@ped her...🤮🤮🤮
Too many plot holes (also, where are the two friends from the beginning? Did they play into the plot? They literally just disappered.) and I would've already thrown all their disgusting @sses in prison.
It does end in a cliffhanger. But as predictable as this is, the h will shrug off the stab wound and head for Tahiti with her airhead girlfriends and r@p!st boyfriends. 🙄🤮
I went into this blind without reading any reviews and because it was constantly in my recommendations. When that happens, I usually give the book a try. Worst mistake ever. I really just finished it to see if it got better by the end. It only gets worse AND it ends in a cliffhanger.
Everyone has their own opinion. This is my very own personal one.
Utter trash. The writing is juvenile, though I guess it makes sense when you consider the characters are barely adults. They act and speak like teenagers! Also, why is the H still in college? College feels like high school.
The two mains are the worst! The h is a little better than the H, but not by much. She pretends she's strong, but she's a doormat. Like girl, didn't you inherited millions or billions? Get yourself a security team, a legal team, and just a team to run your stuff. There's no way you can let your biatch of a mom run all over you. Kick her out! Seems the dad didn't leave her with much after he died anyway. Also, get yourself some good friends who aren't constantly berating you, calling you crap, and making you feel like trash when you've gone through and back. Also, when she went to the hospital a second time, she could've been tested for drugs and easily put all the sh!theads behind bars. Her mind flips very easily. One moment, she's shot at. The very next, she's accepting a dinner invitation from a hot guy like it's nothing. Then she's basically r@ped like two or three times AND her life is threatened multiple times... but she decides to go to Aspen... like her life isn't in danger? So many plot holes.
The H is grotesquely terrible! I honestly cannot see how he could ever redeem himself from all the sh!te he's done. I mean the h is a doormat and she's always crying and making garbage decisions, but this guy is the worst of the worst - and I've read a lot over the last years. He's lesser than the scum of the Earth. I honestly hope he ends up alone, but knowing these trash storylines, he'll get a pass and get his HEA. I mean, he goes off on the h after he thinks he sees her fu(k!ng some guy. And he wants to kill her for it, but "not yet". He's definitely mental. And a rap!st. And he "allegedly" tried to kill the h on several occasions, but it's fine because he's hot and the stupid doormat still gets wet for him... 😒 EVEN when he's gang and solo r@ped her...🤮🤮🤮
Too many plot holes (also, where are the two friends from the beginning? Did they play into the plot? They literally just disappered.) and I would've already thrown all their disgusting @sses in prison.
It does end in a cliffhanger. But as predictable as this is, the h will shrug off the stab wound and head for Tahiti with her airhead girlfriends and r@p!st boyfriends. 🙄🤮
April 20, 2021
Ok so I have mixed feelings about this book. I really wanted to like it and I did think the story had a lot of potential but like previous reviews I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been.
I found the characters hard to like and the dialogue was quite hard to read at times. I thought it was quite childish, as if they were High School students and not 20+ year olds in charge of billion dollar companies. Winter was very up and down, one minute crying, one minute screaming, one minute just giving in to demands from her mother. She seemed to want to have a backbone but never actually used it.
Mason to me was just unforgivable. His actions went beyond what I'm used to in a bully romance and I find it hard to see how he will be redeemable in the next books.
I will probably read the other books as I'm intrigued as to how the author will turn around Mason's behavior (assuming that is the plan) and I'd like to see how Winter is going to run her dads company.
I've given it 3 stars as I do believe the series has potential but this one just didn't quite hit the spot for me.
I found the characters hard to like and the dialogue was quite hard to read at times. I thought it was quite childish, as if they were High School students and not 20+ year olds in charge of billion dollar companies. Winter was very up and down, one minute crying, one minute screaming, one minute just giving in to demands from her mother. She seemed to want to have a backbone but never actually used it.
Mason to me was just unforgivable. His actions went beyond what I'm used to in a bully romance and I find it hard to see how he will be redeemable in the next books.
I will probably read the other books as I'm intrigued as to how the author will turn around Mason's behavior (assuming that is the plan) and I'd like to see how Winter is going to run her dads company.
I've given it 3 stars as I do believe the series has potential but this one just didn't quite hit the spot for me.
March 16, 2025
**Winter & Mason: A Story of Love, Betrayal, and Revenge 🔥💔**
Okay, let's dive in. *Winter* and *Mason*... talk about a rollercoaster of emotions! First of all, the tension between them? Insane. Like, I could feel the weight of their past every page I turned. They were once so in love, it was almost sweet – but boy, was that love torn apart. 😩 Mason is the epitome of *the brooding, tortured soul* (like seriously, talk about bringing out the angst), and Winter, well, she's complicated. She's got layers, and I really felt for her, especially with all the stuff she’s dealing with from the past and present.
The whole *family feud* element adds a serious "Romeo and Juliet but with more drama" vibe to the story. It’s like they’re drawn together by fate, only to be torn apart by everything around them. But what makes this story so gripping is how Mason goes from the guy she loved, to this vengeful, cold figure who’s determined to break her. 😱
And Winter – oh, Winter. You can’t help but root for her, even when you know she might be walking straight into a mess of her own making. Her journey back to Ravenwood? So much tension, and there’s always this feeling that something major is about to go down. And trust me, it does.
But let’s talk about the *dark* themes in this book. The non-con and bullying? Yeah, it’s heavy, and I know some readers might find it triggering, so proceed with caution. 😬 I get that it’s a part of the story’s tension and how these characters have been molded by their pain and experiences, but it's not for the faint of heart. Definitely a mature read.
That said, if you're into books with complex characters, intense emotions, and a good dose of drama (seriously, this book is basically emotional warfare), then *Winter & Mason’s* story will keep you hooked.
Oh, and the cliffhangers? 😱 I'm already bracing myself for more pain and heartbreak in the next book! So much unresolved tension between these two. The revenge, the love, the hate... I’m already addicted.
Also, quick note: Don't come into this expecting a light, happy love story. It's raw, real, and filled with so many twists that I can't even explain without spoiling. Just trust me when I say it’s intense!
If you're into dark romance with a side of *destroying each other emotionally*, this one’s for you.
Okay, let's dive in. *Winter* and *Mason*... talk about a rollercoaster of emotions! First of all, the tension between them? Insane. Like, I could feel the weight of their past every page I turned. They were once so in love, it was almost sweet – but boy, was that love torn apart. 😩 Mason is the epitome of *the brooding, tortured soul* (like seriously, talk about bringing out the angst), and Winter, well, she's complicated. She's got layers, and I really felt for her, especially with all the stuff she’s dealing with from the past and present.
The whole *family feud* element adds a serious "Romeo and Juliet but with more drama" vibe to the story. It’s like they’re drawn together by fate, only to be torn apart by everything around them. But what makes this story so gripping is how Mason goes from the guy she loved, to this vengeful, cold figure who’s determined to break her. 😱
And Winter – oh, Winter. You can’t help but root for her, even when you know she might be walking straight into a mess of her own making. Her journey back to Ravenwood? So much tension, and there’s always this feeling that something major is about to go down. And trust me, it does.
But let’s talk about the *dark* themes in this book. The non-con and bullying? Yeah, it’s heavy, and I know some readers might find it triggering, so proceed with caution. 😬 I get that it’s a part of the story’s tension and how these characters have been molded by their pain and experiences, but it's not for the faint of heart. Definitely a mature read.
That said, if you're into books with complex characters, intense emotions, and a good dose of drama (seriously, this book is basically emotional warfare), then *Winter & Mason’s* story will keep you hooked.
Oh, and the cliffhangers? 😱 I'm already bracing myself for more pain and heartbreak in the next book! So much unresolved tension between these two. The revenge, the love, the hate... I’m already addicted.
Also, quick note: Don't come into this expecting a light, happy love story. It's raw, real, and filled with so many twists that I can't even explain without spoiling. Just trust me when I say it’s intense!
If you're into dark romance with a side of *destroying each other emotionally*, this one’s for you.
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