Ruby Bell lives two lives – one at her elite prep school and the other at home – each vastly different from the other. She is determined that the two shall never mix; that is until she uncovers a scandal that will change her life and force her to go toe-to-toe with James Beaufort, the head of the lacrosse team and ringleader of the school’s party boys. 

I had no idea this was a newly adapted series, nor an international hit. But when I saw a couple of intriguing reviews, my interest was piqued. I ran and downloaded it on NetGalley and never looked back. I found myself completely enthralled, disappointed any time I needed to put it down. 

If To All the Boys and Gossip Girl had a baby, it would be this series. While there was nothing especially new about this story, it still felt fresh and fun and had me completely hooked from the go. Each of the characters felt fully fleshed out, with a good amount of backstory presented. I found myself connecting most with our FMC and her family, thought I was incredibly intrigued with the subplot that is at the center of the story, and would love to see a little more focus on it in the second book (I do love me a good scandal after all). 

The writing felt more YA than new adult; however, the themes are definitely on the mature side, and there is a bit of spice, though not overly descriptive or frequent in nature. I noticed there were occasional issues with the verbiage, mainly stylistic, but I think that may be due to the fact that this is translated from the original, which was written in German. Even with that, this book is very easy to become completely absorbed in, which, as it turns out, is just what I needed. I now anxiously await the second book in the series. 

The audiobook is equally fun. Narrators Will Wate and Marissa Calin were extremely easy on the ears (with the most gorgeous British accents) and definitely added depth and nuance to the characters they portray. Of note, Calin sounds more mature than her character, which threw me off a little bit at first, having eyeball read the story first; however, I was able to overcome that easily enough. This is a fun and highly bingeable series, regardless of the format you choose to read it in. 

♥︎ WHAT TO EXPECT ♥︎

• addictive series
• new adult books
• prep school setting
• rich behaving badly
• enemies to lovers
• forced proximity
• opposite sides of the track
• ensemble cast
• moderate spice

Out now and available where books are sold.

| #gifted Berkley Romance and PRH Audio |