Ruthless Princess by Rachel Van Dyken
My rating: 5 of 5 stars.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend…
I never thought my father would ask this of me, to become the second generation at Eagle Elite University, to rule with an iron fist, and to take care of anyone who gets in our way.
But ever since the incident.
Ever since Him.
There’s been a war in our little clique.
After all, a house divided cannot stand.
He’s the problem, not me.
He used to kiss me like I was his oxygen.
Now he looks at me like I’m his poison.
But we both drank it, again and again, never believing there would be a day when our love would start a war.
And our friendship would shatter into a million pieces.
Then again, the worst thing you could do in the mafia is hang on to hope that your life will be normal.
The second worse thing?
Fall in love with your best friend.
Enemy.Ruthless Princess
And heir to the Nicolasi throne.
Five stars and two twirls!
They are the children of the leaders of two of the five families. Junior Nicolasi and Serena Abandonato we’re doomed from the moment they first fell in love. Their parents had been through it in the past, when members of the families fell in and out of love with each other. They knew that jealousy , hurt and anger can start wars between friends and family. So they made it a rule that their kids can’t get together. No kissing, no dating, no falling in love. The punishment for betrayal is death.
In the prequel, Asher Abandonato saw what was happening between Junior and Serena and to save them from themselves. Ash made sure to test them in public and unless they outed their own relationship by publicly claiming each other which he knew they couldn’t do, they had no recourse but to betray the relationship by choosing someone other than each other. By doing that they hurt each other beyond repair. Now all they have is hate and pain.
Though Junior and Serena must still work together as the Elite of the University and the mafia Prince and Princess that they are. They are sometimes friends, sometimes enemies and always the cause of the deep hole in each other’s heart. This book had all the feels of this torturous relationship between two people that deep down want nothing more than to be able to claim each other and tell the world. But instead are forced to keep hurting each other for their own survival.
I loved the relationships in this book. Not only between Serena and Junior, but all the kids, and even the parents. Though this world is so unreal as to be comical at times, it does portray the brutality, paranoia (righteous though it is), and the kinship that must exist in the mafia. The craziest parts are how brutal these people are with their own family members in effort to make sure they are strong enough to survive in their world.
Like I said, the world is also comical at times. As a matter of fact, the book was pretty humorous in the way that these college students/made men and women make light of their world. They joke about the number of weapons they carry around daily, the fact that they are killers and that their lives are so bizarre compared to others their age. I have no clue if people like this would really joke like these kids do, but I have a feeling that you’d almost have to, otherwise some of that stuff would drive you crazy.
“Anything going on there?”
“Well, if there is one or both of them will die, so let’s hope not because I’m really attached to my sister, and if Maksim touches her wrong or even breathes wrong, I’m cutting his dick off.”
“Graphic,” Claire muttered next to him.
“What?” Ash shrugged. “She’s too young.”
“She’s your twin dipshit.” This from Breaker.
So much happened in this book, some of it was unbelievably surprising and some was revealing. There are definitely secrets all over the place in these families, not only about who is in love with whom, but also secrets from the past. It is quite a dark and twisty ride. I can’t wait for more. I did purchase a bunch of the Eagle Elite books, I can’t wait to get some time to start in on those and find out what kind of trouble the parents got into. RVD has outdone herself here!
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
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