Drop Dead Queen by C. Hallman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scions and hikers and bears, Oh my!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚🖤💛❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌏
Character development: 🧐😕😍😗🥰

The heroine: Aspen Mather – she is attending Corium University, a college that is hidden in the Alaskan Wilderness, most of it is underground. It basically is a college for mafia kids. Aspen is known as a “rat” since her father is in prison for trying to rat out his mob bosses, in particular Xander Rossi.

The Hero(s): Quinton Rossi – known as the King of Corium, Q is son to Xander Rossi, the biggest and baddest mob boss. Quinton has his own father issues, stemming from the death of his sister and the fact that he found out his parents have been lying to him his entire life.

The Story: Quinton has a hard time dealing with his anger and often feels the need to regain control, he is attracted to Aspen and blames her father for messing up his life at the worst possible time, when his sister was dying. So he likes to exert his control over Aspen whenever he feels the need.

This was a great bully story, it wasn’t just Q that bullied Aspen, it was everyone at Corium, including the teachers. Aspen was pushed and tripped and talked down to whenever she ventured out of her room. If it wasn’t for the one law at Corium, that nobody there could commit murder, she would most surely be dead.

At times we see Quinton as a decent guy, who is attracted to a girl. However, his inner thoughts show that he thinks himself above her and no matter what happens between them they will never be together long term. I liked how Aspen’s situation seemed to go from bad to worse, and then even worse and she perseveres through it all.

Though I can sort of see how the progeny of mafia leaders would not want to associate with the daughter of a rat. It still seems to me like none of them can just think for themselves and say, it is wrong to treat Aspen so bad because of what her father did. For one, she is not her father, and two, Mafia men traditionally don’t tell their women anything or involve them in their dealings, so she is obviously an innocent party in all of it.

I did truly like both Quinton and Aspen, who both were in many ways a product of their upbringing and background. Overall though, I just loved all the action and steamy scenes. A lot happened in this book and the cliffhanger was shocking to say the least. I can’t wait to see how it all goes. I hope that Aspen continues her reign as the one who bounces back quickly and rises above everything that gets thrown at her.

I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

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