Things I Wanted to Say by Monica Murphy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whit Lancaster burst into my life like a storm. Dark and thunderous, furious and fierce. Cold, heartless, and devastatingly beautiful, like the statues in our prep school gardens. The school with his family name on the sign. He can do no wrong here.

This is his domain. He’s a menace on campus. Adored and feared. Hated and respected. His taunting words carve into my skin, shredding me to ribbons. Yet his intense gaze scorches my blood, fills me with a longing I don’t understand.

When he comes to my rescue one night, he ends up broken. Bleeding. My instincts scream to leave and let him suffer, but I can’t. I sneak him into my room. Clean him up. Fall for his lies. Let him possess every single part of me until I’m the one left a gasping, broken mess. Then he leaves me alone in the dead of night, taking my journal with him.

Now he knows all my secrets. My hate. My truth. And he promises to use my words against me. I’ll be ruined if my darkest secret gets out. That’s when I strike a bargain with the devil. I’ll let Whit Lancaster ruin me behind closed doors instead. Things I Wanted to Say (but never did) is a complete standalone. This edgy bully romance contains dark scenes some listeners may find uncomfortable to hear.

Things I Wanted To Say (But Never Did).

Toxic relationships!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚❤️💜
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 🤓😉☺️😍🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Summer Savage – she accompanied her mother to a party in Manhattan when she was fourteen. Her stepfather wanted her to see what the 1% lived like. The only other kid at the party was Whit Lancaster. She has always had a darkness inside her and she sees that he has the same. He gives Summer her first kiss and mocks her. He also tells her that her mother is in one of the bedrooms with his father. She had wanted to go to boarding school at Lancaster Prep, but it isn’t until her senior year that she gets to go there after her family scandal.

The Hero: Whit Lancaster – he puts all the blame of his parents wrecked marriage on Summer’s mother and so hates Summer. Though from the first time they met he was attracted to her. He is the king of the school, from one of the oldest and richest families in the country and the hottest guy in the school. When he shows his derision of Summer, the rest of the student body at Lancaster Prep treat her the same.

The Story: Summer’s family scandal was when her mother’s affair with Mr. Lancaster came to light. Her stepfather was devastated and then angry. Things happened between her and her stepbrother Yates, who was always leering at her. There was a fire and her stepfather passed away and she alluded to taking care of her stepbrother. Though all the details come out slowly throughout the story.

This is a pretty standard bully romance, with Whit controlling the students and how they treat Summer. He is the wealthiest in the school and top of the ladder. He finds himself obsessing over her and he loves control so when he finds her journal and all her secrets, he uses it to force her to his will. He doesn’t have the easy life that it looks on the outside. He will inherit a ton of money from different sources between the time he is 18 and 25 but is expected to marry the girl his mom picked out for him. He doesn’t want the same type of marriage his parents had before their divorce.

They have a toxic relationships at first. They both enjoys the dark things he does to her and has her do. This book is super steamy and there are a lot of intimate scenes between the two main characters. They can’t keep their hands off each other. Though Whit begins to understand Summer better as the story goes on and he reads more of her journal. The story gets really good though as it goes along. The best thing about bully romance is when the Hero finally starts to see the light. It turns out the real toxic relationships in his life are between him and his family.

This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration. It was narrated by Joe Arden and Allie Piper. Allie Piper has a high, slightly breathy voice which sounds youthful. Joe Arden is one of my favorite male narrators and always does a great job. Though he does sound a bit old for a high school student, though I didn’t care one bit.

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