Hellbent Series

Book reviews

16 Apr

Written By Anzhelika Li

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1. FALLS BOYS by Penelope Douglas

SYNOPSIS

Aro

Hawken Trent. So polite. So sweet. Such an upstanding young man. A virgin, too, I hear. He never gets naughty with a girl. Probably because Jesus told him not to. And now here he is, trying to be the hero by protecting another girl from me.

He calls me a bully. Irrational. Unreasonable. A criminal. He can call me anything he wants, I’ve heard worse. And he can try to stand between me and my money, but he’s never had to fight for food. That rich, clean schoolboy doesn’t have what it takes.

Hawke

I surprised her. You should’ve seen her face. Just because I don’t have a record, honey, doesn’t mean I’m clean. It just means I’m better at not getting caught. That is until I realize I might’ve actually gone too far this time.

She’s there. I’m there. The scene of the crime. It’s dark. The police show up. We have no choice. We run. Down High Street, into Quinn’s bakeshop, and I pull her through the entrance to the old speakeasy that everyone forgot was here decades ago. The door locks, the cops circle the building, never knowing we’re right here, and I’m hidden in plain sight, indefinitely, with someone’s who’s awful. Mean. Rough. Dirty. A thief. A delinquent. Until one night, lost in all of these rooms together, I don’t see any of those things anymore. She’s smart. Daring. Soft. Hot...

Everything’s changing. It’s this place. It does something to people. We have a silly urban legend in Shelburne Falls about mirrors. They’re a gateway. Don’t lean back into them. But we came through front first. I don’t care what the county records say. This was never a speakeasy. It’s Carnival Tower.

BOOK REVIEW

I don’t really read high school anymore, but it seems like Penelope Douglas is the only author who can make me do it and enjoy the entire length of it.

Falls Boys was such a great intro to the new series with some already well-known and beloved characters. Hawke and Aro were from two different worlds but still perfect for each other. So many important conversations, thrilling action, and mystery thrown in. And did I mention all the smut? Virgin Hawke?

I cannot wait for the next book!

2. PIRATE GIRLS by Penelope Douglas

SYNOPSIS

Kade and Hunter Caruthers. Brothers. Twins. My cousins. In a way, they’re my family. Protective. Indulgent. My best friends. But there was something else there, too. That ever-present whisper that reminded me more as I got older that we didn’t actually share any blood.

They used to be inseparable. We all were, but not anymore. I don’t know why Hunter left or why he joined a rival team in Weston—that Rebel town across the river—to stand on the opposite side of the field from his brother, but Kade is out for blood now and Hunter has finally decided to engage.

Rivalry Week. Parades. Parties. Pranks. And the Prisoner Exchange. Weston will send a hostage to our school, and they’re taking me. I’m Hunter’s for two weeks. In a dilapidated brownstone on a nearly abandoned street with almost no supervision. Ten days in an enemy school. Fourteen nights in a town full of bullies with no curfews and no rules. And Hunter has no intention of protecting his little cousin anymore.

The Pirates will come for me. How can they not? A Pirate never sits out on the fun. But I never needed protection or rescue, because a Pirate never runs, either.