Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Review: Kings of Chaos by Eva Ashwood

Kings of Chaos by Eva Ashwood
Series: Dirty Broken Savages #1
Publication date: June 18th, 2021
Pages: 484
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:
I was a good girl once, but now I dance with devils.
Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. I wear vengeance like a suit of armor.

I've got a list with six names on it. Six people who wronged me, who hurt me, who took everything from me. Six people who turned me into the monster I am now.

And I've crossed off every name but one.

One more name. One more death. Should be simple, right?

Yeah, you'd think so. But it turns out revenge is a messy business, and when I end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, I royally piss off four brutal, twisted, gorgeous men.

Gage, Priest, Ash, and Knox.

Lucky for me, the last name on my list is someone they've got their own grudge against, so instead of killing me, they offer me a deal. They'll give me a chance to exact my vengeance, and in exchange, all they want is...

Me.

I'm not stupid. I've played this game before. Even though they've agreed to help me, I know they want to punish me too. They want to toy with me. To let their demons loose on me.

But maybe these Kings of Chaos have let my pretty face fool them.

Because I'm just as vicious as they are. And I've got demons of my own.

Kings of Chaos is a full length dark new adult romance with enemies-to-lovers/love-hate themes, featuring a slightly psycho heroine and four even more psychotic men. What happens between these pages will be dirty, dark, and delicious, so read at your own discretion.


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Review:
River is out for blood and has already collected 5 bodies worth for her troubles. She has a list and only one name remains, but finding a way to pin down the slippery snake to add him to her collection proves to be tough. When her latest lead turns up to be a dead end she is frustrated enough to track down the person who sold her the misinformation and kill him so he wouldn't make the mistake of double crossing someone again. It was in that alleyway with blood on her hands that she encounters the Kings of Chaos. They could kill her outright for daring to kill another outside of their club but they're intrigued by her and want to know if she was leaving the body there as a calling card for a rival gang. Determined to know her motives they take her captive until she tells them who her true mark is. They decide that she is best kept under their roof and within their line of sight as she carries out her path to vengeance so it doesn't fall back on them some how. But along the way they start to realize that the psycho woman with the silver hair and the smart mouth is a bit more than meets the eye. Her monster calls to their monsters and maybe there is more to this motley crew of misfits than just a single deal.

I absolutely loved every second of this book to the point where I decided to trudge my way through a sleepless night to read it from start to finish. Well worth it in my opinion. The dynamic between River and the Kings of Chaos reminded me a lot of the Harlequin Crew of Caroline Peckham's creation. Their attitudes and the way they interacted seemed very similar. This was a good thing for me because that series is definitely one of my all-time favorites. I almost didn't read this book because I could have sworn I had already read it before. But, luckily, I had not so I was able to add another 5-star read to my yearly tally.

I found River's tough-as-nails personality to be refreshing from all the weepy whimsical wimps that a lot of the female protagonists are. If she were captured and tortured like so many series usually have the heroine go through so the men can white knight for her, River would get free and massacre her captors before the Kings even realized she was missing. I loved her brand of crazy and while sometimes I really wish she would get out of her own way, she still was adorably endearing.

With any harem I always have to have a favorite and Priest is mine. He is cold but not because he just enjoys being an asshole. He's cold because he suffered a huge loss and doesn't know how to cope with it. He shuts down and removes all emotion because he doesn't want to feel any emotional pain and so he takes all the happiness out of the equation too. I loved watching River slowly chip away at his exterior.

I am dying to read the next one to the point i had to PHYSICALLY remove the book from my presence in order to write this review. If you are looking for a reverse harem story with a kickass female and some hot angry men then this is the book for you. Eva Ashwood outdid herself and I can't wait to keep reading!