Review: Deviant King by Rina Kent

Deviant King by Rina Kent

Series: Royal Elite #1

Publication date: October 21st, 2019

Pages: 364
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

The villain isn't supposed to be king.

I have a simple plan.

Finish Royal Elite School and get into my dream university.

One glance from the school's king blows my plan up in smoke.

One glance and he suffocates my air.

One glance and he issues his death sentence.

His first words spiral my life into irreparable chaos.

"I will destroy you."

Everything about Aiden King is black.

Black mind.

Black heart.

Black soul.

I should've remained quiet and endured the time I have left.

I didn't.

I made the irrevocable mistake of provoking the king on his throne.

The devil in his hell.

And now, I'll pay the price.

Being hated by Aiden King is dangerous.

But being wanted by him is lethal.

Deviant King is book one of Royal Elite Series. This is a dark high school bully romance, mature new adult, and contains dubious situations that some readers might find offensive. Aiden isn't the normal romance hero. In fact, he's not a hero at ALL. So please don't read this if any of that bothers you.

Royal Elite Series:

#1 Deviant King

#2 Steel Princess

#3 Twisted Kingdom

This book is part of a trilogy and is NOT a standalone.

The entire trilogy is available.

Available at:

Review:

The synopsis of the book does not do the book justice and sets an odd tone for the reader going into it. It makes it seem like Elsa decided to pluck up some courage and suddenly stand her ground with the King of Royal Elite. On the contrary she had never been cowed by him. She kept her head high and her confidence firmly in place. The fact that bullying and harsh words didn't seem to ever touch her was why she had earned the nickname 'Frozen'. It was like she was an ice princess that felt nothing and was just bitterly cold towards anyone but her best friend. What changed was Aiden's determination to just sit back and watch her move through the school without interacting with her. But when senior year rolled around it seems like he finally decided to make a move. Suddenly he wants Elsa with a vengeance and she is doing everything in her power to try to keep away from him. The push and pull of their relationship in the beginning was great. I kept waiting to see what new way he would try to push her and what new way she would try to push him back. Aiden doesn't seem the type of character to deal well with people standing up to him. He just sees it as a red flag waved in his face enticing him to do his worst. Which he does with Elsa, of course.

I found Elsa to be an interesting character. She can't remember her life before she came to be adopted by her aunt and uncle. At least, I think they are her uncle and aunt. The author has a tendency to have her characters call all their friends' parents Uncle or Aunt and it really confuses me. I understand that the uppercrust type are not opposed to incestuous relationships to keep their bloodlines pure but I don't think that is what the author was going for. I think, since it was written in U.K. English that maybe its just a term of endearment for close members of family? I could be very wrong, but... Elsa, all the same, lived with her aunt and uncle in blissful ignorance of her past lift. The animosity that Aiden had towards Elsa from the beginning clued me in that there was going to be some sort of connection between them that went far beyond their interactions in school. But Kent has a terribly awful way of really keeping her readers guessing.

I think this was a really good introduction to Aiden and Elsa and all the mysteries that go along with a psychopath and a damaged girl. There were times I really didn't like Aiden. And other times where I really wished Elsa would chill the hell out and let things be good when they were actually good. I do think the two compliment each other really well and I look forward to reading the next installment in the trilogy.