Review: Captured by Rosa Lee

Captured by Rosa Lee

Series: Highgate Preparatory Academy #1

Publication date: June 10th, 2024

Pages: 479

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Who of us isn't a little bit of a monster too?

Rivers of red changed my life, in ways that even I am unaware of.

I went from being a happy, carefree, and comfortable London girl to moving across the pond and landing at the exclusive Highgate Preparatory Academy, a school for the kids of the rich and powerful, right before my senior year.

Fate placed me into the arms of four beautiful, broken, rich boys; the Black Knights of Highgate Prep.

Loki, Jax, Kai, and Ash.

All rich as Midas, all beautiful, and yet they all carry scars that run so deep, I don't know if there's a way to ever heal them.

Our connection is immediate and earth shattering. The stuff of fairytales. My knights wear tarnished armour. They're angels that have fallen into the pits of hell and been baptised anew in blood, emerging devastatingly beautiful but with the souls of demons.

But fate is fickle, and one night my life tips on its axis again, making me doubt my dark knights as their terrifying secrets are revealed.

Yet life is never quite what it seems, and even knights must bow to tyrant kings.

Apparently, the grass is not always greener on the other side.

It's covered in crimson too. And none of our hands are clean.

Captured is the first book in a scorching dark contemporary romance, where our bold leading lady won't have to choose. Boundaries will be crossed, both figuratively and literally.

If you crave emotionally scarred, impossibly attractive young men who thrive in the shadows, a fiercely outspoken young woman unafraid to wield colourful language, and steamy encounters that will leave you breathless--appearing in nearly every chapter--then Captured is a novel you won't want to miss.

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Review:

The British have invaded the states and she is looking for a new lease on life. Lilly Darling was looking for any excuse to escape London and her traumatic past that she left behind. When a mysterious uncle comes out of the woodwork after her mother's death, she is all too happy to go away to America and join the prestigious academy that he was once a student of. What could it hurt? She would no longer be within range of the area that she lost her soul and maybe she could learn to shut her eyes and not see a river of blood behind her eyelids. What she wasn't expecting was to move in with four men who had taller walls around them than the Empire State Building. But Lilly has always been good at winning people over and she slowly starts to do so until she realizes that there is a lot more to the men she is living with than meets the eye. They are all beautifully broken and slaves to their parentage whether they wish to be a part of it or not. They are being groomed to take over their family's business and all the bloody dealings that go with it. When Lilly discovers just how deep their connections go she wonders if the men she was growing so fond of were fallen angels worthy of redemption or damned to their fate forever.

I was absolutely enthralled by this story from the very beginning. Lilly is such a breath of fresh air type of character that I found myself so taken with her. The way she dressed made me start googling her outfits so I could see her better in my mind. She was quirky and fun but also had that edge to her that made you realize that she is just as wounded and traumatized as the rest of them are. It made them a good match all around and soldered their connections for me. I loved how colorful her words were and how exasperated she was sometimes with the antics of the men. A few snippets of Lilly's colorful thoughts and impressions are as follows:

"I swear every time that man speaks, somewhere a fairy orgasms."

"I'm going to die if this keeps up. My gravestone shall read; ‘Here lies Lilly Darling. Died from horniness.’"

"Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but, apparently, it can enable underage drinking."

Add to that the damaged and heartbreaking men that she surrounded herself with and it made my heart melt. They were all so damaged but also so determined to be better than their parents wish for them that they were a delight. I always have my favorite and while Loki would be an obvious choice with his charisma and good-humor, Ash stole my heart. Ash, the leader of the boys, takes everything onto his shoulders. For him, he will die before he ever sees any of his brothers in pain or danger. He will do what he has to to endure his upbringing and keep them safe. When that extends to Lilly I can see the kind of man he was made to be. There is so much more to leading than just having a dominant personality. There is also the command to keep the respect he is garnered by the others. If let off his leash, he could do some great things and I look forward to seeing if that happens in the future books.

The relationships between Lilly and the men are so different from one to the next but also so well done that its hard to not see how they all connect together. I can't picture Lilly with just one of them because they all have different facets that compliment her so well. That is the mark of a truly well written and developed reverse harem for me. If there is no way in my mind to ever see the protagonists as going solo with any one of the men. 

This story had me hooked from the start and the surprise twist at the end made me gasp. I am so excited to read the next book and see where Lilly and her men head next.