Review: Untamed by Jaxson Kidman

Untamed by Jaxson Kidman

Series: Bay Falls High #3

Publication date: August 30th, 2019

Pages: 265

Spice: ⛔

Synopsis:

I still am the dirty, poor girl...

... with everyone staring right at me.

Look. I took on 'the Rulz'. Those who do that never get a happy ending in life.

So why would I expect anything less?

Secrets from my past come to the surface, and the last person I expect to see shows up.

I have to question who is a friend, who is fake, and who is an enemy.

I'm not rich. So the only way to defend myself is to fight back.

Literally.

BFH is made up of fake smiles and eager nightmares.

My only escape is to go back to the world that gave me nothing.

Unless I make a choice.

The choice of 'one'... nothing more, nothing less.

In some way I always knew it would come down to this.

Me standing alone.

Three of the hottest and baddest guys standing across from me.

And this time... I am the fucking prize.

For good.

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Review:

The truth is out. Or at least some of the truth is out. The bet is bogus and the boys now know why. That is the end, right? Tinsley can now move on because the boys are going to find new prey to play with while she just tries to live out her days until graduation. Right? Not so much. The boys are still very much determined to keep Tinsley safe and to keep her in town when she repeatedly tries to run back to her roots. But it seems there are a lot skeletons in the boys' closets that Tinsley refuses to let lie. So she pokes and prods and puts herself in dangerous situations so she can force their hands. But there are more than just the boys lurking around ready to ruin Tinsley's life. The high school politics have never been more pressing than at Bay Falls High. Can Tinsley find the truth she so desperately needs or will she be consumed by the secrets of the town she reluctantly calls home?

The twists and turns in the plot were almost hard to keep up with. Who did what now? They're connected in what way? They did that for why? I felt like I really should have had a cheat sheet to kinda keep track of all these hard truths thrown Tinsley's way. And her reaction to it all, girl, same. I'd have lost my mind too, trust. 

This book is not a reverse harem. It makes all the appropriate sounds of being a reverse harem. A girl kissing three guys and them all being moderately okay with it? Yeah, that checks out. But the previous book was a series of cockblocking which, with knowing about the bet, was to be expected. However, the whole point of a reverse harem is to make it a 'why choose'. Tinsley makes a choice. She chooses one and the other two apparently go off and find their own chicks. Which... I have a really hard time with because one of them said they couldn't be with Tinsley because they were still hung up on another girl but then he goes off and meets a third girl and is suddenly cool? But that's not this book... This is not a reverse harem. If you are hoping for some sharing, there is none. If you're hoping for a happily ever after for all the boys at the end of this story, there isn't. I honestly would have never picked up the series if I knew there was going to be a choice made at the end in regards to the three boys. This is heartbreaking for me.

Also... there is finally a sex scene. Well... somewhat. It is basically borderline fade to black. They talked about getting naked. Talked about the sounds of a condom and some pressure and then... Welp, there ya go. I summed up the whole scene for you. If you like books without a lot of sex then this is most definitely for you. But if you like the raunchy details being a coupling, just skip this series entirely. I am so so so maddened by this series. The fact there were trigger warnings about sex scenes on Goodreads is absolutely laughable. What is triggering the sound of the condom wrapper? Scandalous. I wanted to DNF after the "sex scene" but being already over 70% through, I hung tight and kept going. Hoping against hope for more.

I am not a reviewer who enjoys tearing apart someone's work because books are an author's baby and nobody wants to hear their baby is anything less than perfect. So I leave it at this... if you want young adult quasi-reverse harem where the girl makes a choice at the end and the sex scenes are minimal to non-existent, this is for you? If you're a heavy smut reader, maybe skip it to avoid the upset when you reach the end like I did.