Cruel Princes by Jillian Frost
Series: Princes of Devil's Creek #1
Publication date: December 29th, 2021
Pages: 398
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Synopsis:
In the international bestselling Princes of Devil's Creek series, a struggling artist agrees to an arranged marriage and becomes the pawn of four ruthless billionaires.
At the worst point in my life, after suffering through years of poverty and abuse, I find out I'm the heir to a multi-billion-dollar fortune.
My grandfather shows up like a white knight.
And rescues me from my worst nightmare.
But is charity isn't free.
To settle an old debt, I must choose between four handsome billionaires, each with twisted desires.
I'm expected to marry one of them.
But they're not the only men who want me.
But they're not the only men who want me.
There are far more dangerous men looking for the heir to the Wellington fortune... which means I'm staying in their beds and under their protection for the foreseeable future.
Cruel Princes is a DARK BULLY romance about four possessive men and one ruthless woman who will bring them to their knees. The main character will end up with more than one love interest.

Review:
When Alex had her long lost grandfather show up and rescue her from the den of poverty and abuse under her parents' care, she thought she was in for paradise. Anything would be better than what she had endured to that point. But when she is told that she was expected to wed one of her grandfather's rival's sons to combine the families, she is hesitant to agree. The four men are cold and calculated in their appearances. Some of them have madness lurking behind their handsome faces and starkly beautiful eyes. They frighten Alex as much as they intrigue her. Perhaps this arrangement wouldn't be so bad. But it seems that while the boys also know they are meant to entice her into choose one of them to marry, they have some animosity towards Alex and her family name. That anger and resentment runs so deep that they will get in their own ways with how badly they wish to treat her. But for Alex, who came from a life of pain and torment, she can only be more curious. When told she must marry for power, will Alex also find a way to marry for love too?
I am sorry to say that is book was so disorganized that I struggled through it. I saw what the author was trying to do. I saw the plot and how it was meant to be laid out. But for some reason, the author decided to start from when Alex and her twin brother were taken in by their grandfather and then carry it on over the span of five years without really fleshing out that time lapse. She would show snippets of it in references that the protagonists would mention but it all felt very disjointed. Alex would speak about situations that were important to the overall plot of the story but that were talked about like they were in the past with very little details given. Perhaps if some form of flashback was given then it would give the scenes mentioned a lot more power to hold the attention of one's reader. I did not like the way the story was formatted in the slightest, but I have to imagine that it was simply the author trying to move the story along without outlining the whole five year time span.
I do not like the dynamics between the female protagonist and her would-be suitors. It feels like all of them feel nothing truly strong for her and only want to bed her or use her how they wish to. They talk about obsessing over her and finding her attractive but there is no romantic connection. I understand the desire to go with the bully genre to add some heat and drama within the characters' interactions, but without any sort of underlying connection it just makes it seem like genuine bullying and not just a case of a boy tugging a on girl's pigtails because he likes her. Somewhere in there, the boys should legitimately talk about what they want from her and actually show it with her. I feel terrible for Alex because she gets an ounce of affection and then they're laughing in her face for believing it to be real.
I felt while there were a lot of things wrong with the story, I saw the bones of it and liked what I read. If there was more of what I mentioned then maybe I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book. Does that mean I won't be reading the second? No. I will. I just hope all the kinks from the first book are worked out and that there is more heart in the next book instead of just shock value and shattered storylines.
