Review: Vicious Queen by Jillian Frost

Vicious Queen by Jillian Frost

Series: Princes of Devil's Creek #2

Publication date: February 23rd, 2022

Pages: 332

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, I hated the princes of Devil's Creek.

Those brutal billionaires were my enemies. Until I realized there are worse men in this world... and those men will stop at nothing to capture me.

The heir to the Wellington fortune.

The Queen of The Devil's Knights.

I still haven't forgiven my boyfriends for years of cruelty. But after the bonds we formed, they've worked their way into my heart.

They say uneasy is the head that wears a crown.

Well, I'll show the men who think they can control me just how vicious this queen can be.

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Review:

Alex's brush with danger was short-lived due to the attention of her Knights but it was enough to shake her and her men up. She had been so close to capture that it rocked their world. Measures had to be taken and that included keeping Alex locked away in their mansion in Devil's Creek and away from the potential clutches of the Russian Bratva and their nefarious desire to put her up for auction amongst the criminal underground. She has nothing but time now to become closer with each of her men in different ways. She showed Bastian that she could accept all sides of him and love him for them. She showed Damian that even though he has murderous tendencies that she could go toe-to-toe with him and come out the other end without him snapping her delicate neck. She showed Marcello that he could be chosen first over his brother. And she finally showed Luca that if he wanted something he would her he would need to soften and learn to feel. But while Alex is falling in love, the evil forces that are honed in on her are not above hurting the men she is falling for in order to get to her. Can they protect her or is she one misstep away from being sold to the highest bidder?

The second installment in this series was a little more organized than the first. I think because there wasn't a huge time jump with zero details given, it was easy to kinda flow a bit better. That isn't to say the story was perfectly formatted. In fact, there were still issues with me questioning the reasons behind certain situations. One minute one of her men would be cold and cut off from her, then all of a sudden they would change, without any sort of stimulus that would have caused the change. There was no internal dialog within their heads that caused them to wake up, nothing. It was like the author just decided, "eh that's enough of that" and switched gears completely. Humans don't really do that. They have to have a reason to change or they simply won't. And with stubborn billionaires who are also members of a secret society? They'd be likely set in their ways unless something happened to wake them up. And I know, in one instance, there was something that would change their attitudes but, not so quickly as it did. It just felt false, like it was an act. It made me feel, once more, disconnected from the male protagonists completely.

I keep saying this and I wish I didn't feel I needed to, but I feel like this story was not plotted out as well as it should be. I feel like the author just sat down, wrote it all out and didn't go back and see if what they were writing was congruent with the rest of the story. Attitudes, opinions, and fundamental behaviors engrained in the characters were interchangeable which made them far too two-dimensional to really become engrossed in. I think if the author did a web chart of key points within the story and used that to plot the book out it might help a little with those inconsistencies.

That is not to say that this book wasn't better than the first. It definitely was. There were times when I actually felt like shedding a tear for the female protagonist and drawing out that emotional response means something. I had to have connected with Alex at least at surface level to be feeling sad on her behalf. It was just the men I struggled with. But because I was able to form at least that small connection, I had to rate this book higher than the first one. I am hoping that it continues to go up and up and up until we get to a coveted five-star rating (those are rare for me).