Cruel King by K.M. Scott – Review by Angela Hayes

Cruel King by K.M. Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 Stars

Cruel King by K.M. Scott is very angsty enemies-to-lovers romance. I have read a few of Ms. Scott’s books before and really loved her ‘Club X’ series- so when I saw this pop up on my recommended book notifications, I didn’t hesitate and snapped up a copy to dive into.
This book twisted me up on so many levels. While it is incredibly well written, and the characters are fully realised individuals with electrifying chemistry that sizzles right off the pages, and their angsty push-pull is palpable- I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this book. I will try to explain why I feel a little tied up in knots over my rating and review of this book.
Everything about it is very professional, polished, and well-presented. But going into the book I had high expectations having loved everything else I had read of Ms. Scott’s that I’ve read- so I set off to see what she had in store for us and immediately had doubts that I would be able to ‘like’ our MC, Matthias. He was a real jerk, and treated Ava so terribly that I wanted to slap him on Ava’s behalf- and then shake her silly for putting up with it. But I still held out hope. Then things got more complicated, with a bit of a love triangle thing happening with his brother (her best friend) and I became more dubious, because, to me it felt like cheating- even though technically it wasn’t cheating. But I really felt put off that Ava and Theo got together after she and Mathias had ‘been’ together- I know many years had passed and he was being a jerk, but still, my heart was hurt in the process lol- and I couldn’t help but feel like she’d cheated….and don’t get me started on his ‘marriage’ either. I was torn, because I was rooting for them, and for him to get his act together. I mean, obviously he does in the end, but the frustrating angsty push-pull, drama, and tension goes on for more than three quarters of the story- and by that stage I was quite anxious as to the actual outcome of the story. So, this is why I have been torn about my rating of the book and writing a review. This could/should be a five-star read, but my heart is still a little bruised…
Matthias has four hunky brothers, so perhaps this might be the first book in a new series- we will have to wait and see.
Happy Reading…

Thank you, K.M. Scott!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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