Cruel Love (Hidden Valley Elite Book 6) by Isla Vaughn – Review by Helen Dawkins

Cruel Love: A College Sports Romance by Isla Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the last book in the duet story about Phoenix and Aspen (+ prequel). I highly recommend reading Books 1-4 in the series beforehand as well, but it is not required.

I absolutely love this story. At first, I didn’t think anyone could surpass Riley & Cole (Book 1 & 2), but this couple blew them out of the park.

Neither of their pasts let them have the desire to fall in love. They don’t have great relationship models in their life. Onto of that, they both have very high career goals, and nothing will get in their way. That is until they meet eachothers match. Both Aspen and Phoenix are headstrong and take no crap.

After a one night stand, Aspen ends up pregnant. Both are very hard-headed, and while they both want this child, there is something deeper in their relationship, something neither of them are willing to admit.

There is a lot of back and forth in this book. Do not expect a happy relationship from the beginning. Expect to cry and scream at the characters to get their shit together.

It takes a life changing event to get them both to accept the fact they love each other. It takes Phoenix losing his memory of Aspen. It is soooo cute to see Phoenix and what he thinks of Aspen without his macho-man personality he has grown into.

The ending is A+++ they are the cutest! I can’t wait to read the next duet and conclude the series! I love seeing the tid bits of information about the previous couples throughout the next books as well – I get to hang on to them just a little longer!

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