Cruel Love (Hidden Valley Elite Book 6) by Isla Vaughn – Review by Jessica Stone

Cruel Love: A College Sports Romance by Isla Vaughn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cruel Love (Hidden Valley Elite Book 6) by Isla Vaughn – Review by Jessica Stone

Starting this review for anyone who doesn’t already know this is book 6 in this series and if you haven’t read the previous books you will have zero idea what’s going on, so go read them! They are super good, fun, fast, steamy reads.

This is the second part to Phoniex and aspens story and oh goshhhh it was so good. I love how much character development and relationships development takes place in this book, I always get so invested into the characters and I was genuinely worried for a bit that they weren’t going to get their HEA.

With every couples story’s coming to a head, more and more secrets and lies and manipulation within the family comes out and ties all the loose ends together and it has me feral the finish this series.

I think aspen faced some hard choices in this book and was put in some situations that she could have chosen to react to poorly with intention to hurt people like how she was feeling and she didn’t, and that speaks volumes for her character and character development in this story. Phoniex’s accident is heartbreaking, but honestly the best thing that could have happened to his character because it offer a sort of reset and ability for this book to head in a direction that you didn’t think it would reach in the first half of aspen and Phoniex’s duet.

All and all I’m thoroughly impressed with this series, the author has done a wonderful job of bringing everything together and leaving nothing behind to be forgotten in previous books. The characters are all real relatable people going through everyday challenges and situations facing their futures just we all have. I’m beyond excited for Shane’s Duet, this author loves her cliffhangers and I’m all aboard the Shane train to find out who/what his duet has in store for us readers.

Cruel Love, Hidden Valley Elite Series, Isla Vaughn, Review, Itsy Bitsy Book Bits, New Adult, Romance, Jessica Stone, October 2023

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