Title: Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright #1)

Author: Sophie Lark

Publisher: Bloom Books 2020

Genre: Romance

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Spice Rating: 5

The Griffins and the Gallos have been battling for control of Chicago’s underworld for generations.

Their bitter rivalry reignites when Aida, the youngest and wildest Gallo sibling, crashes a party at the Griffin mansion, accidentally setting fire to the library.

To stave off all-out war, her father arranges a marriage with Callum Griffin, eldest son and heir.

Cold, ambitious, and brutal, Callum is determined to tame his headstrong bride. Aida is more than capable of giving as good as she gets – starting with poisoning Callum on their wedding night.

In their struggle for dominance, who will break first?

Pretty disappointed in this one. I was hoping for a good spicy romance with fun characters, an enemies-to-lovers setup, and spicy sex scenes. What I got was the pretty icky trope of forced marriage (forced by their families) with some episodes of dubious consent. Throw in an age-gap, which I’m not always opposed to, and I was not here for it at all. The age gap is now quite as much of a concern to me as the maturity gap. I wanted to like Aida so much, but she spent most of the book very horny for her husband while simultaneously acting like a spoiled teenager. But also constantly talking about how independent and mature she is. Spoiler alert, she’s not. I just couldn’t root for her at all. And then Lark decided to throw in some commentary about being sex positive. I do not have issues with being sex positive. I wanted to see communication and empowerment happening within characters. I did not see that at all. This was a contender for dirty book month, but I’m definitely crossing it off my list now.

Brutal Birthright

• #1 Brutal Prince

• #2 Stolen Heir

• #3 Savage Lover

• #4 Bloody Heart

• #5 Broken Vow

• #6 Heavy Crown

Next up on the TBR pile: