Dropped off at an unusual college filled with kids from criminal families, Tomás has had his life upended and struggles to find his place when he gets on the wrong side of the elite group of students that have more going on than just classes. Kieran was raised a killer and he has plans to topple his family, and the new kid raises his suspicions as well as his becomes an unwanted distraction as Kieran's attraction to Tomás becomes impossible to deny.
From the Beautiful Dark Temptation blurb:
I’ve lost everything.
Forced into a prison masking as a school, I find myself in the crosshairs of more than one killer. My savior? The arrogant prick who wants to control me. Kieran is a nightmare wrapped in a seductive package and when he sets his sights on me I don’t know whether to fight him or kiss him.
Kieran
I am the eldest bastard of one of the four founders of Arcadia University, and I will do anything to see my family fall.
The secrets I’ve kept hidden behind my heart now threaten to bury me alive with the arrival of Tomás. He consumes my space, my thoughts, my nightmares. I hate him for how he makes me feel. This toxic attraction between us forces me to question what matters most—vengeance, power, love. But Tomas doesn’t fit into my world of lies and violence and I’m not ready to lose it all for a beautiful dark temptation.
SNik's review:
First in series (Arcadia U). Adversarial to lovers. Close proximity. Slow burn. Dark themes (mafia, bullying, murder). Dual POV. Cliffhanger. Heed content warnings.
Brought to a special school by the man he tried to kill, Tomás is thrust into a secret society college full of members of criminal families. Kieran is the leader of the top tier group at the school, but he has plans outside of their campus prison, and the beautiful unknown kid that gets placed in his house has him suspicious and unfortunately attracted. An intriguing concept with much more going on than just the surface of being college kids, there is family/political intrigue and all the students come from violent backgrounds.
There is a lot of push and pull between Kieran and Tomás, possessiveness and lust mixed with emotional uncertainty which actually made sense for these two characters. A well written debut, if a little chaotic in the beginning trying to keep track of various names and family members, the story settled into a bully attraction with plenty of secrets and an underlying plot line that will be continuing with future books. I am thoroughly invested and can’t wait for more.
Jacqueleen the Reading Queen's review:
"𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝙸'𝚍 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚍, 𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍, 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚍. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚟𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎.
𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚃𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚜. 𝙼𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗."
Roxas Winters is a new to me author and based on their GR profile this book may be their debut. If so, this author packed a hell of a punch in their first book. I was instantly intrigued by the entire premise of the series. A private hidden college where the criminals sent their family members to hide them from the world. A prison disguised as a school.
"𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚛𝚎. 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚜."
"𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜"
Things didn't really heat up between our two MCs in the intimate sense until well past the halfway mark. This is very much a darker romance with Keiran and Tomas remaining enemies for a good portion of the story. I'll be honest here. I really disliked Keiran for a lot of the first half. Some of the things he does to Tomas were just plain cruel and I hoped that Tomas would eventually get a chance at a worthy payback.
"𝙷𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖.
𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖.
𝙼𝚎."
There are a lot of twists and turns in this book. There's also a little side plot going on between Fox, one of Keirans "brothers", and another student Dasher. I, like many other reviewers, am hoping we get a book for those two at some point. I have a few guesses about their story, but no concrete answers. Same goes for the romance between Keiran and Tomas, which makes me happy I get to jump into book 2 soon.
Beautiful Dark Temptation is currently available as an e-book
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