I decided to read Broken Prince because of the cliffhanger at the end of Paper Princess, and I knew this was going to happen; an entire book as a long, drawn-out Reed apology tour for stupid things that don’t require more than a quick conversation. It made this whole thing unbearable. And, of course, all of the excitement happens at the end to try to push people into reading Twisted Palace. I knew it, I watched it happen, and I’m going to keep reading. Apparently, I’m a total sucker for a fast read with a little bit of trash erotica thrown in. But as soon as they stop being quick and easy to read, I’m out. Even I know that’s a pretty empty threat, though.

At least there’s a little closure on some of the iffy moments from the first book (namely the twin swap and rapey lacrosse player). Of course, it’s still fucked up that it’s taken care of outside of the law, but hey, rich people, am I right? I’m getting a headache from all of the eye rolls.

While Val seemed like a good friend and a more interesting person than most of the rich people in Paper Princess, I found her to be pretty annoying in Broken Prince. Also, it’s hard to feel a connection to her relationship with Tam, considering he’s a secondary character we’ve never met who has been a jerk from the beginning. Yeah, Ella ran away and ghosted her (trust me, I’m not trying to make a case for Ella being a reliable friend here, either). Still, after feeling so hurt and betrayed, Val was pretty quick to let Ella deal with a lot of shit on her own while she scouted for rebounds to get over her scummy ex. The theme here seems to be that it doesn’t matter how much money you have because everyone sucks.

These characters are pretty one-dimensional, making the narrative predictable as they all stay in their lane, playing the role they’re written to play. There’s a lot of violence glorification and status/money/power-hungry people with no morals or conscience. Just a spotlight on the worst people getting away with being terrible at all times.