Is Ruthless King by Maya Hughes worth reading?

Some second chance romances make you swoon. Some make you want to lock both characters in a room and confiscate their ability to make assumptions. Ruthless King by Maya Hughes is very much playing in that second lane. Avery and Emmett have the whole high school sweethearts turned bitter exes thing going on, with rich boy meets scholarship girl setup, years of hurt, and one summer house that forces them right back into each other’s orbit. If you like your romance messy, angsty, and that will make you scream for them to talk to each other, this one definitely gives you plenty to work with.

I think these two had great chemistry! ~ Under the Covers

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What is Ruthless King about?

Ruthless King by Maya Hughes follows Avery and Emmett, former high school sweethearts whose relationship crashed hard and left both of them angry, hurt, and convinced they were the wronged one. Years later, they are forced back together, and all that resentment starts looking a lot like unfinished business.

Ruthless King by Maya Hughes Book Review

I’ve been itching to get my hands on Avery and Emmett’s book since the beginning of this series.  They were high school sweethearts and so in love with each other.  He was the rich trust fund kid and she was the janitor’s daughter going to the fancy school on a scholarship.  Until one fateful night and everything exploded.  Dreams came crashing down.  And they’ve hated each other ever since.

Sometimes, when a book is highly anticipated there’s extra pressure for it to meet those expectations and satisfy everyone.  I personally have to say that RUTHLESS KING fell a bit short of meeting those for me.  And most of that had to do with their past.  The reason for their past breakup and that caused so much drama between them.  I wanted a good reason and in the end I wasn’t a bit fan of it.

However, when Avery and Emmett are forced to interact with each other for the first time in years while vacationing together with the Kings at a summer house the sparks are flying right away.  The anger, the hurt, the betrayal.  But also the attraction they can’t deny.  I think these two had great chemistry!

In the end, I can’t rate this higher because I honestly hate when characters can’t sit down and have a normal conversation.  Miscommunication isn’t my favorite thing to read about.  Whether that’s a misunderstanding or a big omission and assumptions.  While I found some of that frustrating, I still breezed through reading this book and enjoyed myself.

About the Kings of Rittenhouse by Maya Hughes

The Kings of Rittenhouse series by Maya Hughes follows a group of hockey players and the women who fully ruin their emotional peace. Ruthless King by Maya Hughes is book 2 in the series, and Avery and Emmett second chance romance.

Final Thoughts

Going into Ruthless King by Maya Hughes, I was ready for Avery and Emmett to finally implode on page. But this is definitely going to work better for readers who can handle miscommunication as a major source of conflict. Still, there is something very readable about all that messy history finally boiling over, especially in a forced proximity setup where they can’t fully escape the feelings. Ruthless King by Maya Hughes is not my favorite in the series so far, but I did enjoy them as a couple.

Check out my review for the previous book in the series, Reckless King by Maya Hughes.

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