I have been completely buried in this universe for almost the entire month of June. After ranting about the ending of Zodiac Academy Book 4, and how was I supposed to go off an read an entire other 5 book series??

Well, it turns out that I freaking loved it. I would say that I enjoyed all of these more than any of the Zodiac Academy books so far. Each of the main characters are so relatable in their own ways. The people we are, the people we could have been, the people we will be, all wrapped up in a sexy ass package. And when I say sexy, I mean sexy AF. These are spicy FOR DAYS. It’s also now makes sense why all of the ZA books have a warning that they are not reverse harem when that is exactly what Ruthless Boys is.

The spicy scenes are so hot, 10/10, would read again. The mystery of who killed Elise’s brother unraveling slowly across all five books was not as annoying as I thought it was going to be because the rest of the story was so engaging and thrilling. The mystery of King, the mystery of who killed Gareth, what would happen with all of the gang violence across the city, how would Elise stay alive through all of this, there is just so much going on, and I love pretty much every moment.

People I hated: Elise’s mom is awful. Zero stars. Old Sal? Also awful, -1000000000 stars.

People I loved: Leon. Oh my stars (to borrow a phrase from the books), he is open and loving a god damn delight. He has a ton of growth through out the series and I absolutely love his golden retrieverness. He’s funny, charming, and a pain in the ass, absolutely perfect.

Elise stayed a little flat for me, and I feel that of the five of them, her character growth was the least impressive. It all happened right at the end, but everyone else changed over the course of the series in larger ways. I feel like even Eugene had bigger growth than Elise did.

I really did not want King to turn out who they ended up being. I was so incredibly disappointed in that. And I’m surprised that Elise didn’t flip out on adrenaline and kill them immediately. Though I guess that would make the books a lot shorter…

The fifth book had a few too many epilogues, but at the same time I really enjoyed the peeks into the future for the 5 main folks in this series.

There are so many smaller points that I want to say that I enjoyed or hated, but I also don’t want to give any spoilers. So, I will end on this: The stick, and the resulting house, are beautiful.

If you like spicy fantasy, read this series. You don’t even need to read the rest of Zodiac Academy if you don’t want to. I will be reading this series again, I have such a book hangover from this.