[ 656 ]

[katara]

Dear Reader (Devil's Backbone #1) by Tate James

Genre:
Dark Romance, Dark Academia, Reverse Harem, Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Contemporary, New Adult, Kindle Unlimited, Dulogoy/Trilogy

Publication Date:
May 20, 2025

Page Numbers:
368

Read/Finished Date:
June 2nd

Rating:
4/5

Premise:

Dear Reader,

You want my advice? Never look a gift horse in the mouth. You don’t want to see the rotten teeth.

In this case, the gift is a scholarship to attend the prestigious Neveah University. The rotten teeth? Well, they came in the form of my brand new stepbrother and his little cohort of entitled, arrogant best friends. Four dangerously handsome and stupidly wealthy men who made up their minds about me long before we met. Men who are used to getting everything they want no matter what the price.

I was a big girl, I could ignore them. Then came the secret society hazing. Kidnappings. Crazy parties. Insane stunts. Mindblowing prizes. Even so, I could handle myself... until the secret and stolen moments with men I had no business falling for. It was enough to give a girl a nightmares.

Because, dear reader, this was only the beginning of my ordeal with the Devil’s Backbone Society. How do I know?

I read about it...

Review:

Wait…wait…WHAT!

You can't drop a cliffhanger like that and expect us to hold on until July! That should be illegal! Our female lead, Ashley, has received a golden opportunity to attend Nevaeh University on a scholarship to further her studies. While she embraces this chance, she also knows her stepbrother and his friends will be at the same school, but can she ignore them? When she’s chosen to become a member of the Devil's Backbone, a diary from a deceased girl falls into her hands, warning her to stay away not only from her stepbrother and his friends but also from the DBS.

This is my first book by Ms. Tate James, and I adored it. I devoured this novel in no time, hardly remembering to come up for air until the last page. I loved the storyline—suspenseful and edge-of-your-seat, keeping me turning pages until the end. The characters are wonderful. My only issue was with Ashley; while she has a "take no nonsense" attitude, she completely loses her senses around the boys. That’s my only complaint about the novel.

I will be picking up book two next month because I have to know how this whole thing is going to play out, especially with the way book one ended.

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Lure by Heather Long
Forced Proximity by Jaymin Eve &Tate James