Series: Hannaford Prep
Author: J. Bree
Genre: New Adult RH
Reading Order & Individual Ratings
- Just Drop Out - 4 // 5 stars
- Make Your Move - 4.5 // 5 stars
- Play the Game - 5 // 5 stars
- To the End - 5 // 5 stars
Overall Rating - 4.75 // 5 stars
After surviving foster care and a high school that breeds gang members and drug dealers I've finally found my path to freedom: emancipation and a full ride scholarship at the ultra-exclusive Hannaford Prep.
All I have to do is survive.
After attracting the wrong sort of attention from the richest boy in the country, pissing off the hottest guy in school and being humiliated in front of my favorite rock idol I am now the target of the most popular, and cruelest, group in the freshman class.
They want my blood.
They can have it.
I'm stronger than any spoilt rich kid.
But can I survive the game the Juniors have started with me as the goal? Now every boy at Hannaford wants to have me.
All except the three I want.
Ash, Harley, and Blaise don't care about the game, all they care about is destroying me.
This series has been on my TBR for a few years but I'd never taken the plunge until now. It started because I was reading one of the author's other series, The Bonds That Tie, and realized both series were by the same author. I'm a big mood reader nowadays so I just kept thinking about it. One day I just picked it up and here we are.
The Hannaford Prep series is set in the larger book world of Mounts Bay. This particular series is a bully RH romance, which is a genre that you either love or hate. I happen to love it, of course. There's a spin-off/sequel trilogy, a prequel duet, and another series currently in progress as well with even more books planned. All in all, there's a lot of content to explore if you like this initial series.
I don't want to get into spoilers so I'll have to keep it a bit vague discussing the series as a whole. However, one thing I can say that this is a new all-time favorite series and I'm absolutely obsessed with this world and these characters. I've binged this four book series plus five of the spin-offs in the last few weeks and it's been so much fun! I'm already excited to reread the books in the future.
The main thing I love about this series is the characters. Our main character Lips, specifically, is quite a fun FMC to read from. She's been through hell and she's flawed but she's also a badass and you can't help but root for her. The other main characters don't have POVs but are just as important and main-facing as Lips is. I must say, the found-family vibes in this series are ELITE. Avery, Blaise, Harvey, and Ash own as much of my heart as Lips does.
One thing I often find with why choose romances is that the love interests are almost carbon copies of each other. My favorite RH books are the ones where this isn't the case...where the love interests are fleshed out and you could tell them apart without their names being mentioned. But I could tell you which one of Lips' boys is speaking just by how they're written. And I love that.
I could talk for hours and hours about how much I love the characters. Truly, as addicting as the plot is, it wouldn't mean anything without the love I have for the characters. Characters make or break a book for me and they absolutely made this world one I didn't want to leave.
When it comes to plot, I don't necessarily think it has to be realistic in regards to our real world. Rather, a good plot needs to make sense within the world the author has created. The plot in this series is absolutely insane but not that unrealistic. If there's one thing I know about J. Bree after reading 14 books by her in the last six months is that her plots are insane and complex and addicting as hell. This series is so much more than just boarding school drama and romance. It's hard to talk about without spoiling past the first book but that is really just the tip of the iceberg. The things our characters go through and have to fight against...it's just so much more than a romance series. It's definitely dark at times and with it's fair share of violence. But it's addicting and heart wrenching and I couldn't put it down.
At the time of writing this review, I've already finished the Queen Crow trilogy (which is a MFM sequel set right after the events of this series following a different POV character) and the Butcher of the Bay duet (which is a prequel duet set before and right at the beginning of this series following yet another different POV character). I absolutely loved both and there will be reviews coming for those later in the month.
I still have to read Angel Unseen, which is the first in a spin-off series set in the same world but following different main characters (though I believe familiar characters do make appearances), but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I kind of want to save it for when I really am missing this world. There's supposedly more books coming in the future but with no set release date or news.
All in all, this is a new all-time favorite series for me. I can't wait to pick up physical copies of all of the books and display them on my shelves. I'm very much looking forward to rereading in the future and annotating my copies and really just diving even deeper in to these books. They're so much fun and so addicting and the characters truly have my heart.
P.S. This is a bully RH series which means there's one main character who ends up with multiple love interests. If that's not your thing, you might not enjoy this series. If you're interested, I also highly recommend checking the trigger warnings before reading: abuse (physical, psychological - both present/past), attempted rape, cursing, drugs, violence, blood/gore, drinking/smoking.
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