God of Ruin (Legacy of Gods, #4) by Rina Kent Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of God of Malice, God of Pain, and God of Wrath on my blog, now! Reader discretion is advised.

This boy is crazy!!! I should not be surprised considering the line up of men Rina Kent has supplied us in this series, but good grief it actually makes me laugh when every single male lead in these books brags about their sociopathic or psychopathic diagnosis like it is a badge of honor. Landon is no exception to this Rina Kent-character trait, and he is just as twisted as the rest of them - maybe not as crazy as Killian, but he certainly earned his title. The things that came out of Landon's mouth would genuinely make Jesus weep, my jaw was on the floor. I literally felt like I was the one being degraded instead of Mia. Honestly I should have seen this behavior coming from a mile away considering how Landon acts in the previous books, but good grief the man has got a mouth on him. Which is ironic considering Mia literally cannot speak.

Mia has gone through something traumatic over a decade ago and since then has not been able to speak - using sign language to communicate with everyone, her friends and family learned how to sign to help her adjust. Landon becomes no exception to this rule and learns sign language to properly communicate with Mia, which only goes to show how dedicated he was - or obsessed - to inserting himself into her life. Considering the trauma Mia has gone through, I can only imagine how it impacted her - I do wish Kent spent more time exploring it instead of making it this huge reveal at the end of the book, but I guess it would have revealed too much to readers if spaced out throughout this installment.

Y'all I literally cannot believe what Landon and Mia are getting up to like my body literally had a visceral reaction to reading some of their moments together. I fear for this girl and the absolute ringer Landon puts her through at every chance he gets. All of Kent's male leads seem to love lurking around and snatching up the girls they are interested in to do whatever they want to do to them at a moment's notice. This is low-key kidnapping!! The way I would be putting out Amber Alerts every single chance I got if I was a character in this book would have the Citizen app go into overdrive. It is hilarious that this is such a common occurrence for everyone that no one bats an eye on why girls suddenly disappearing would be anything but concerning. Landon and Mia's communication seemed to be the best out of all the couples so far, so I was grateful there was no real miscommunication happening in this book.

Once again I am tormented by the parent perspectives but at least they are only ever a few chapters. Maybe one day I will actually go back and read all of those series and trilogies, but for now I am solely sticking to the Legacy of Gods series until I have finished them completely. I am sure their chapters are more entertaining for those who read the parent books, but I find they typically only add character development for the male leads and that the female leads tend to not get as explored as I would have liked. On that note, it also feels like all of Kent's leading men are little copies of each other, just with slightly different interests and the insanity dial adjusted. I wish they were more distinguishable and not blending together - they each have one or two characteristics that stand out, but for the most part I am just seeing these little psycho men run around terrorizing college campuses on the regular.

I actually enjoyed Nikolai's presence in this book more than I was enjoying Landon's presence at one point, and Landon is literally the lead here. Nikolai's characteristics and personality really shined through here in terms of highlighting how violent and impulsive he was, which I am sure was a set up considering he is one of the leads in the next installment. I am not going to lie, the only reason why I started this series was so that I could read God of Fury and not be confused on who the couples were or what happened in their books. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what Kent has in store for him in the next installment.

You can add God of Ruin on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter (X), and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!

God of Wrath (Legacy of Gods, #3) by Rina Kent Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of God of Malice and God of Pain on my blog, now! Reader discretion is advised.

Someone needs to lock me up. I kept telling myself that I would not go down this road again and yet I continue to place holds on Libby and wait for weeks to read this series. I genuinely did not know what to expect from this third installment, with the only information I had going into it being that Jeremy was absolutely bonkers. I did not think we would encounter someone crazier than Killian Carson, and yet Jeremy very much came close - the man truly is unhinged in the most jaw-dropping ways possible. I literally would like Jeremy's actions would finally reach their limit, and then the next chapter would have him doing the most unhinged things on the planet.

I am not even ashamed to say that this was definitely the best book so far - I was on the edge considering how much I did not enjoy God of Pain, but this honestly really turned the series around for me. Sure, the plot was still all over the place and this book was basically driven by smut, but that hit the spot for me in this moment and I was living for it. There was not a moment while reading this where my jaw was not literally on the floor. Cecily and Jeremy's relationship was unexpected on Cecily's part, and watching her literally drag this man around was hilarious, we love women in male-dominated fields!

Once again, I absolutely cannot stand the parent perspective chapters in these books - yes, they only last about two or three chapters, but they low-key interrupt the flow of the story for me. Maybe it is because I did not read the other million books Kent has written before the Legacy of Gods series, but it does not add anything to the pairings' stories when I have no clue who these people are. On that note, I do like all of the callbacks from the other books in this series as the book goes on - when I first started this series, I expected the books to move on in time-order. I was surprised to see a majority of events actually overlap throughout the books, and definitely recommend readings these in order to get the full effect.

The smut was off the wall in this book. I literally do not think I have the words to properly express the series of emotions and jaw-dropping moments I experienced while this story progressed. Jeremy Volkov is out of his mind. This book definitely rivals Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton and The Ritual by Shantel Tessier when it comes to the insanity of male leads and the extremes they are willing to go to get the girl. You literally cannot read this book in public. This was a 200% improvement compared to the second installment of this series, and considering Jeremy and Cecily actually had insane chemistry was definitely the driving force. I still think it is absolutely bonkers that these characters act this way but that is the beauty of fiction.

I truly think you have to make it past the first two books in this series to actually get to the good stuff (and deserve a medal at that point) and see some actual plot take place. Cecily was put through the ringer a number of times, both in flashbacks and in current day, not to mention the emotional turmoil Jeremy was suffering through during his perspective chapters. The only good thing that came from his father's chapter was Jeremy actually working through some of his issues instead of taking it out on everyone else or holding a grudge.

Maybe I was a touch harsh on my last review, but this book certainly made up for that - and honestly boosted my overall feelings regarding this series. I was worried that this book would not push me to keep going, but instead I placed my Libby holds for the rest of the series as I was still reading God of Wrath.

You can add God of Wrath on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter (X), and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!

God of Pain (Legacy of Gods, #2) by Rina Kent Review

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of God of Malice on my blog, now!

My TikTok For You Page has been harassing me to continue on with this series, and I have finally succumbed to the constant onslaught of videos. I love a good dark college romance, but it actually cracks me up that these twenty-year-old boys think they are the scariest individuals to walk the planet... like you are glorified frat boys at best. It will never fail to make me laugh when the male lead of the book claims he terrorizes their university campus and it turns out that they are not even legal drinking age in the United States.

Annika is out here locked in the Heathens mansion during initiation, meanwhile everyone and their mother is out there either terrorizing freshmen or somehow finding their soulmate. That does not stop her from having some...fun...that night - when a masked man shows up in her room and causes a curiosity that she just cannot shake, she takes her interest into her own hands and sets up to basically annoying the man into hanging out with her. You could tell that the banter was there on her side, but Creighton, our leading man of few words, would turn that banter itno a punish faster than Annika could shut her mouth.

Annika and Creighton are yapper4silent core - she does not shut up and he barely says a word - a match made in heaven. "Little violet," however, is one of the worst nicknames I have ever come across, and the fact that Creighton uses it basically every other sentence started to drive me insane. It was interesting to see the backstory on why Creighton does not speak so much, and the fact that other characters were so impressed that he actually would have conversation with Annika showed how much he cared about her. I do wish that he did not use silencing Annika as a way to get what he wanted from her - a majority of the time, it felt as though he knew he could do whatever he wanted with her by threatening her every single time she spoke.

The plot of this book... I will not lie, did not have me in a chokehold, or even a tight grip, to be honest. I tore through this book mostly because the chapters are so short and you can fly right through it like it is nothing, but other than that, I was not on the edge of my seat waiting to see what highs and lows would hit Annika and Creighton -- they seemed to do a pretty good job at rustling each other's feathers on their own. It felt as though every character was out to destroy their relationship - with the exception of a few, there was at least one point for everyone that made them not want Annika and Creighton to be together - it got old, fast.

I personally did not enjoy Annika's characterization - she felt a little all over the place. She would either be so rigid during one chapter, and then do whatever someone told her to do the next. While she did have some vulnerable moments that took her out of these polar opposites, I just could not connect to her character. When it came to Creighton, I was more so amused with the way he viewed himself as this mighty, controlling man, when in reality it was mostly a protective front as he worked to seek revenge for past events. The spicier scenes were not anything special, and it honestly felt a little recycled after the first couple times.

While this series shows promise, I wish I was able to lock into the story more and improve the rating from God of Malice - after over 500 pages, I should have felt some sort of connection to Creighton and Annika. Instead, I am viewing it as a stepping stone in the series as I continue on and see what relationship Kent has in store for us next. If you are looking for a fast-paced mildly forbidden romance, God of Pain could be your next read.

You can add God of Pain on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter (X), and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!