read in 2025
I haven't read many books in this genre as I tend to like a happier/sweet/funny kind of reads, this has elements from the darker side of life as it follows a teenage girl Cadence who has had to grow up fast after her mother commits suicide and leaves her and her sister to fend for themselves not wanting to be separated from her sister she works multiple jobs after school to pay the bills... they haven't gone into the foster care system because her and her sister find out that they have an older half brother who has been given custody of the girls but seeing them as a burden he allows them to stay where they were living to continue on with their lives.
Cadence is a talented musician but struggles with stage fright the only way she can play is when she dresses for the part putting in contacts and wearing a red wig she feels safe from being seen. It is through her talents that led her to getting a scholarship to a ritzy school filled with a bunch of spoiled rich kids who she doesn't fit in with and don't want her there... but she knows that graduating from this school can lead to more opportunities for her and her sister and she has already been through so much no one at this school can break her.
This is where our MMC Dutch enters the picture he and his 2 brothers rule the school they are talented musicians and recently have returned from a world tour their father is a famous musician as well. Dutch and his father don't get along well but it isn't brought up too much throughout the book. Dutch and his brothers are looking to get a close friend (Sol) back into school they all did something wrong but he took the blame for it and got kicked out of school now they haven't heard from him since and are all worried about what happened to him there is an on going subplot to try to find out what happened to him.
Cadence runs into Dutch and the other Kings pretty much right away at school they are mean to her --> and Dutch (mostly) does everything he can to get her to leave on her own... it turns out that his friend Sol can't return to the school even if he does find him because Cadence took his spot on scholarship.
There were elements that were overly dramatic to this story like how Cadence's alter ego with the red wig has enchanted the mighty Dutch to the point where he is pretty much instantly infatuated with her... not realizing that she is his nemesis that he wants out of the school. There is also an unknown secret character they call Jinx that knows everyone at the schools secrets and is willing to spill them all for a high enough price.
Cadence and Dutch spend the book in a love/hate relationship where one minute he is sweet to her and one minute he is sour... he also has a few run ins with her alter ego that got heated but I found it hard to believe that he didn't recognize her when she was only wearing a wig... it's like Clark Kent wearing glasses no one knows he's superman.
There is no spice in this book only kisses and mentions of more... Dutch continues to get with other willing girls at the school while fighting his feelings over who he really wants Cadence/the red head (still same person) and sometimes he is getting with a groupie immediately after meeting with our FMC... 👎
When Cadence gets notice that she might be losing her home she feels like the world around her is caving in will she be able to raise enough money to keep her and her sister together? Will their brother step up to help? Will she be able to stay at the school when Dutch and his minions are doing everything they can to get her thrown out for reasons unknown to her? I still don't understand why Dutch and his brothers think that getting Cadence kicked out will make room for their friend to come back he was expelled from the school for a reason... they really like to throw around their money and power but since they are still teenagers it just felt to me like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
The story kept me turning pages but I had troubles truly liking the MMC... and felt terrible that our FMC who was already struggling when the MMC had everything in life was treating her this poorly. I'm still going to give the next in the series a try because the book ended on a cliffhanger with several unexplained situations so maybe will be explained over the next few books?
*bully romance *high school *rich rock star MMC *Musician (both MMC + FMC) *hidden identity
*virgin FMC *player MMC *cliffhanger *MMC with a zillion red flags --> run girl *enemies/more
*Death of parent (suicide) *drug use mentioned (mother)
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