The Ritual

 2/23/25

I was so excited to see this book when I showed up at work the other day. I wasn't even expecting it to come in. The wait list for this book was pretty long and only one library in our system had it. So you know I dived into this book the moment I had the chance. I don't know much about this book other than it is a popular dark romance that has been floating around the social media. I was just wanted to read it the moment I heard it was a dark romance. It makes my dark soul sing when I get my hands on anything that is hinting it will be dark. Out of the few pages I was able to read, there is a secret society in the college that recruits young men to be come "LORDs" and becoming one of them, the world is your oyster. Our main male character is named Ryat and he has worked hard to be part of this society and he is given a mission to own a young woman named Blakely. He doesn't see that it will be difficult but there is a small problem. Blakely has a boyfriend who is also part of the secret society. But her boyfriend won't tell her anything or does anything with her and it is frustrating her. I can't wait to see what juicy stories this book holds for me.

3/15/25

I finally finished this book. Also I was wondering why authors wait until the very end to make things really interesting. Sure we were thrown some curve balls here and there, but to be honest I felt like the story just dragged on. To me the book felt like it focused more on the spice and the dark romance than it did on the actual plot. For that very reason the book only got a three out of five stars from me. If there was a little more effort into the book when it came to the plot, than maybe it would have gotten a better score. Also the character development was a little nonexistent.  I would tell you how they grew through out the story but I didn't find any of it. I'm sure it was there but I feel like Ryat is still possessive and controlling. And Blake still throws a fit when she doesn't get her way or when she finds out that someone is either lying to her or keeping secrets from her. I am curious on how the other books play out but it will be a wait until I get the second book. When your library is the only one with the book in the whole system, the line can be a long one.