**DISCLAIMER: Kinda spoilery post for the Royal Elite series by Rina Kent.**
**If you don’t want spoilers, proceed at your own risk.**
**You’ve been warned.**
I did it, fam. I dove headfirst into the Rinaverse, like I had planned to do in my recent post Interconnected Multi-Series. It’s been a journey so far and lessons have been learned. So I figured I’d share them.
Before I get into detail about my thoughts and feelings about this experience, let me tell you a little bit about the universe. Here’s the current outline of the published books:
And the recommended reading order:
| Book Title | Series | Page # |
|---|---|---|
| Cruel King | Royal Elite #0 | 360 |
| Deviant King | Royal Elite #1 | 364 |
| Steel Princess | Royal Elite #2 | 326 |
| Twisted Kingdom | Royal Elite #3 | 312 |
| Black Knight | Royal Elite #4 | 328 |
| Vicious Prince | Royal Elite #5 | 304 |
| Ruthless Empire | Royal Elite #6 | 386 |
| Reign of a King | Kingdom Duet #1 | 278 |
| Rise of a Queen | Kingdom Duet #2 | 296 |
| Royal Elite Epilogue | Royal Elite #7 | 210 |
| All The Lies | Lies & Truths Duet #1 | 290 |
| All The Truths | Lies & Truths Duet #2 | 358 |
| Red Thorns | Thorns Duet #1 | 306 |
| Black Thorns | Thorns Duet #2 | 338 |
| Empire of Desire | Standalone | 368 |
| Throne of Power | Throne Duet #1 | 316 |
| Throne of Vengeance | Throne Duet #2 | 344 |
| Empire of Sin | Standalone | 358 |
| Empire of Hate | Standalone | 384 |
| Empire of Lust | Standalone | 378 |
| Vow of Deception | Deception Trilogy #1 | 298 |
| Tempted by Deception | Deception Trilogy #2 | 348 |
| Consumed by Deception | Deception Trilogy #3 | 286 |
| Blood of My Monster | Monster Trilogy #1 | 349 |
| Lies of My Monster | Monster Trilogy #2 | 304 |
| Heart of My Monster | Monster Trilogy #3 | 322 |
| God of Malice | Legacy of Gods | 468 |
| God of Pain | Legacy of Gods | 446 |
| God of Wrath | Legacy of Gods | 492 |
| God of Ruin | Legacy of Gods | 430 |
| God of Fury | Legacy of Gods | 524 |
| God of War | Legacy of Gods | 488 |
Initially I ate it up, which is surprising because “bully romance” isn’t in my reader wheelhouse. In fact, up until now, it’s been solidly in my reader doghouse; a trope that I’ve been avoiding. However, Rina includes so much plot, character backstory, suspense, and other intense subjects that the bully part of the story can be hand waved, like, yeah yeah yeah, they hate each other because something happened in the past, but WHAT HAPPENED???
The Royal Elite series introduces us to the MMCs: Levi and Aiden King (cousins), Xander Knight, Ronan Astor, and Cole Nash. They are the most popular, untouchable boys at the Royal Elite school. Each story (for the most part as Aiden gets two books) tells the tale of their personal backstory, the reasons why they “hate” their fated pairing, and concludes in an exciting, suspenseful twist, with an HEA. We are brought into the world of rich kids behaving badly, their privilege allowing them to get away with questionable life choices. The boys are fiercely protective and dominant, which, by book five is a little over the top, but maybe that’s just me. All in all, I liked the web that Rina weaved, linking a large cast of characters together and setting up future books.
All was well, so I soldiered ahead into the next series, Kingdom Duet, where we take a step back and learn about Aiden’s father, Jonathan King. We begin at Aiden and Elsa’s wedding, which is why it’s important to read the Royal Elite series first because you need that backstory to understand where we are in the timeline and how the characters fit in.
In Reign of a King, we explore Jonathan’s backstory, the death of his wife, and how the sudden emergence of her half sister (Aurora) throws Jonathan’s carefully constructed life on its ear. Rina uses the tried and true trope, forced proximity, to create a situation where Jonathan and Aurora have to interact regularly and, eventually, form a relationship. Because why else would they have reason to cross paths, you know?
It’s during this duet that I started to lose steam. The Royal Elite series dealt with themes like mental health and complex family relationships, with which I identify, so I could immerse myself in those stories well. The plots of each unfolded slowly, but at a pace that maintained the intrigue and made me want to know what would happen next. However, I think I just didn’t believe the idea that Jonathan hated Aurora for the sole reason that she wasn’t around when her sister died. When Jonathan acquires the company that Aurora spent years and years dedicating time, money, and, basically her soul to, merely as a reason to start taking her down, just didn’t vibe with me. Then the deal he brokers for Aurora to live with him and be at his beck and call 24/7 for six months, in order to earn her company back is…meh. I would have been fine with Jonathan remaining a figurehead, single, and toxic for the rest of the universe, but here we are.
In addition to the plot not being an engaging as the prior series, let’s remember, bully romance is, technically, in my doghouse. After seven books of dark, violent, alpha male tone, I craved something different. I tried taking a short break, reading other books as palette cleansers, but I think I might call this experiment. Will I return to the universe later? Hmm, maybe. The books are truly entertaining, well written, and well thought out. I commend Rina Kent to being able to keep this huge world together and making it make sense.
And I do want to learn about all of the other families that intermingle and contribute to the ultimate series, Legacy of Gods. I read a few books from this series a while ago and it’s really good, so being able to reread them with the context of the entire rest of the books would be a cool experience. As I was putting together the links for this post, I came across so many supporting resources to help immerse you in the world, such as mood boards and playlists. If there’s anything I love, it’s listening to music to enhance the reading experience. I didn’t take advantage of these when I was diving in the first time. Perhaps if I return, I’ll use some of these tools to enhance the experience. Also, Rina is still cranking out books, if you can believe it. So, yeah, I might return to the world at some point soon, but for now I’ll tackle my terrifyingly long TBR.
Have you read any Rina Kent books? Did you read all of them? Let me know below!
Author: Rina Kent
Books: See post above
Resources & Links:
Swoon 
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