Okay, let me preface this review by saying that I have a serious love/hate relationship with this book. Everyone but Callum, Ella, and Ella's best friend (whose name escapes me at the moment, but she was pretty cool nonetheless) sucked monkey butt. Ella was the star of the show and I admired her strength and willingness to put up with all the crap thrown at her. She really only blew up and/or broke down a handful of times, so I give her credit for keeping such a strong face against the wackjobs of Astor Prep and the Royals. 
 Oh, the Royal boys. They are one heck of a piece of work. I'm just going to say this right out that I did not care for any of them, and in the end, my level of care only raised to about 10%. I honestly just couldn't get over the way they treated Ella and it wasn't until well past halfway when they started to ease up, and that's after Ella basically said she didn't want to butt heads with them anymore. So they just conceded because she decided to let it go. I would've respected them more if they gradually saw her awesomeness and it affected them in a way that cracked through their douche shells. But alas, it did not happen the way I had hoped. I can't really explain the exact details without spoiling it, but suffice it to say that I expected more from them if they wanted to win me over. 
 Point blank: 
 - The twins (the youngest) barely speak more than a few sentences the whole book, so I barely knew them and they just seemed like jackass clowns to me. They were very one dimensional. 
 - Gideon (the oldest) has something going on, but we don't know what, and I didn't see enough of him to get a good reading. Plus, just when I thought he might be okay, the lesser of the evil/messed up Royals, he pulls that stunt at the end. Done. 
 - Easton (middle child with total middle child syndrome) was a show-off and a playboy, but not in a good way. He was very lewd and vulgar, especially to Ella, and despite him showing his vulnerabilities and weaknesses later on, he was way more trouble than he's worth. 
 - And Reed...he kind of reminded me so much of this other character who just makes a lot of noises (grunts, growls, etc) and brooding faces, but he's "super hot" and has "that way about him" that is supposed to make the MC (and the reader) fall for him despite his asswipe tendencies. Yeah, not buying it! 
 And don't even get me started the creeps at Astor Prep! 
 So why then, would I give this book such a high rating and even want to continue with the series?! Despite the less-than-stellar characters, that drama seriously drew me in. I found myself glued to the pages and reading this bad boy every chance I could get. It's like watching a terrible TV show with characters that you can't stand, yet you love to watch it anyways. A guilty pleasure, if you will. That drama was so damn entertaining, I couldn't help myself. And it just begs to be repeated, I loved Ella so much! She's a force to be reckoned with and couple that with Watt's captivating writing style, you can see why I'm so conflicted. 
 My final thought is, if you like drama and a strong female lead, then you'll at least like, if not love this. Just don't expect a swoonworthy male worth a lick in this book, because there wasn't one, in my opinion. Yes, damaged guys need love, too, but there's a limit to how much damage (and in what way) I can take. All I'm saying is they better make up for their craptastic personalities in the next book, or they won't get no love from me!