- Theme: A dark, mysterious, New Adult contemporary romance centered around three influential brothers and their conqueror, a young woman with a harsh past.
- Nature of Review: The dark, sexy intrigue of The Brayshaw Boys series is way too hard to resist. I loved the first book, Boys of Brayshaw High (you can read my review here) , which was released earlier this year, and just had to continue the series to see what happened with my boys!
- Release Date: Book 1, Boys of Brayshaw High, and Book 2, Trouble at Brayshaw High, are both currently available for purchase on Amazon, Nook and Kobo. The untitled third book, as well as two spin-offs, are set to release within the next year.
- Warnings: Gang violence, assault, sexual assault, talk of past trauma including rape and abuse, dark inner monologues not suitable for young readers, as well as language and sexual content. (I found this book to be darker than the first).
“You wanted a queen, you made one. One like nobody here has ever known. Just as strong as you, just as brave… Welcome to the other side of the spectrum, Brayshaws. Your very own queen might just dethrone you… And with a Graven at her side, no less.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
*Spoilers if you haven’t read Book 1, Boys of Brayshaw High.
Picking up right after the events of BOBH, Raven has put her pride and happiness on the line to protect her Boys, and is at the mercy of the Gravens, who are making their move to take the Brayshaws down. The Boys know that there is something deeper happening, something that Raven is keeping a secret, and don’t want to believe that she betrayed them. Raven’s name has been run through the dirt, but her Boys know better than to believe gossip. They will get her back, no matter the cost.
Their ties will continue to be tested as the head of the Brayshaw name, the boys’ father, pulls major strings from behind bars. But if its up to him, he won’t be in jail much longer, and his Boys will be fighting a war that doesn’t have Raven on the winning end.
In the second book of the gang romance series that has captured the love of readers around the world, the heartwarming relationships between our Boys and Raven grow even stronger, through trials that have them second-guessing everything they thought they knew. They may have to be strong in order to survive the betrayals headed their way, but they will have to stand together to overcome the revelations that threaten to shatter their kingdom.
“Go on, play your games, baby. I’ve got more moves than you can handle.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting after BOBH. I knew that I was going to be hella pissed after that cliffhanger with the Gravens, and I was right. The first 15% of this book was so angsty, but I’m not going to lie: it was kind of fun. We really got to see Raven and the Boy’s relationship tested during this time, in a way we never seen before. We got to see how they truly feel when they are knocked down and hurt, when they think they were blindsided by one of their own. And they still wanted to love and trust each other, no matter what, and their relationships are just so god-damn beautiful.
“She understands… how family runs deeper than blood.”
I could probably gush about their relationships all day, and how I love the way they just mesh together so perfectly, despite their awful histories and inner darkness. But I have to move on, cause lets be real: the first 15% held NO FIGHT to how the rest of the book attacked them. I can’t rant too much, cause I’m awful for spoilers when I rant. But I’ll say this: rethink everything, trust no one, and fucking be ready to fight in book 3. Cause by the end of TABH, our King and Queen are going to have to play one hell of a game to come out on top. But I know they can do it.
“The second he touched you when he knew you belonged to me, the second he tried to take you from me he sealed his fucking fate. I wanted to ruin him before on principle. Now I’ll destroy his entire fucking world and everyone connected to it.”
Other than the mind-blowing, shit-dropping secrets that were revealed, I loved TABH for it’s honesty on the characters. We all know that no one in Brayshaw is perfect, and that Meagan Brandy knows how to make diverse characters who are full of motive and angst and sass and grit. Part of why people love the books is because of the completely imperfect harsh reality our characters live in, much like our own, but they stand up and fight their problems head on with so much bad-assery I wish I had. This world made our characters who they are, and TABH dug even deeper into their pasts in ways I never imagined. There are so many triggers due to this, so much sadness and hate and anger, but we see our characters more vulnerable and even more deeply connected than in book 1 because of it.
“So you’ll share your world, but not your mind?”
“My mind is dark, baby.”
“And?”
His mouth comes down, sliding across mine before he steps back, releasing me. “And you’re afraid of the dark.”
There’s not much more I can say without going into a rant, and maybe with book 3 I’ll do a rant, but for now, I’ll leave you with this. If you love dark romances, if you love high school contemporaries, if you need a love story with more than just happy endings, a book with so many levels of secrets and lies, where the characters are thrown into situations you wouldn’t wish on anybody, Brayshaw is for you. I honestly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did, but I wish I could go back and be surprised by this series all over again. Of course I can’t, but you can. 😉
“He has no idea what she means to us, no fucking clue what we’ll do to protect what’s ours. And Raven. Is. Ours.”
*PS: I AM SO STOKED FOR THE SPINOFFS! ROYCE GETS HIS OWN BOOK! CAP GETS HIS OWN BOOK! ALL MY BOYS GET A BOOK!!!!
**PPS: Just fyi: I feel like Boys of Brayshaw might be kind of confusing to people to haven’t read it, but it is not a harem novel (not that there is anything wrong with harem novels, but I know some people don’t like them, and this is a 1-1 romance, for the most part😉), nor is it distastefully written (I want to make that clear due to all the triggers). Just wanna throw that out there.
Bookish Bex 