Black Knight

Oh, how I have loved this series and I have to say that this book completely broke me. So much emotional angst that I couldn’t help but feel lost and heartbroken right along with them. Such a great series with fantastic writing and absolutely amazing narration.

#AudiobookObsessionReviewer

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Emotionally raw

Kimberly and Xander. This book is more than a romance, it's relevant to our times and understated to say the least. Rina Kent has a talent for bringing this type of story to our attention. While it resides in the bully trope, it brings out so many more truths in our youth. Kimberly and Xander have been friends since birth, until one day, Xander just dumps her and begins to treat her terribly. Not only does she deal with this with her best friend, but her mother incessantly degrades her. Xander has secrets, ones that are tearing him apart. And together, years later, these two find their way through the darkness. It deals with depression, addiction, love, degradation, and so many more issues. Kent rips our hearts out and slowly puts them back together and creates a beautiful love story. It is simply fantastic.

Narrated by Keira Stevens and Shane East, the story is extraordinary. These two breathe life into the characters. Stevens as Kimberly is realistic, letting us feel the gut wrenching pain she feels. Her emotions are raw and we know it. East finds the heart of Xander, and gives us his agony. Then the two turn it around and we can feel the love. It's an amazing listen and one you cannot do without.

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4.5 Stars

4.5*

I received an ARC of this from the author and her team and I volunteered to leave an unbiased review.

This had me up until 4am. I couldn't put it down.

I've been on quite a Rina Kent binge of late and when I'm obsessed with the boys and girls at RES, especially Kimberly and Xander. I've been desperate for their story and MAN OH MAN did Rina do me right.

I may have only been reading her stories for less than 5 months, but I can quickly put her on the list of authors I trust with any genre of romance, but especially bully romances.

There are triggers in this so look for warnings and be careful. Rina don't pull no punches.

But I loved every word of this even if I had my heart in my throat a bunch of times. I've read this twice now and it comes even more to life on the audiobook. The duel narration is a great choice for this genre of book. I'm really getting addicted to Shane East on audio.

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Really great story sucked me in totally

Oh goodness the twists and turns in this book, I loved it! Shane East and Keira Stevens do such a good job with the narration I forgot that it was only the two of them in my ears and I got totally sucked in. I was there with the characters all the way through mostly shouting things at them as I got so involved. A really great listen.

Flawless performance, interesting story

I've been binging this series and this story follows Kim, Elsa's (the heroine from the last book) best friend and Xander, one of the 4 Horsemen. They were best friends when they were young but then something happened to make them mortal enemies. At least, according to Xander. There were a few twists and turns in this story and overall, it kept my attention pretty solidly. And the audiobook, narrated by Shane East and Keira Stevens, who narrate the other books in the series, are beyond fantastic. I really loved their ability to play multiple characters and infuse the story with emotion. Truly, I have been enjoying the stories themselves but they are elevated by the narration.

AudiobookObsession, AudiobookObsessionReviewer

Dark Bully Romance

Black Knight by Rina Kent is a dark high school bully romance that I listened to on audio narrated by Shane East and Keira Stevens. This is the forth book in the Royal Elite series.

This book does come with a warning “This is a high school bully romance, mature new adult, and contains visceral mental health situations that some listeners can find triggering.”

I absolutely love this series! Rina is an amazing writer! She pulls me into the story and makes me fall in love with the characters. I loved the relationship between Kimberly and Xander. I can’t wait to dive into the next book in the series Vicious Prince so I can get Ronan and Teal’s story.

Shane and Keira did an amazing job on the narration! I absolutely love duet narration it just brings the story to life.

I would highly recommend this book if you love dark romance or bully romance.

AudiobookObsession
AudiobookObsessionReviewer
AudiobookObsessionVIPReviewer

Great chemistry

This book has great well built characters with lots of chemistry. The storyline is full of wtf moments that will have you hooked. A brilliant performance from both Keira and Shane.

Emotional and angsty!

Emotional, angsty, unforgettable.

I was so curious about Xander and Kimberly’s dynamics whilst reading Aiden and Elsa’s story. I wasn’t sure how their story would play out, the push and pull tension was there even from the outside and Rina Kent DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!

I loved the sweet build up and oh how my heart crashed when the first wave hit.

Don’t we all just want to be seen? Even when we hide our true selves?

“ 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳*%𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.“

Rina Kent did not let up- she was relentless with the rawness of her bared emotions- her angsty heart wrenching words battered me, wave after wave, I was pulled under and pulled apart... left drowning in my own blood...

“𝗜𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳*%𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲, 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗫𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿.“

I clung to every bit of debris -anything- just for a measure of hope and an emotional life raft of sorts.

For both Kimberly and Xander, their broken pieces cut me soul deep- ALL THE FEELS never felt more appropriate. I saw them, and I loved their journey and such a scarred and beautiful story with a HEA.

The narrators did a fantastic job with this book.

*Black Knight is Book 4 in the Royal Elite Series. It can be read as a standalone but it is recommended that you read the prior interconnected books for added effect.

** Again, this is a Dark Bully Romance. Please read the possible trigger warnings by the author.

5 I SEE YOU STARS

Not For The Faint-hearted 💔

This is my very first read and listen from Ms. Kent. I received an audiobook giveaway through Facebook Shane East official fan group Shaneiaks.

Black Knight is book 4 of the Royal Elite Series and can be read on its own. I did not read the previous books from the series and I do not feel I missed anything jumping into this book. I did not know what to expect in terms of writing style but I am aware of the author’s note on the ebook that she wrote darker stories that can be upsetting and disturbing. And I agreed with the author that this book is not for the faint of heart, it takes on a lot of triggers: depression, eating disorder and suicide to name a few. I wish the author’s note is included in the audiobook too.

Personally young adult, high school bully romance is not my go to book. My only reason I chose this book was because it was narrated by my favourite narrator Shane East. New-to-me narrator Keira Stevens and Mr. East narrations were exceptionally good. They were so good that I find it harder to listen to Chapter 19 to 20, I had to take a pause before continuing with this book.

Overall you will enjoy this book if you’re into YA, HS bully romance and you don’t find dark stories with triggers upsetting. This is a well-written story by Ms. Kent.

Loved this story from a new-to-me author

If you love dark high school bully romance, I have no doubt you will love Black Knight! The characters are both messed up, their circumstances are both messed up, but when all of that fades away they are beautifully messed up together.

Let's play a game of me vs. story:

ME: Rina Kent is a new-to-me author.
STORY: She's a very good author!

ME: I have not read the other books in the series.
STORY: It's a stand alone and does not leave you feeling like you missed out on something if you haven't read the others. Carry on!

ME: I generally don't read YA stories, mostly because I have a 17-yr old son and I can't help but picture him and his friends. Ew!!
STORY: Xander and Kimberly aren't your average teenagers. They live in a world of eff'ed up British royalty that provides for a great playground of eff'ed up scenes.

ME: I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Shane East and Keira Stevens. They are fabulous narrators!
STORY: What she said. But she forgot to mention the audiobook is DUET!!

ME: It kind of annoys me when a book doesn't come across as a "full package" in it's branding. The characters are 17/18 yrs old. The cover model is way past that age. Keira Stevens can get away with sounding like a teenager, but Shane East... ummm... nope.
STORY: Reality doesn't sell books. Put a teenager on the cover and you get limited interest. Put on a hot AF cover model and the readers will be so busy drooling they won't care how old he is. He's hot AF and he appeals to all ages! Keira IS fabulous. And you can't go wrong with Shane East because he's hot AF too, and I don't just mean his voice. *swoon* And thank goodness he's NOT actually 17, amIright?!

ME: I was REEEALLLY looking forward to hearing Shane East say my name over and over and over. And he did, but not enough. Xander uses nicknames for Kimberly a lot, too. Next time, dear author, pleeease include some dialogue along the lines of, "Kimberlie (oops, I mean 'Kimberly') you are so fucking hot. Everything about you is beautiful. Kimberlie/y, you are the most amazing woman and I can't imagine my life without you. I love you, Kimberlie." (Oops, again with the mis-spelling.) If you could write that kind of dialogue for Shane to whisper into my ears, I will buy every book you ever wrote and all the ones in the future, too. Deal?
STORY: Ummmm.... yeah.... well... I'll get back to you on that one.

STORY: So, cut to the bottom line. Would you recommend me?
ME: Absolutely!!

Note: Thanks go to the author for providing me a free audio version for review. My review is unbiased and I have had no other communication her or her PA.