[ARC REVIEW] “Kiss to Shatter” (Blairwood University #6) By: Anna. B. Doe

What is “Kiss to Shatter” by Anna B. Doe about?

Prescott Wentworth is my brother’s best friend and teammate. We hate each other. But we also can’t keep our hands off each other.

The day I met the star wide receiver, he was acting like a grumpy ass, and I was so over big, bulky men messing with my life. He was gorgeous, with wide shoulders, a chiseled jaw hidden behind a week’s worth of scruff, and the meanest glare I’ve seen in my life. So what if he was injured during a game? At least he’s alive, not that he appreciates it.

Now it’s a new school year, but some things never change.

Like the sizzling tension between Prescott and me every time we’re in the same room. But the more we fight, the more I want to shut him up. With my mouth.

Then he sees me on a date with someone else, and something in him snaps.

The deal is simple: it’s just sex, and nobody can ever find out. Especially not my brother.

But then the demons from my past come back to haunt me. The darker they become, the more I need Prescott. And I’m beginning to feel like he needs me too.

NOTE: Kiss To Shatter is book one in Shattered & Salvaged Duet. It ends on a cliffhanger. Shattered & Salvaged Duet contains dark and mature themes appropriate for readers 18+.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

Please note that this review won’t contain spoilers for this book, but will contain spoilers for previous books in the series!

We first met Jade a few years ago (at least, if you read her brother’s book right when it came out, you did) in “Kiss to Forget,” which followed her brother, Nixon, and his love interest, Yasmin. We saw some of the trauma that she was dealing with then, and the wounds are far from being completely healed now, just a few years having passed since her and Nixon’s mom died from cancer. So we’ve gotten to see glimpses of her in previous books in the series (especially the “Kiss Me Forever” novella, which sort of helps to set up some of this book), and I’m so happy that we finally have her and Prescott’s love story! Or, at least, the start of it, since this is book one in the “Kiss to Shatter” / “Kiss to Salvage” duet, which is still apart of the Blairwood University series. We’ve also seen Prescott dealing with his knee/football injury, which just seems to get worse and worse even after he’s cleared to play again.

If you’re looking for a fun, lighthearted romance, this book isn’t it. The story deals with some tough, dark topics (full list of trigger warnings for the book are on Anna’s website, but it does contain spoilers), some of which I did spoil for myself by reading the trigger warnings ahead of time. All of the books in the series have dealt with some tough circumstances for the main characters, but I think this is the darkest yet. With certain foreshadowing aspects, I could see where some of the story was going, and it was stressing me out! Never knowing when the other shoe was going to drop for either of them had me on edge, but that’s a sign of good writing. The only distracting things about the book were how expressive characters’ eyebrows were. Sometimes they were described more than once a page, and that was kind of distracting, along with the amount of times Jade would jab Prescott in the chest when they were bickering, for lack of a better term.

Since this is the first book in the duet, I’m hesitant to say much about it, because I don’t want to accidentally spoil something. I love enemies-to-lovers romance (extra emphasis on the enemies in this one), so combine that with the forbidden aspect of a brother’s best friend romance, and I’m all over it. It’s been so cool to see all of the characters grow throughout the series, and getting to see everyone from the previous books live out their happily ever afters since they’re all side characters in this book was so sweet. The Blairwood University is always a sports college romance series I like going back to whenever a new book gets released.

As for Jade and Prescott specifically, the two of them definitely put us readers through a rollercoaster of emotions, since that’s what they’re going through themselves. Still, you can’t help but root for them, and I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion of their story in “Kiss to Salvage,” which releases soon on December 9th! Huge thanks to Anna for providing me with an advanced digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review! I’ve had this book shelved on Goodreads since July of 2020, so to say I was excited to finally get the chance to read it is an understatement. The book is out now, and available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited!

As with most new adult / college romance books, I recommend this for 18+ due to some of the sexual content and the darker subject matter.

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