The Gilded Sovereign #1
Cruel War
By: Dani René
Genre: Contemporary, YA/NA, Enemies To Lovers, Romance
Release Date: September. 05, 2019
Blurb-
I hate her. I want Dahlia to pay. Tynewood is my town, and she doesn’t belong here.
While rage fuels me, my blood burns with desire.
I want vengeance, and I’ll get it.
No. Matter. What.
We’re on opposite sides of the battlefield — a poised flower, a raging warrior, and a mountain of secrets between us.
I knew he was bad news the moment I laid eyes on him.
Anger and lust swirl together when he looks at me, but I don’t know why.
War has commenced, and as secrets unfold, it looks like the battle has only just begun. He wants to hurt me. He loves to see me cry.
What Ares Lancaster doesn’t realize is, I’m not afraid of the darkness inside him.
Lies. Revenge. Bloodshed.
When war comes to a head, nobody is safe from the destruction it leaves in its wake.
From USA Today Bestselling Author Dani René comes a new adult romance filled with lies, secrets, and steam!
Add Cruel War to your Goodreads TBR: http://bit.ly/CW-TBR
My Review
Cruel War by Dani René is book number one in René’s latest series, The Gilded Sovereign! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to BETA read this one as well as receive an ARC and OMG ya’ll! This is one series I can NOT wait to continue! Dani René is one of my top one-click authors but Cruel War, WOW! I had high expectations for this book and René delivered!!! Told in dual POV we start off with Ares & Dahlia’s story.
“Welcome to the Gilded Sovereign”
After a few terrible events, Dahlia Milton moves to the small town of Tynewood where her father and his family are originally from. Thankfully, she’s not completely alone as her best friend Rukaiya and Rukaiya’s father which just so happens to be Dahlia’s father’s old partner on the force have also moved to Tynewood with her.
But being the new girl in a new town, and a new school isn’t easy for Dahlia. Especially when Ares Lancaster, the young God of the school and the town, sets his sights on her.
Ares is determined to make Dahlia’s life a living hell and she has no freakin clue why.
“I don’t give a shit how innocent she is. I want to dirty up her pristine appearance.”
There’s a whole lot of secrets going on and Dahlia has no idea that she’s just gotten herself into a cruel war by moving to the small, quaint town of Tynewood.
Ares Lancaster has recently taken his place as a part of the Gilded Sovereign. The Gilded Sovereign is a secret society that Ares and his family, as well as many other rich and powerful families, have been a part of for centuries.
“War. Love. Life. Death. Wealthy. Stylish. Powerful. Regal. Deviant. Destructive. Dangerous. Deadly. By blood. By oath. Four young men will take charge as their fathers step down. They’ll be the future leaders—heartless and cold. Nothing can change their fate, and nobody can stop their path. This is their destiny.”
Now that Dahlia is in town, Ares plans to use his ‘little flower’ to enact revenge for something that Dahlia’s father did in the past. Dahlia has now become a pawn in a dangerous game of revenge.
But when secrets and lies are unraveled, Dahlia threatens to change history and the future…
“You, little flower, are mine now,”
“Revenge, like power and greed, is insatiable. It craves, it poisons, and it infests you like an addiction, and you’ll never be free.”
OMG, ya’ll! Dani René has submerged us into this new world of the rich and powerful of The Gilded Sovereign. The suspense, the heat, the angsttt! Cruel War had it all and I was completely hooked from page one! The tension continued to rack up with every single chapter and the anticipation had my heart pounding and me on the edge of my seat up until the very end! Every time I thought I had somewhat of an idea of where the story was going *BOOM*, another twist and I was back to white-knuckling my Kindle!
Family, enemies, deceit, betrayal, lies, and revenge Cruel War has it all!
Dahlia is a force to be reckoned with! The more Ares pushes her, the more she pushes back! She’s smart, sassy, a total spitfire and EVERYTHING I want in a heroine! Dahlia is nothing like Ares expected her to be and throws him totally off his game.
“When Ares is around nothing makes sense. Least of all my stupid fluttering heartbeat.”
Ares, the cocky, alpha, rich, and powerful playboy. Ares starts off as an anti-hero but we see the most character development throughout the story with him. He goes from wanting to hurt Dahlia to doing everything he could no matter the sacrifice or the consequences to protect his little flower. He’s a little rough around the edges but you can’t help but fall for him.
“I don’t know why, but there’s a tether between us, and I’m about to tie it even tighter.”
The chemistry between these two was off the charts right from the start! As much as Ares wants to hurt Dahlia for some reason… he can’t. Ares isn’t used to hearing “no” from girls, 
so when Dahlia stands up to him it only makes him want her more. Even when they were enemies you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife! From the moment Ares sees her, she’s constantly in his thoughts. The same goes for Dahlia, even though he’s a total jerk towards her she can’t stop thinking about him. But both are just to damn stubborn to admit it. But no matter how they tried to deny that something was happening between the two of them, it didn’t take long before the fire between them turned into flames! Let me just say, the steamy scenes… 🔥🔥🔥
“You’re so needy for me, Dahlia. A flower calling to the bee.”
The secondary characters just made the story that much better and I am hoping they ALL get their own stories! Ares best friends, Tarian and Etienne were hilarious and most definitely helped with the comic relief during intense moments. Dahlia’s best friend 
Rukaiya, I won’t give away anything so I’ll just OMG… I can NOT wait to see what goes on with her now. Oh, and we can’t forget Ares big brother Philipe, he’s another character I would LOVE to see more about!
I absolutely adore Dani Rene’s writing! This one is a bit of a darker, edgier romance, the kind that keeps you right on the edge of your seat because there is a guarantee that something is going to happen that you will NEVER see coming… and I absolutely LOVED it! With each new release she just keeps reeling me in, hook, line, & sinker!
Cruel War was an amazing start to what I can already tell is going to be one EPIC series and I can’t wait to see what comes next! I highly recommend checking this one out ASAP, definite MUST READ!
“Welcome to the inner sanctum. A society of gods. Welcome to the Gilded Sovereign.”
Confessions Of A Bibliophile’s Overall Ratings:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- I LOVED it! It was an awesome read, and I am super excited for what else is to come from this series! Highly recommend to YA/NA, bully romance/enemies to lovers readers!
🔥🔥🔥🔥- Not a whole LOT of steamy scenes in this one, but the scenes that are there are SMOKIN!
🌪Cliffhanger Warning- Loved the ending and there wasn’t really a cliffhanger. BUT there was a lead-up for the next book in the series that has me on the edge of my seat waiting for its release.
Grab your copy of Cruel War TODAY!
US: https://amzn.to/2ZtSDDH
CA: https://amzn.to/2Po6SKy
UK: https://amzn.to/2PhN9vY
AU: https://amzn.to/2ztECeF
About The Author
Dani René
Dani is an international bestselling author of a mix of various genres, from romantic suspense to dark erotic romance and even BDSM romance.
She loves to delve into the raw emotional journeys her characters venture on, and enjoys the dark, edgy, and sensual scenes that fill the pages of her books.
Dani’s stories are seductive with a deviant edge with feisty heroines and dominant alphas.
Dani lives in the beautiful city of Cape Town and is a proud member of the Romance Writers Organization of South Africa (ROSA) and the Romance Writers of America (RWA). She has a healthy addiction to reading, TV series, music, tattoos, chocolate, and ice cream.
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Confessions of a Bibliophile 