Title: Poison Ivy (Stonehurst Prep Elite Book 1)
Author: Steffanie Holmes
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Reverse Harem
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon

I’ll do anything to get in. I’ll even become theirs.

Victor. Torsten. Cassius – the jock, the artist, the stepbrother.
The Poison Ivy Club.
Ruthless.
Connected.
Violent.
Untouchable.

They rule Stonehurst Prep with an iron fist.
If you want Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, they’ll get you in.
Guaranteed.
But they’ll take their pound of flesh first.
A deal’s a deal – you give them whatever they want, and they’ll make your dreams come true.

And they want me.
In their beds.
On their arms.
Part of their gang.

I’ll do anything to get into an Ivy League school.
I’ll lie. I’ll cheat.
I’ll get on my knees.
I’ll kill.

But those three dark princes will never have my heart.

This is a new adult, dark contemporary romance with three poisonous guys and one fearless girl. It is intended for 18+ readers.

Poison Ivy is the first book in a reverse harem series featuring three notorious bad boys: Victor, Cassius (usually referred to as Cas) and Torsten. For those of you who don’t know what reverse harem means, it’s basically a story where the heroine doesn’t have to choose. She doesn’t need to choose one of these three as her love interest – she can have all three of them, and the boys don’t mind sharing.

Despite that these types of relationships often are a lot more problematic in real life than they are in books, what with jealousy and all (not saying it is not possible in real life, just that I imagine it’s a great deal more complicated than in fiction), the books of this genre often feature at least somewhat realistic scenarios. Here, not so much. It’s not realistic that the three guys in question would run the school, or that their families would have that much power. And even if I’m willing to somehow accept that, the whole Coach Franklin plot (I won’t go into detail because of spoilers) is just too outrageous and over-the-top.

Still… despite the plot certainly being a far cry from believable… I did enjoy this book.

First of all, the writing is great. Steffanie Holmes can conjure up descriptions that are vivid and original, and some even made me laugh out loud. She makes her main character, Fergie, sound like such a great person: on the one hand, a total badass, but with a vulnerable side. That’s the second point here: the heroine is pretty awesome. She does have her flaws, though, like how she treats her best friend – not cool at all – but generally, her heart is in the right place and she’s just dealing with some messed-up stuff. A lot of messed-up stuff, really.

Plus, I do have to applaud the author for writing about a main character who is blind. Fergie reads Braille, her descriptions of what is happening are mostly based on auditory sensations, and honestly, it’s quite believable. When reading the Fergie chapters, I feel as if I’m blind–it feels slighty suffocating, and although you can rely on Fergie’s other senses, it sometimes feels claustrophobic to read these chapters because you know her sense of sight is missing. It’s a strange sensation, and I’m sure it was difficult for the author to write this character and no doubt it also took some research, but in my opinion, the author really pulled it off.

The three love interests were interesting, too. Especially Torsten, since it’s obvious he doesn’t quite experience the world the way others do. It’s never mentioned what exactly is “wrong” with him, but there are hints that he has trouble functioning in certain circumstances. I liked how Fergie never judged him for that and instead tried to find ways that did work for him, and allowed him to set the pace for things between them. Then there was Victor, the savior, the knight in shining armor, probably every girl’s dream guy. I could certainly understand why Fergie was drawn to these two.

But then, there’s the last love interest. Cassius. Cas. Who happens to be Fergie’s stepbrother. I don’t mind that trope in general, but what I didn’t like that much, was how instant their relationship was. And although it was basically fueled by desire and anger at the start, it never really develops from there. Maybe it will in the second book, but Cas seemed like the least likely person to do any kind of developing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Characters – like people in real life – should grow and change, but not everyone does that at the same pace. In fact, given his personality, it’s to be expected that Cas would fight any type of change or growth. But I hope that in the second book, he can at least learn from his mistakes, and keep some of his worser traits in check.

As far as contemporary reverse harems go, I rather liked this one. The main downside, for me, was the sometimes rather unbelievable plot. Also, I had expected more bullying from the guys. But they don’t really bully Fergie, except at the start, and Torsten never really joins in. If anything, it’s basically just Cas doing the bullying, and Cas bullies just about anyone except his two besties.

I already purchased the second book, and can’t wait to start reading.