Posted by
Amanda
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/boys-who-hunt-by-clarissa-wild/
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=163243
There is a more extensive list of triggers and warnings on the author’s website that goes into more detail, especially regarding kinks.
Boys Who Hunt is a dark, bully, why choose romance, and it was the art that made me read it. I was advertised a Kickstarter for special editions and I was like, Whoa, that cover art is gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of the dreamy art styles I see in romance manhwa (Korean comics).
Also, when I finish a book, I like to debrief with my fiance. It’s not uncommon for me to start pacing around our bedroom at 1am while I ramble nonsensically at my sleepy partner. However, my partner was out of town this past week, so my rambling was done over the phone and the entire time they thought the title was Boys Who Cunt.
And they just…rolled with it. Nary a “Wait a sec, what?” was uttered.
I digress.
Ivy Clark is a scholarship student at a prestigious university, but she’s in desperate need of money for *reasons*.
Reasons explained
Ivy took her younger half sister out of an abusive situation and her sister’s biological dad is out for revenge. Ivy’s being extorted to the tune of thousands of dollars to keep her and her sister’s whereabouts a secret.
She’s doing her best to make ends meet but it’s not enough. Her solution is to go to a frat party and rob the wealthy mean boys: Silas, Heath, and Max. I love this setup. And she almost gets away with it! Unfortunately, in her haste to escape, she leaves one of her hearing aids behind. Ivy’s hearing loss is briefly explained and does come up in a few scenes, so it’s not mentioned once and then forgotten.
The three heroes eventually catch up with her and since she can’t return the money, she essentially “agrees” (or rather is blackmailed) to pay off her debt with sexual servitude.
A breakdown of the dudes:
Silas: Ring leader. Serial killer. Pretty fucked up.
Heath: Playboy. Serial killer. A little less fucked up.
Max: Stalker. Not a serial killer. The least fucked up.
All of them, of course, are weapons trained and can handle themselves in a high speed chase. Just normal frat boy things.
The plot is a big rinse and repeat of extreme sexual situations with minor updates to the suspense thread of Ivy’s predicament (as noted in the above spoiler).
This is technically a spin-off, or a continuation of the first three Spine Ridge University books. The three heroes are the children of heroines and heroes are those books, and each heroine seems to have three-ish partners in a throuple situation. So there are a TON of people that make up these family trees. There’s a lineage chart at the beginning, but there’s just too many people.
The characters were fine and a little silly. Like, come on, three frat guys who have an armory in their frat house and are also serial killers? Also Silas’s dad is the dean of the university and has to have a come to Jesus talk with his son to stop killing people. When I was in college, the frat guys on campus were just known for covering poor pledges in catfish stinkbait and raw eggs. (Yes, this is real. Google it.)
The book does suffer because of the length and the obnoxiously large cast. If you’re familiar with the prior books, it might be easier for you to keep track of all the parents and their histories.
If you like a romance with dark heroes who do an “oops, I have a feeling and I’m going to make it everyone’s problem,” you might like this. As I mentioned earlier, I kept reading in anticipation for the group–namely Silas–to realize his heart grew three sizes that day.
On the plus side, these characters, especially the parents, make frequent appearances and had me motivated to read from the beginning of the series. I did buy book one immediately after finishing this.
Typically, I can breeze through a book in a few hours. I have the terrible habit, though, of starting books late at night and then I can’t stop. When I was reading this, I kept looking at the slow crawl of the percent. I’d been reading for a couple hours and I hadn’t even made it half way. I didn’t finish the book until around 4am.
Turns out, this book is over SEVEN HUNDRED FUCKING PAGES.
What.
Why.
In a hot takes bonus episode of the SBTB podcast, I ranted that no fantasy romance should be over 400 pages and now I’m going to extend that to all romances. I’m not above a beefy book, but for those higher page counts, I expect a large amount of world building or plot progression. We could have cut a couple DP scenes. Or ones where half a dozen family members are congregating over dinner. (Also speaking of double penetration, I assumed those would require way more prepwork. Apparently not!)
Whenever I finish these books, my partner asks if I liked it. Lately, my answer goes something like this: “Hmmm, yes? I don’t know.” Quality content and entertaining content aren’t mutually exclusive. Was this a top quality romance for me? No. It’s not going on my keeper shelf or any personal “best of” lists. But it held my attention, which counts for a lot since I will DNF within the first fifty pages. With the general state of the world, anything that allows me to turn my brain off and be absorbed gets extra points.
Many of the dark romances I’ve read this year–this one included–fall into a similar category of being compelling, but was it good? I never have a clear answer to that question. It certainly held my attention. It was over the top and bizarre and fun. It motivated me to want to read more by this author and in this series. I’ve been busy since I finished, but I can’t stop thinking about returning to my kindle for book one. I was eagerly awaiting the big reveal of Ivy’s secret and the moment when the heroes finally admitted they were in love with her (those scenes were very good).
I’m sure I’ve made this comparison before, but these are potato chip books. I keep reaching my hand into the bag, way after my stomach starts to hurt. I’m curious how you all would categorize or grade these reading experiences!
Note: I want to reiterate that this is a very dark book. Take the laundry list of content warnings seriously.
[Amanda from the past here. I’ve gone on to read book one of the series, Sick Boys. Still compulsively readable, but too long. And the character archetypes are very much copy and paste. I fear this entire series is the same book written over and over. I will be temporarily pausing my marathon of Spine Ridge University.]
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/boys-who-hunt-by-clarissa-wild/
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?post_type=reviews&p=163243
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2025-11-29 03:12 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Ready for more wishes and recs? And bad jokes? I bet you are! This week we’re talking with Agnes, Emily, Sarah Jane, and Jenn – and Min the cat.
They are on sale now, Friday November 28, through early January, and you can buy one or both in a gift set!
Welcome back, everyone!
