ruthless king stands out more compared to the first two books of the series. it tackles more on deeper topics such as addiction and mental abuse. that said, it was better, but emmett is probably my least favorite book boyfriend in this series. 

don’t get me wrong, i loved his character development, but i just expected him to grovel more given the fact that he pushed avery away after knowing the real story of their previous love affair. though he was more understanding towards the end of the book, most of the time he always gets things in his way such as his pride and close-mindness leading to miscommunication.

the miscommunication trope plays a huge part of this book, it’s basically the whole plot. most of the time, i despise that trope, but it was done well in this book i guess you could say.

overall, i think giving it 4 stars is generous, but my only concern was emmett. he could’ve been better.