Damaged Dreams (The Council Series Book 1)

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.Sariah has been in hiding for the last 5 years. When she was 15 she was on the cusp of great success, heading for the Olympics, at a rapid pace with her next door neighbour, Henry as her Pairs Ice Dancing partner and and who she hoped was about to become her boyfriend. Then everything changed in the space of 24 hours. She was suddenly on the run with her parents after hearing she was adopted and her parents weren’t who she thought they were. When deciding to run for it they were forced off the road into an accident in which she barely escaped with her life and lost both parents.Now known as Sawyer Sullivan, she is ready to follow up on finding out who she really is and she is heading for a new job as an Instructor at TAS, the Elite Winter Sports Academy where her parents told her it all began. Due to her new name she was placed in a shared house with male instructors and decides to stay after being told there were very limited options for alternative housing. This is the set up for meeting all the men.This is a good sized book and the author spends a lot of time building up the characters. We get to know Sawyer quite well through her own and other’s eyes. There are multiple POV in this book, which helps us get to know the other characters, and not just from Sawyer’s point of view, but from others in the house.At the end of the book, in the ‘About The Author’ section Kris Butler confirms that she has worked in the mental health field and this book definitely shows that background. The characters are well rounded, with many hidden depths. I like that the male characters have a well developed history with each other and their interactions are as important as those with Sawyer. There are quite a few heated scenes which include MM as well as MFM interactions. The MM interactions are not just physical but also romantic.Because of the slow build up of the characters, the creation of the RH situation is believable and sweet as well as hot. I also like that not everyone is automatically included in the RH. The relationships that Sawyer has with each man in the house is very different and they build at different rates. The mystery aspect of the story is put on hold in the middle of the book as we get to know all the characters. There is also some bullying, but it isn’t a focus of the story, and it doesn’t seem to bother Sawyer that much.I like that though this is set at an academy, the characters are instructors rather than students. I have grown a bit weary of 17 year olds having the sex life of a very adventurous and experienced 30 year old. I know that academies are convenient for placing a group of disparate people together in an enclosed environment but I’ve read sooooo many of these stories that I’ve grown bored of the trope. This twist somehow magically makes it all a bit better. I think because they are adults and are free to do what they want without being bound by ‘academy rules’.Some people might find this a little slow in places, but for people who enjoy the psychological aspect of the building of a harem, this is a great read and I can’t wait to read the next book when it comes out.

This book has a lot of potential. The story idea is good and lots of thought has been put into character development and I liked that the men are not all dominating alpha male types. It’s refreshing to see some MM interaction within the harem for a change. But it all felt a little stilted. The writing was often quite formal which doesn’t work when it’s supposed to be someone’s inner monologue and the speech often felt unnatural. The authors background in mental health was apparent throughout and whilst there were many positives to that it did come across at times as trying to be a bit of a teaching moment for the reader; not in itself a bad thing but somehow it wasn’t quite subtle and natural enough and for me it just didn’t feel believable to have so many characters with such efficient and well thought out coping mechanisms.There was the odd occurrence where the wrong word appeared to have been used (contradictions instead of contractions for instance), the punctuation was occasionally a bit iffy which caused me to have to reread a sentence a few times to work out what was trying to be said. And whilst it was mostly written in past tense it occasionally slipped into present tense which again broke the flow and frustrated me.I actually gave up reading half way through because I was getting a bit bored but enough seeds of interest had been sown so I went back to it and finished! Part of me wants to carry on and finish the series but it feels like there’s a lot about the writing style that I don’t enjoy that I’d have to struggle through to get to the good bits and I’m not sure it’s worth it.This author definitely has the potential to write great books but she’s not there yet.

So it wasn't until I was reading the epilogue/end credits that I realised this was the authors first book. Wow because I would never have guessed that. I love it when you stumble across a hidden gem. This book is epic too and so many twists and hidden elements that I don't genuinely know what's going to happen. I have a few loose suspicions but nothing where I can say yep that's definitely going to happen. Love the suspense and the good times, the sassy and fierce attitude as well as the guys who are all hot!

The language is clunky and stilted, if the dialogue flowed better this would be such a good book. I really liked the storyline and how indepth the author concentrated on feelings and open discussion. But they didn't ring true, it was like a how to manual on how to properly start a polyam relationship, they all spoke so formal. The fmc also wasnt particularly likeable but the mmcs were much better characters

This book held me captivated! I literally couldn't put it down. The characters were well thought out and each brought their own personality that I just fell in love with. The story keeps you gripped and the multiple POV gave you an even better look at each character. With some absolutely hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud to scenes that had me quickly wiping away the tears so I could read on this is a definite must read.

I liked the characters and the storyline was interesting, but sadly the writing style isn’t my personal cup of tea. Not bad or anything! Just not for me. The dialogue for example felt kinda forced, probably bc I’m around the characters age. Felt kinda like the SNL gen z hospital skit.

I dnf. I tried but I just couldn’t get into it. It goes on and on. Doesn’t seem much story to it through most of the chapters. Just boring day to day drooling over housemates.

What a book that was absolutely love how different all the boys are oh to be Sawyer for a while