lilibetbombshell 's review for:

Save Me by Mona Kasten

4.0

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I watched the first season of Maxton Hall on a whim, thinking it was likely to be corny. I was completely obsessed by the end and just about cried when I found out (at the time) that the novels the series had been based on had yet to be translated into English. Now it’s 2025 and Maxton Hall has finally arrived stateside. 

I couldn’t have been more pleased by this book, whether I hold it up to the screen version or if I just take it as an upper YA/new adult contemporary romance. If you hold it up to the series it practically matches up perfectly (which is usually the dream for most readers who seek out a screen adaptation of written works). As the first book in a romance series marketed towards readers in their upper teens and lower twenties, it’s hits that really sweet spot of wish fulfillment, forbidden romance, he falls first, enough chemistry to fill a lab, enough pining to fill a forest, and a light dusting of dark academia in how wealth can influence the futures of innocent people on a whim. 

As a woman in her forties, I appreciate it for being exactly the kind of romance novel I wanted to read and write when I was a teenager myself but didn’t exist. I wanted to read romances that involved teenagers and acknowledged–even welcome the idea–that they aren’t perfect and that they are capable of deep love. The burn in this book is slow, and the one spice scene that occurs is open-door but not explicit. The romance between James and Ruby makes me swoon, even at my age, because the me of years ago would’ve been absolutely feral for these books and there’s something timeless about a sad, rich boy and an angry, poor girl fighting against everything and everyone to be together. 4⭐️

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Coming of Age/Contemporary Romance/Forbidden Romance/New Adult/Spice Level 1