Things I Wanted to Say, But Never Did (Lancaster Prep, … (2024)

1 star

this is literary garbage. why is this book still published? (and why is this being called BOOK VERSION of Maxton Hall? ew stfu)

— SPOILERS (pls read them i beg you). if you loved this book, don't you dare read this review.

— Seriously, though, this book was literal sh*t! 💩 I'm not kidding, and I never say this about any book! Well, I didn't DNF it and read the whole thing (because I was in my "do not DNF any book" era).

— I swear it was so bad, and I hated every second of it. The heroine, 'Summer Savage,' was not savage at all! SHE IS A LOSER. She was literally a horny chick who needed sex to function properly! I can't believe she let Whit degrade her again and again just to have sex with him because he has a god-like appearance *puke* Even just hearing Whit's name made her aroused. 🤢

— Now let's talk about the bitch of the HERO? The loser 'Whit 🤮 Lancaster.' I can't believe he belongs to the same family as Crew. Whit was a literal asshole, and he wasn't even sorry about it! Nah, uh, never! His POVs were so sh*tty that I had to take a break and curse him because he was annoying AF. He was a wannabe vicious Spencer, Xander Knight with no brain! He had no personality and was as bland as boiled chicken, just like Summer not Savage. 😪

— They both legit had a hate kiss when they were around 14 (bitch, what the actual f*cking f*ck?), and Summer was like, 'HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO KISS, AND I KINDA TAUGHT HIM?' What do you need? SPANKING FROM MOMMY DEAR (who btw was having sex at that moment).
All these kissy-pissy scenes happened when their parents were having SEX in the other room! (can I die? Can this review get any worse?)

— Now, they met years later, and Summer is in Lancaster Prep because her mommy has connections as she was Lancaster Daddy's side chick! The same sh*t happened: Whit was considered a god and ruled, and Summer got bullied there! It was told that she stood up for herself, but like, where? THIS BOOK WAS THE WORST BULLY ROMANCE EVER TOO. Whit didn't have a reason (well, no bully ever has except for attention), but he was an asshole! He had a giant ego, and Summer wasn't obeying his commands! 🙄

— But as I said, she was so f*cking horny, she had sex with him after a few days. He stole her diary, blackmailed her into having sex with him and be his toy, slave, bitch, hoe, whatever, and all she did was say,

" you stupid idiot..... i hate you..... it's not that bad i guess right?...... i get pleasure... mhmjm"

— Now, let's talk about something serious! The worst thing this book could ever show was RAPE! Summer was molested and raped by her stepbrother, YATE, and all Summer said in her pov was, "I enjoyed it a bit! Am I bad?" Even though she knew it was wrong, in this scenario, it was not her fault! I get it. But this was not fully constructed or shown. Her mother knew about it too.

And even Whit read about it in her diary, and he was like, "I KNOW HE RAPED YOU." Like, bruh WHAT THE ACTUAL f*ck? Even though Yate was dead, he never once told Summer that he would've killed him for her or said something comforting. Nah, uh! bitch

and it was acknowledged at the end of the book. that stupid whit knew about it before when they were f*cking in highschool but he said nothing! prick! 😑

—Now the first and main reason i hate this book is, there was a scene when Summer was sexually assaulted and was about to be raped at a party, but Whit saved her and literally blamed her because she was wearing a revealing dress! Bro, what the f*ck? Just f*ck off, you sexist piece of asshole! HE LITERALLY JUST BLAMED HER BECAUSE OF HER DRESS?? I don't even understand why the author even wrote this kind of crap???????

if summer unleashed her inner MADDY PEREZ's (because i'm dressed like a hooker) side at that scene i would've been bawling my eyes out! but SHE HUGGED HIM AND CRIED, HE PATTED HER AND SAID GOOD BYE! 👋🏻

— All the words Whit ever used were bad! 😒 His family wanted him to marry someone else, and he AGREED! Summer 'without dignity' Savage, went to the family dinner with Whit's sister, and there she tried to be a boss bitch,

— Sex was the only connection they had, and the entire book revolves around it! It's too long to accommodate any actual plot (which was non-existent).

— The parents were awful! They had daddy issues, mommy issues—you name it, Monica displayed it. Daddy Lancaster was a pervert and obsessed with sex and having mistresses. Mommy Lancaster was mentally unstable. Mommy Savage was the worst mother ever because she showed no concern for her daughter! The parents were terrible in this book. 🤧🥴

— Mommy Lancaster threatened Summer not Savage, and made her believe that Whit had given her the diary and she would show it to the police. So Summer felt betrayed and left, but the only good thing was that Whit did not believe that Summer left on her own and immediately knew that it was her mother's plan. 🤡

— They met after 16 months! I NEEDED GROVELING. SUMMER NEEDED SEX. And Summer won! No groveling was shown! Sex on the first day was 100% guaranteed. 😐

If you love a bully romance book with a wanna be strong girl and a super childish, idiot, asshole hero who thinks he's a god with super daddy issues AND LOVE SMUT. read this!
and don't you dare get triggered by the said rape scenes because there wasn't warning at all. 🥱

The story was terrible, and I'm sad I read such a piece of garbage and actually managed to finish it! I need an award, please! And look, I do know it's your opinion, but whoever wrote those really big ass reviews stating this book was the best book ever? you lack judgement! 🤌🏻

note: this review contains details from scenes that may be triggering to some, and major/minor spoilers for the novel.

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𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝙵𝚞𝚗 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕 - 𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚛

𝚞𝚙 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝: 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 - 𝙷.𝙴.𝚁.

𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚔: 𝙻𝚎𝚝 𝙼𝚎 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗 - 𝙱𝚛𝚢𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛

0:03 ──⊙──────── 2:48
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

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.·:·.☽✧ 3.2 stars ✧☾.·:·.

over the course of my romance reading journey, I've encountered many relationships and dynamics. they could vary from unique and peculiar, to mediocre and average. the relationship between the main characters, Summer (h) and Whit (H), lands somewhere on that scale, yet it took me a minute to pinpoint where.

they have a relationship that may seem peculiar to others, no doubt, but I think their dynamic leans more towards the mediocre and average side of my personal scale. guess I'll have to break down the novel's components so you can better understand my point.

╔════════════╗
.·:·.✧ PLOT ✧.·:·.
╚════════════╝

Summer Savage (h), was a social pariah ✋🚫 because of her mother's "gold digger" tendencies (according to the local tabloids). she was called very derogatory terms because of how Summer's mother, Janine Weatherstone, hopped from one married man to the next, stealing their money along the way. so when Summer meets Whit Lancaster (H) at a social gathering and he says

“Come on. Your mom is my dad’s whor*. You could be mine too.”

fast-forward 3 years later, Whit and Summer are attending the same school, Lancaster Prep 🏫. coincidently, it's the same school that Whit's father happens to own. when Summer gets there, she's judged and targeted because of her mother's status, and what happened to her step-father and step-brother. the details to what happened are slowly revealed as the story progresses, and I really liked that. it added a bit of mystery to the story and kept me intrigued because I wanted to know exactly what happened, and why Summer felt so guilty about it all. we love a good mystery 🕵️‍♂️ thrown into the mix.

because everyone at the school made Summer feel very unwelcome at the beginning (including Whit, since he was just delighted to see her)

“Nice fall earlier. Landing on your knees like that must’ve hurt.” He smirks. “Though I’m sure you’re used to being on your knees.”
[...]
“I’m sure you’d love it if I f*cked you,” he says, his voice low and taunting. I don’t know how the teacher doesn’t hear, but the man must be oblivious. “You’re a cheap whor*, just like your mother.”

"His mouth curves upward. "Suck my dick and let me come on your tit* for a week straight, and I'll take the lock off everyone."

anyway, I'll give a quick rundown of some events you must know about before I continue to the next section:

→ Summer and Sylvie (Whit's younger sister) become close friends after a detention session 👭.

→ while Whit beats the sh*t out of someone who tried to attack Summer, she's jammin' to "Streets" by Doja Cat. we love the music promotion in this household 😌💞.

→ Whit steals Summer's journal full of her juicy 🍑 secrets the morning after they kinda hook up. then she agrees to "earn it back" by basically being his 24/7 f*ck buddy, and that's when their relationship actually sets sail 🚢.

╔══════════════════════╗
.·:·.✧ THE RELATIONSHIP ✧.·:·.
╚══════════════════════╝

as I started talking about in the intro, Summer and Whit's dynamic can be seen as peculiar, to say the least. while reading most of this book, I couldn't describe their relationship. I knew that they f*cked a lot, and the author constantly reminded us that they were two broken, yet connected souls 💕.

"He touches my face. Grasps my chin lightly with his fingers, tilting my head back. "We will always work, Summer. Look at me." I meet his gaze, noting the intensity in his light blue eyes. "We were made for each other."

in the beginning, Summer and Whit rely on sexual interactions so they don't have to confront the fact that they don't know each other well. they only have shared experiences and shared sentiments, so they bond over the fact that they're "broken souls"🖤. but after the whole fiasco where Whit's mother, Sylvia Lancaster, blackmails Summer into leaving the Lancaster household where she was visiting for Thanksgiving, the dynamic changes.

SL (Sylvia Lancaster) is a snake 🐍, and she used some quick little manipulation tricks to get Summer out of Whit's life (temporarily). after Summer leaves the Lancaster household, she confronts her mother about what really happened to her step-father, Jonas, and her step-brother, Yates. turns out, Summer's mother, Janine, started the fire that killed Yates and Jonas. Janine let Summer believe that she started it because, in her own words,

“From your perspective, it was an accident. You didn’t mean to do any of it. You would’ve never been convicted,” she says, dismissing my protest. “Thank God his body was burned beyond recognition. His autopsy results were inconclusive.”

but don't feel bad for Yates, because it gets worse. Yates was repeatedly molesting Summer when she was 14, and he was 16 or 17. Janine had some suspicions that this was going on, yet she turned a blind eye to it all 🙈. Yates even admitted to raping her multiple times because she was "so beautiful he couldn't resist" right before Janine killed him, yet Janine barely comforts Summer after telling her what he said. all Janine says to her is

"She rubs my back. "It's a cruel world, darling. Men use us. I hope that doesn't happen to you ever again."

anyway, after this conversation, there's a time jump 💨 to 16 months later. Summer's in Paris with Monty, a guy she met at a party. she's taking some classes, and enjoys life away from the US. all is going well until Monty tricks her into meeting Whit after not talking to him for more than a year. after they have more sexcapades, Whit grovels, apologizes for his past actions, and proves himself to be a more passionate and caring man, they end up together in the end 💏.

"It’s as if it’s permanently etched into his skin, and I remember the Whit of old. The boy who would stare at me with blank eyes. Who looked at me as if I didn’t matter. Who would actually tell me to my face that I didn’t matter to him at all.

He’s gone. Replaced by a seemingly overly passionate man whose entire focus is on me and no one else."

think about it: when they were in high school, they'd go on sexcapades and say they hate each other, but secretly think they're made for one another. yet their relationship didn't have much substance. other than the "I hate you" sh*t, their relationship was pretty regular, if you don't consider the whole rich family 💸 and arranged marriage 💍 drama going on in the sidelines. since they clearly stopped "hating" each other towards the end, it was easy to see that they're relationship was just normal.

there's nothing wrong with a normal relationship, of course, but I still want to point it out 👉. I think that's why I got kinda tired of their relationship at about 50%. it seemed like they were doing the same old sh*t, but with new drama. like Whitney said, "same script, different cast". or in this case, some new cast members were added to the play to stir up drama.

╔═════════════════╗
.·:·.✧ CHARACTERS ✧.·:·.
╚═════════════════╝

→ Summer is that bitch 💅, when she wants to be.

I liked Summer's character a lot, but she always chose when she wanted to have a backbone. when a dumb bitch insults her because of a preposterous rumor, Summer claps back without hesitation.

“At least I’m not f*cking someone’s daddy to keep myself enrolled,” one of them taunts. She’s young. Beautiful. Mean as a snake. One of Whit’s hangers-on.

“At least I’m not slobbering all over Whit Lancaster’s dick, desperate to get a taste,” I toss back at her.

“You’re a bitch,” she snaps.

“And you’re a heartless c*nt who wears too much makeup,” I toss back at her."

"Once there’s a lull in foot traffic, I dart out and make my way to my room, pressing flat against the door when a group of senior girls walk past me. Two of them are Caitlyn and Jane.

My so-called new friends from the first day of school.

“slu*t,” one of them murmurs beneath her breath just before they all burst into laughter.

I say nothing, my face hot."

"This is the second time we’ve done this. And it throws me. He throws me. I don’t know what’s happening between us. Why he’s being so agreeable. Thoughtful. It’s exhilarating.
It’s scary.
But I do realize one thing.
I’m completely defenseless. Weak to him and his wants. His needs. He knows it. He has complete command of me. Body and soul.
And it is a terrifying position to find myself in."

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I will continue to make them, but I feel more in control now. More mature. I know I still have a lot of growing to do, but I was on the track to nowhere back in the States. At Lancaster. With my mother. If I'd stayed in the city, God knows what would've happened to me. I am without doubt my mother's daughter, though I don't plan on following in her footsteps."

→ Whit is alright.

I don't know how else to describe him. he had some steamy scenes 🔥💦, but other than that, there wasn't much to him. his parents put him into an arranged marriage because they're the Lancasters, a rich family with old money 💰. Whit can't possibly marry anyone else except for his arranged marriage partner because then the bloodlines won't be continued (?). I don't really understand that logic, but whatever. Summer is basically the opposite of whom he's supposed to marry, yet he can't stay away from her.

he treats her badly (at times), calls her names 🤬, and often disrespects her all-around. but he defends her to other people, and knows that if he would ever marry anyone, it'd be Summer. sometimes he's passionate towards her (especially in the last 80% of the novel), but it wasn't a regular occurrence with his character. I liked him overall, but I was once again disappointed that he didn't have much development. yes, he did make changes in his life, like standing up to his mother and father about what he wanted. but the thing is, other than that, he didn't really have any character development 🤷‍♂️.

extra characters that don't matter

→ Sylvie, Whit's sister, was a bitch.

she was not that bitch, just a bitch. I kinda liked her because of her friendship with Summer, but as soon as she switched sides, that little bit of civility I had towards her disappeared 🖕.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, or what it's like, being a part of this family. One of the most important families in the country, if not the world. Our place in society is firmly rooted, and we can't afford to let it be ruined by some stupid, whorish girl who's set her sights on us. You're just on the fringe. Always on the outskirts, the sad little girl standing longingly in the window." Sylvie sneers. "Just like your mother, I hear."
[..]
Sylvie slams her cup onto the nearby table and leans forward in her chair, her narrowed gaze aimed at me. "Listen. You just used me to get to spend a week alone with Whit. So you can f*ck him into thinking you're the perfect woman for him. I always thought Whit was smarter than that, but clearly you have a magical vagin* because it's all he can think about. And now, somehow you've convinced him to go against everything our family stands for."

→ Sylvia Lancaster, Whit's mother, is the 2'nd most disappointing adult in this novel.

I won't talk about her character much because she doesn't deserve it at all. she's a rich, jealous, and spiteful old lady 👵 that has nothing better to do than terrorize a teenage girl all because of her mother's mistakes.

→ Augustus Lancaster, Whit's father, is the best spineless doormat in town.

if you thought Summer had some doormat tendencies, then you'll think Augustus is the doormat king 🚪👑. seriously, he just lets his rude and petty wife do whatever the f*ck she wants, and he doesn't say sh*t. no, he just has multiple mistresses to get his mind off his wife's despicable activity.

→ Janine Weatherstone, Summer's mother, is a woman more selfish than Sylvia.

I know, that must be hard to believe, but it's true. when Janine had a snaking suspicion that Yates was molesting Summer, she turned a blind eye to it 🙈. why? because she was too wrapped up in her own bullsh*t to pick up the clues and care for her own daughter, of course.

"I saw you lave Yates' room," she says, averting her gaze, staring off into the distance as if she's lost in her memories. "I had a suspicion about you two, and I didn't want to believe it. Deep down, I knew. I knew, but I didn't know how to stop it. I thought, perhaps, that you wanted--to be in a relationship with him."

Tears well in my eyes and I want to scream at her. That was the last thing I wanted. And if she suspected, why didn't she try and stop it? Stop him? Why didn't she say something to me? To Yates? To Jonas?

Because she's selfish. Thoughtless.

Too wrapped up in her own bullsh*t."

╔═════════════════╗
.·:·.✧ CONCLUSION ✧.·:·.
╚═════════════════╝

in summary, Summer was a saving grace 😇🙏 for this novel, but even she couldn't save it all. having such a long ending/epilogue like that was just unnecessary, and it made me want to DNF the whole book, even though I was at like 80 or 90%. if the ending wasn't so extensive, this whole novel could've been a lot shorter. but the slight bit of mystery 🕵️‍♂️ involved with Summer's backstory was an aspect I really enjoyed, and it kept me interested. although I criticized a lot of this book, I enjoyed reading it overall. would most definitely recommend to anyone who wants a hate-to-love type of book that is a little too long 📕 for its own good.

Ok. Time to rant.

This book had SO MUCH potential. Private boarding school, rich families, popular rich asshole? At the beginning I was seriously intrigued. I was curious to see how their relationship would develop, how Whit’s (yes, that’s his name- short for Whittaker btw) character development after his disgusting behaviour, that was, from the very beginning, really concerning. But I’ll go more in depth on that later.
Murphy found an astoundingly clever solution for this- that is, 🎉DON’T HAVE ONE!🎉

Whittaker Lancaster is the eldest son of the very, very, very rich (you won’t believe how much this was emphasised) and powerful family that owns Lancaster Prep, a rich people boarding school. He’s a real dick, is known for treating girls like trash and enjoying *roughness*. And you’d think (like I mistakenly did), “Oh! So he’ll go soft for her❤️”.
WRONG. The word ‘whor*’ is used 44 times in this book. And all of them are said to Summer, our MC, directly to her face, by none other than our brilliant Whit. No, I’m not making up a random number.
Summer’s mother had an affair with Augustus Lancaster, Whit’s father, ruining his parents’ marriage (😀) and so he hates her. He makes her life a literal hell at school, making everyone turn against her, even as he’s attracted to her. She hates him too, because, well. After she repeatedly cries because of him, he perceptively deduces that she likes the pain. And the name calling. She’s a whor*, she’s a whor*, she’s a whor*, she’s dark like me, she’s dirty, she’s sick and she’s depraved and blah blah, are just a few of the incredibly advanced thoughts in Whitty’s mind(lmfao he’s not actually nicknamed this, but her pisses me off so).
He proceeds to talk to her about how he owns her, but she doesn’t own him, and how he’s f*cking other girls (he’s not) and explaining to her that his dick doesn’t belong to her. He steals her journal where she recounts the sexual abuse she had to endure from her stepbrother and blackmails her with sex to have it back. Yes, I’m serious. He explains to her that she wouldn’t be able to say no to him, that the second he’d call she’d have to come running and begging for it. And this atrocious character is so damn co*cky. Not the attractive type either. Boasting and boasting about how she’d be begging for his dick, for the privilege to
f*ck the most powerful guy in the place, of how he was all-powerful, untouchable, and so many other atrocious thoughts that I’ve already erased them from my mind.

Their entire relationship was so, so toxic. And not the “fire passion BAM” kind either. Just red flag after red flag. And sex in every scene, no matter how unfitting. No communication WHATSOEVER. Him a disgusting snotty asshole who thinks he’s the sh*t, and her a spineless idiot with the self-respect of a water bottle. Every time I thought there would be a good scene, when I dared hope for a change, SEX. I was sorely disappointed. He’s selfish even in that, rarely making her come (ironic after all the bragging- and how did Murphy think this was a good idea?) because he’s just too much of a bad boy. Some scenes are basically him wearing her down and harassing her and her giving in reluctantly. And he’s just so proud of himself every damn time.
Let’s not even get me started on that one sex scenes where she licks his literal asshole🥲. Yeah. Traumatising.

SOMEHOW I could’ve ignored all this (I couldn’t have, but let’s pretend). IF, amongst the other disgusting statements and name-callings that Whit justifies with ‘but she’s a dirty whor* who likes the roughness. She’s sick and depraved like me’ (Summer’s character herself didn’t wholly seem to believe that in certain passages), if there hadn’t been some other SERIOUSLY disturbing statements. And worse, Summer herself found herself wondering if he was right. I’m just gonna list the most disturbing one with some context.
————————
*after Summer shows up at a party scantily dressed to piss him off and goes off with a dude who almost r*pes her*

“That asshole almost raped you. He had his hands all over you, and you f*cking asked for it, dressed like you are. What did you expect?”
Tears start flowing again, streaming down my face, but still I say nothing.
“You’re a f*cking mess, Savage. Figure your sh*t out. Before you end up dead and buried in the ground.”

(😀😀😀😀What the f*ck. Seriously, what the actual f*ck is this? And Summer, our independent queen (ironic), thinks that she ruined his night and that he was right, that maybe she was asking for it.
Please f*cking die, Whit. And oh, I see how much she enjoys your darkness you narcissistic, self-absorbed, conceited idiot.)
———————————
There is seriously not one character that had any depth or was likeable. Not. One. They were all absolutely hateful. Even the secondary characters.

Summer was annoying and contradictory.

Whit, at the near end of the book, does a complete 180 change after spending months apart from his boo, and everything is justified. Without explanation. Or apologies. Just with immediately having sex. That’s it. She tries to talk and he, logically, starts dirty talking her and they proceed to have sex in a restaurant. Point blank. And after this wonderful reconciliation, our dear MC Summer proceeds to forget all the complaints that had been VERY relevant before and spends the night with him without questioning anything. Girl.

Oh, and by the way, the 180 I’m talking about is that after a year and a half of distance he convinces himself that she’s going to become his wife, and harasses her. Not apologising for all the sh*t he put her through. Just demanding, saying he won’t take no for an answer and won’t leave until she says yes. The first words out of his mouth after the long period of time during which they were distant are: “What the f*ck are you wearing?”.😀

I am disgusted. How is that romantic? HOW????

The ending was DREADFUL. Actually pathetically dreadful.

This is not a love story. It’s anything BUT a love story. It’s two people using and abusing each other and having absolutely no personalities except for the disgusting traits I described before.

The only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of one is because it was (at least up to, like, 50%, before I had any clue that none of the characters would have a well-made redemption arc) entertaining. I really liked the idea of the rich kid boarding school. I love that trope. But this was just an incredibly poorly executed dark romance that instead glorifies SA, slu*t shames women CONSTANTLY, and tries to shift the blame of r*pe on the girl. And is actually convinced that it’s right.

A big no.