Empire High Untouchables (Empire High #1)

Brooklyn\’s an ordinary high school girl, living in a new home with her new guardian, her uncle, going to a new school, and she can\’t help but stare at the Untouchables (The Hunters and the Caldwells), one in particular, Matthew Caldwell. He\’s a fair haired Greek god, and she\’s entranced. But he\’ll never notice her. Until he does. But sneaking around is all she\’ll get for various teenagery reasons, even as Brooklyn\’s falling deeper and deeper. There are forces who don\’t want them together, though, people like the mean girl Isabelle (James\’ horrible ex from The Hunted), and secrets that Brooklyn, as one of the poor students at EH, is not allowed to know. But there\’s also Felix. The guy who actually talks to her at school. He\’s sweet and kind even though his occupation isn\’t exactly on the up and up. He certainly complicates things for Brooklyn and Matt. And then that cliffy of an ending – what the what?!? I am 200% hooked on the Empire High world. I have to know what\’s going to happen next with Brooklyn and Matt. I want more about the Caldwells\’ backstories. I want more of James and Rob\’s backstories. And I want more of Kennedy, Brooklyn\’s awesome bestie. Even if you have not yet read The Hunted series, you should really read Empire High Untouchables. It\’s less romance and more drama, and its heroine, Brooklyn is amazing. I\’m not completely sure I\’m Team Matt or not, but I am definitely Team Brooklyn. I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy.

This is a YA coming of age book about Brooklyn, a 16 year old coping with the loss of her mom, sent to live with her uncle who is the janitor at a prestigious private high school. Firstly Brooklyn as the MC is great, she is naive and funny without meaning to be. The side characters are developed well. I really enjoyed this book more than I thought. There is less emphasis on romance, no steamy scenes, a bit of drama (not roll your eyes over the top), some bullying (again not vomit inducing imho) and two ‘love’ interests. If I had to classify it, it would be a rom-com with some drama. I liked that the two love interests were flawed but in their own way were exactly what Brooklyn needed. Warning there is a cliffhanger and if you are looking at this book for a teenager there is mention of drugs, sex and alcohol but all PG-13. Looking forward to the next book in October.

Kept my interest. I didn\’t at all expect the end. Can\’t wait for book 2. Glad Matt has a story.

From reading other reviews I thought this book was going to be right up my fun quick summer reading list alley, definitely a let down. I’ve read books like this before with a similar premise and plot, but it was very hard to get through and keep my interest. I thought the plot was very loose and the characters were very watered down. I didn’t get a feeling for the main character to have any real substance besides extreme naivety which got very annoying very quickly, I’ve read plenty of books where the main character has naive moments and they can be very cheesy, but Brooklyn takes it to a new level. I would have loved to get more about her friendships and relationships with her beat friend and family and more about her mom as that would have massively expanded her character, but it seemed like an afterthought on occasion in order to focus on the boys in the story. Boys who seemed to pop out of no where and characters and events that seemed to get randomly thrown together. I couldn’t route for any of the guys in the book either, because you were given nothing on them, no conclusive backgrounds or character development. The drama seemed misplaced and overdone for some events as well. I get where she was going and what the story could have been, but for the length of the book, I was expecting far more in character development, relationships and plot events. Won’t be returning to read the second book.

This book has all the thing! Love, hate, betrayal, blackmail, drugs… All in a funny, well written package that leaves you wanting so much more.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member