I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?

Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.

Short and Sweet Review

Jordyn is about to start her first semester in college and she chose to go to an HBCU, which has her parents heated but deep down she knows this was the right choice. Jordyn becomes friends with her dorm mates Vanessa, Loren, and Kammy and they quickly become a little family. When Vanessa mentions that her brother is getting out of prison soon and needs a place to stay the girls say yes but one day quickly turns into something more long term. Devonte is a bit older and he seems wise beyond his years and he quickly makes himself at home and starts offering advice, but Jordyn begins to notice that some of his suggestions are just pure ignorance and harmful. Devonte’s group of followers rapidly grows from just the girls in the dorm to more students, and Jordyn knows she needs to act fast before she falls into Devonte’s web of lies and isn’t able to recognize facts from lies.

Let me just start off by saying if Tiffany D. Jackson is writing it, I’m immediately buying it. When I first read the synopsis for this book I knew exactly what it was based on, and if you don’t know its about Larry Ray the dad who lived in his daughter’s college dorm and made a cult. Anyway in our book we have something similar but with Vanessa’s brother and I was interested to see what Jackson would do with this story and I was pleased. I’m always interested in cults because, why are you in one and what did they say to get you to join? It starts off slowly in this book Devonte needs to get back on his feet and his first couple days he makes the girls meals, so can you really kick someone out when they’re cooking for you? How about when they save your life? Things like that begin to build up and we can see Jordyn, Loren, and Kammy are uncomfortable but they don’t want to say no either. Jordyn is our main character and she’s smart she can see through the lies but she also feels like she found a family with these girls and doesn’t want to lose them by being defiant. Jordyn also has a romantic interest, Nick, who also happens to be the only white guy on campus. This is used against Jordyn and Devonte does bring race into things a lot. The things Devonte would say were crazy and no one would stop him either because they were afraid or they already fell under his spell. It begins to get dangerous for Jordyn when it becomes evident that she isn’t falling for what Devonte is selling and he and his members won’t stop until they get her to fall in line. Honestly its just crazy to see how things like this happen and how people just become someone you wouldn’t even recognize and you can see people like Devonte pray on people who don’t have any where else to go or someone to turn to. This book definitely has a sinister undertone to it and I was always on the edge of my seat worried about Jordyn’s safety because there are no rules here and anything is fair game. We also learn a bit about Jordyn’s brother who passed away and that will come back full circle. I will say the one bright side of this book was Jordyn’s relationship with Nick I loved seeing it develop. The twist at the end was shocking to me because I definitely wasn’t expecting it but it was a good one and it wrapped everything up nicely.

Overall, such a good book! Jackson can do no wrong in my eyes and this book is a testament to that. This book will have you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out if Jordyn will be able to successfully win this game of cat and mouse. Pick up this book today, you won’t regret it!