Rina KentDark Romance · Romance
Steel Princess
Synopsis
The middle volume of the central trilogy picks up the war between Aiden King and Elsa Steel after the destruction promised in the first book becomes reality. Having lost a battle, Elsa is far from surrendering; her stated aim is to dethrone the king who set out to ruin her, even as their fates grow more tangled.
Aiden, for his part, accepts the escalation on his own uncompromising terms: his rules or none at all. As the two circle each other, the antagonism that defined their first encounters keeps shifting toward something neither fully controls, and the buried family history between the Kings and the Steels continues to surface.
This installment deepens the relationship while advancing the larger mystery, and it ends without full resolution, leading directly into the trilogy's finale. It carries forward the dark, combative tone and dual perspective of the series and is not intended to be read out of sequence.
How it reads
- Okay, I get it now. I knew the books were all interconnected, but I did not realise Rina Kent was basically going to hold the rest of the story hostage until the next book. 😂 This one is absolutely not standalone, and that cliffhanger had me sitting there like, excuse me?? I’m supposed to just stop here? I actually really enjoyed watching the power struggle between Aiden and Elsa continue. Their whole dynamic is so toxic, obsessive and completely chaotic, but somehow I’m still completely invested in them. Elsa trying to push back against Aiden while he is determined to keep control makes for some seriously entertaining tension, and the deeper we get into their history, the more I want to know what the hell actually happened between them. I will say the middle dragged a little. There were moments where I felt like we were circling the same conflicts rather than actually moving the story forward. But then the ending comes along and basically throws everything back into chaos. So yes, I’m officially trapped. I need to know what happens next, and thankfully I already have the next book waiting.
- 3.50 stars Male Lead: Aiden King Female Lead: Elsa Steel Elsa is the type who feels like she’s failing herself if she doesn’t fight. This is what Aiden thought and he's not wrong after all. Elsa has always been a stubborn one but that doesn't change the fact that he's literally the same. He's not the one to lose in a fight either. Who's gonna win? Who's gonna lose then? Both has the same level of ego. I've always rooting for Elsa to win any mind games Aiden started. It's just not fair how he thinks he can treat her however he wants just because she doesn't remember anything about her past life. It's also hurts me the way little Aiden was kidnapped and tortured by Elsa's parents. Let me remind you that all of these happened because of those stupid rivalry between Jonathan and Ethan, Elsa's father. When I got to Elsa's pov of her finally knowing the truth, it's really breaks me. The fact that Elsa forgets everything and trying everything she could to gain her memories back because her nightmares has been haunted her. On the other side, Aiden who remembers everything. Being kidnapped when he was a child, being tortured in a basement, lost his mother without getting to see her for the last time. His father, Jonathan was too busy with his work. How f••••• up was that? To read Rina Kent's characters' backgrounds are not for the weak. I survived Levi's and Astrid's. Now, I almost survived Aiden's and Elsa's. I know Aiden's book is a trilogy and has way too many chapters and words than Levi's but still, Levi's traumatised childhood is less hurt than Aiden's. I couldn't even imagine on to the next characters we have left. I'm weak but I think crying by reading a book is heaven.