Dive back into the sexy side of the Upper East Side with the second billionaire romance from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde.I finally have everything I ever wanted—fame and fortune and literary success.Only one problem: I lost my muse.He was tall, dark, and handsome. Broody, enigmatic, alluring, and right for me in every way.Until he wasn’t. Until I lost everything.And I can’t lose it … wasn’t. Until I lost everything.
And I can’t lose it all again. I’ll do anything to keep it.
Even seeing him again…
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A heart stopping, gripping story full of drama that will have you on the edge of your seat! Like watching reality TV but in book form!!
This is the second installment in the series and it blew my mind as well as caused my heart to about beat out of my chest! Especially towards the end!
I really admired the way Natalie became, how she handles herself now, she seems more sure of herself! When she reconnects with a certain man, needless to say the drama is mind blowingly good! It’s almost like watching a reality show, thats my take! It was delicious in parts, there was also some really great family/friendships and a few surprises!
So flipping good! A definite must read series! Literally cannot wait for more!!! So excited for the final part of the trilogy!
4.5 how can they be so cruel stars!
Penn and Natalie’s story continues with twists and turns I NEVER expected. This story leaves you REELING for the next!! Holy cracker jacks…..Cruel Fortune picks up in the same fashion as the first book, twisted friendships, glitz and glamour, bored socialites, and more money than people know what to do with. Natalie is thrust back into the world that nearly broke her the first time.
This time around, Natalie has success on her side. She’s no longer the naive lamb from the first book. She’s learnt her lessons, she doesn’t trust easily, but she’s still easily swayed into the life of the Upper East Side. Every page of this book had me second guessing who to trust, what is the truth, and what’s going to happen next. The lessons learnt, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me thrice….the whole world is coming down.
Cruel Fortune is quite the segue to Cruel Legacy; the conclusion of this twisted game of power, glitz, and the riches. I’m dying to read Natalie and Penn’s finale, these books have me sitting at the edge of my seat!!
Just..wow! What a great read! The twists and turns of Cruel Money are nothing compared to this! Cruel Fortune picks you up and hurls you back into the convoluted lives of the crew, with the murk getting murkier! Natalie is swung from pillar to post finding her trust abused and misused.
With insights into her thinking, that of Penn, and also of Katherine, we are taken on breathless journey of love, hate, old grievances, lust and betrayal, in a tight, well written and totally compelling plot. And the finale? Breathless stuff! Is it July yet? Please?
I was very excited to receive my first ever K.A. Linde ARC. The Record Series was one of my fave series to-date that’s why I signed up for this one… Of course I had to read the previous books because this was part of a Trilogy…
The Cruel Trilogy tells the love story of Penn Kensington and Natalie Bishop… Set in the Big Apple where there’s an obvious chasm between the haves and the have-nots… It’s your typical rich heir-poor working girl tale… like a twisted, modern day Cinderella story.
Book number two, shows you how Natalie rose above the storm a year after that massive heartbreak… she got everything going on—a rising confidence, a generous book deal… except nothing is what it seems.
I admired that she became fiercer and more candid, but she also became more reticent and apprehensive—which I can’t blame her for.
I loved the story and the series as a whole, so far. I know it’s ultimately about Penn and Nat’s love journey, but with what happened… I really did root for the other guy. Given the fact that it seemed he fought hard to be with Nat and did what he could to be with her but omissions can really taint good intentions no matter how you spin your reasons… and after this, at the back of my mind, I was still rooting for the underdog… the one who loved Nat from afar… but was it really a sincere kind of love or just mere fascination?
And Nat… Well… I don’t know how I feel about her towards the end… I know feelings usually run high during those kind of situations but fü€king someone in a hotel room that another guy reserved for them is kind of repugnant no matter what… I don’t know. Just kind of my opinion… I know deep inside she still loves Penn but still there’s a small part of me that was rooting for the underdog… I hope he redeems himself somehow.
This is like reading a combination of Gossip Girl, the new Dynasty and Cruel Intentions all rolled into one…a guilty pleasure… it’s a little over the top, but also one worth indulging on… I can’t wait for the last installment!
K A Linde takes you on a crazy ride with this book, and you will find yourself alternately screaming at the characters and screaming at Linde herself.
A brief warning before we get to the good stuff: this review will contain spoilers from Cruel Money, the first book in the Cruel trilogy. So if you haven’t read that–and if you haven’t read it, what in the world is wrong with you–be warned.
Cruel Fortune picks up a few days after Cruel Money ended, letting you see the immediate effects of Natalie’s learning that Penn had a bet going on with Katherine regarding getting Natalie to fall in love with him. The rest of the book follows the aftermath.
I’m not going to talk plot with you because I worry I’ll give away something. Instead, I’m going to focus on a couple of things that K A Linde does that are SPECTACULAR.
That word “cruel” in the title. To accept it as part of the crew’s general practices would be to wildly diminish its impact. These people aren’t just cruel, they are vindictive. They are heartless. They are malicious. Every time they tell Natalie how wonderful she is (“You’re brilliant;” “You’re an incredible writer”), there is no genuine affection behind those words. There is no sincerity. They throw around platitudes and compliments to manipulate and coerce. To toy with and tease. Sometimes I wanted to grab Natalie by the shoulders and shout at her to NOT BELIEVE THEM.
But then I realized how much I, like Natalie, wanted to do that very thing.
Can you imagine what it would feel like to have that sort of attention, that sort of adulation from these people–from these wealthy, gorgeous, glamorous people? Can you imagine what it would feel like to be in the center of their orbit?
As frustrated as I got with Natalie’s inability to see the truth, I absolutely could understand why she didn’t want to. She says she wants nothing to do with their world, yet she is drawn to it. She finds inspiration in it, yes, but she also finds a place where she feels like–however unfounded that feeling may be–she belongs.
Which brings me to the other thing K A Linde does: she puts you in the mind of a character you didn’t know you needed to hear from until you do. This person who seemed one-note and static becomes more fully developed, more real, someone you want to know better. Someone you could even empathize with.
As Linde moves us to the final book in this trilogy, I look forward to what she’s going to do with these characters. What further cruelties will they inflict on each other? How will Natalie survive? At the end of Cruel Fortune, she is stronger, more worldly, even cynical to an extent. She has been fooled and fooled again. And now she knows the truth, about the crew, Penn, and herself. What will she do with that information?
I can’t wait to find out.
Good freaking heavens! My heart’s still racing from all the madness and anxiety these Upper East Siders gave me, and my mind’s still reeling, trying to catch up after everything that just went down.
“They would lie, cheat, and steal for what they thought belonged to them.”
Cruel Fortune has left me laying like a ball of exposed nerves, stunned speechless and completely stupefied. I mean, what a way to follow up on an already addicting and jaw-dropping book in the series! This was just as juicy and gripping and mind-blowing as Cruel Money, if not more.
After how that first book ended, I honestly didn’t know where or how things would go for the second installment of the series… but I couldn’t be happier with storyline that K.A. Linde gave us here. Talk about an incredible follow through! It was totally unexpected, yet so perfect.
“Abandon. That was what his lips tasted like.
Bliss. That was what his hands felt like.
Reverence. That was what his body sang to me.”
The book just took off running—like being dropped off right in the middle of an action scene. There was no dilly-dallying or whatsoever. We go straight to where Cruel Money left off, and the best part is… you won’t be able to put it down once you dive in. There’s just something so incredibly riveting about Natalie Bishop’s story that will have you glued to the pages of this book. You won’t stop until it’s over. If you thought Cruel Money was already unputdownable, then you’ve seen nothing yet. That was just a taste of what you’ll go through in Cruel Fortune.
“This world chewed me up and spit me out. And they just keep fucking winning. Even when they’re wrong, they always win.”
Natalie’s life—trying to make a name for herself and finding herself back in the trenches of the biting atmosphere of the Upper East Side, together with all of the crew, their secrets and lies, and this brilliantly crafted world of deception and manipulation, will undoubtedly have you biting your nails, fully overcome with anxiety and nerves and all the emotions a human body can feel all at once. It’s absolutely guaranteed to have you hooked, obsessed and chomping at the bit for the next book by the end of it. Trust me, you’ll be itching to get your hands on Cruel Legacy before this one’s even over.
Upper East-side definetely hold a lot of secrets! The city can allure and swallow your dream … no different with Natalie.
Cruel Fortune was the next chapter with more gripping secrets. I thought okay this will turn this way and No, it was all over with vengeance and mind play.. The story flowed like a river and there was more to it! Looking forward for the next chapter 🙂
Cruel Fortune had me on the edge of angst almost through the whole story. It was not what I was expecting! I was a bit muffed that it was not going the way I thought it would. I love Penn and Natalie, but this story takes a turn to the left and you are left unbalanced. With that said, I loved each and every word that Linde wrote. This book is not easily solved and you are not sure which way you are headed. Cruel Fortune is like driving a car with a blindfold on. You never see what is coming at you and yet you have this thrill of the unexpected.
I need book 3 STAT! The ending gave my little heart a flicker of hope. Yes it was pretty shady how it was coming to an end, but I smell there is something MORE coming up next. Linde gave Natalie and Penn a story you will never forget and my friends, it has only begun!!! I truly have no idea what to expect in the next book. My first thought after I finished this book….”WTF just happened?” Yeah, my kind of story!
* A review copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review *
I have to be honest and say I spent at least half of the story totally aggravated with the way the story line went. I can’t explain why because it is a major spoiler, but I’ll just say it wasn’t how I was expecting or hoping it would go.
Now even with that said, I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. I just liked the first book better and I am hoping things change for the third and final book. I understand why the storyline took this direction….it totally added to the angst factor of this story.
There isn’t a lot that I can say about this story because I don’t want to give anything away. Just know that this book was filled with more angst, lies, and secrets….just like the first book. This book also does have romance and sexy times. But not everything is what you think. This book will keep your attention until the very end.
I thought this was a good middle book in this trilogy. Even though this went in a completely different direction than I was expecting, it was another good addition to this addictive story.
I will say this….YES this book ends on a cliffhanger. There is one more book coming out in July. So if you don’t like cliffhangers you need to wait for the next book and binge read all 3 together. I thought this cliffy was rougher then the first book. I want the next book like YESTERDAY!!! I have to see where she is taking Natalie’s character. With the way she ended this book, I can’t wait to see what Natalie does. I have to say I didn’t like Natalie’s character as much in this book. She really kind of grated on my nerves. She wasn’t like the heroine we met in the first book. I can’t explain why. I just hope we get the old Natalie back in the final book.
This book is NOT a standalone novel. You do need to read book 1 first to understand this story. This book picks up right where book 1 ended. So this book won’t make sense if you don’t read Cruel Money first.
This is definitely a trilogy you need to add to your TBR list!!
Linde makes it hard not to love her stories. She makes it even harder to review them. Scandal meets backstabbing and dangerous attraction. How can one love a person when they are not even sure they like them? There in lies the paradox of Natalie and Penn. Buckle up for a manipulative ride as addictive as it frustrating.
WOOOOOWWWWW….
I am dying for book 3… And sooooooo #TeamPenn…
I don’t even know where to start on this, I feel like whatever I say will give something away….
So… This book picks up where the 1st one leaves off, slightly over 1 year later.
It does show an interesting flashback… Rubs hands together and gets the tissue out…
For all records everywhere, I LOVE Penn. I know this makes me extremely unhealthy…
I also abhor Katherine and am on the fence about Jane, I think there is more there and this crew is diabolical.
Still no happily ever afters in sight but… here is a small tease..
There was a silver haired Cinderella we all loved called Natalie…
And we thought her Prince was a Penn but then a Knight called Lewis shows up…
White or Dark we do not know… But a knight none the less..
She should really be careful, step on crack and it may all come tumbling down…
Her apple is her future and the wickedness is Katherine…
I highly recommend everything Miss Linde writes…
This is Cruel Intentions meets Mean Girls crosses with Something Creepy…
Side note: LOVED seeing Sutton and David in this one!
READ THIS NOW! YESSSS……
@linde6 K.A. Linde