Brutal Boys Cry Blood by Steffanie Holmes

This post may contain affiliate links. If a purchase is made using these links, I will receive a small commission from the sale

Brutal Boys Cry Blood by Steffanie Holmes

Book Info

Brutal Boys Cry Blood by Steffanie Holmes
Series: Dark Academia #2
Rating: five-stars Book ratings explained
Genres: Dark Romance, New Adult Romance
Pages: 424
ASIN: B09DB2PZ2X
Published: 10/12/2021
Available on
Purchase at: Amazon | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU
Find on

Don’t get killed on Devil’s Night.

I thought I was close to figuring out the truth about the mysterious death of my roommate. But Blackfriars University still holds her secrets close.

In the name of the Father…

Father Sebastian Pearce – my priest, my teacher, my friend. The man who tempted my into sin with that rich, commanding voice. The man who had me over an altar...in the biblical sense. The one man in the world I’m forbidden to love.

...the Son…

William Windsor-Forsyth – the dark prince who shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. He’s as cruel as he is beautiful, and he’s back to make sure I don’t forget that he’s royalty and I’m the freak.

...and the Holy Spirit…

In a moonlit ceremony of obscenity and excess, the Orpheus Society made me one of their own. But that doesn’t mean I’ll keep their secrets. I’m here to expose a killer, even if the price of justice is betraying the two men I love.

I’ve said my prayers,
and poured my libations.

The old gods are listening.
They demand sacrifice.

Amen.

Brutal Boys Cry Blood is a dark bully romance and part two of the Dark Academia series. If you enjoy tales of clever heroines, ancient rites, secret societies, cruel princes and wicked priests, dusty libraries and decadent parties, twisted relationships and buried secrets, then prepare to enter the halls of Blackfriars University. You may never return.

Brutal Boys Cry Blood - My Review

Book review from Glowstars.net, 5 stars. Book cover: Brutal Boys Cry Blood by Steffanie Holmes

For me, reading Brutal Boys Cry Blood was a lesson in why you shouldn’t leave it 18 months between reading the two parts of a duet. I pretty much went into this book having no clue what was going on and I only had myself to blame – it had been sitting on my Kindle since shortly after its release. But being the stubborn ass I am, I wasn’t going to give in to my failing memory. I powered through and it didn’t take long for the details to come back to me.

After all the difficulties of her first year at Blackfriars University, George finally has an in with the members of the Orpheus Society and has a chance and discovering what happened to her roommate, Keely, and the other girls that went missing before her. If only it were that simple. She’s got to deal with her feelings for both William and Sebastian and the shared history that’s come up between the two guys. Even when the truth about that Devil’s Night is revealed, George is thrust into a dilemma between holding those to blame accountable and taking down innocent people in the process.

For the first three-quarters of the book, the storyline did what it did, went where you expected it to go. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and it didn’t stop it from throwing up a few surprises (some more enjoyable than others), but it did feel a little predictable. Then just when you think things are in a position to get all tied up, Holmes starts throwing out some serious curveballs.

Brutal Boys Cry Blood is a different kind of dark to the grey of Pretty Girls Make Graves. Much of the darkness in the earlier book came from the bully aspect whereas in this book it comes from the perversion of mythology and the way that causes some of the characters to act. Despite the heavy nature of some of the subject matter, when combined with the rest of the story and the way it’s written, it doesn’t push too far into darkness.

This book took everything I loved about Pretty Girls Make Graves and made it better. It was still beautifully descriptive at times, had an amazing gothic setting and was steeped in history and mythology but it also transitioned from more of a young adult read to a new adult one. And yes, there was more sacrilegious altar sex, just as I hoped. Really, what more could you want from a read?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top
Data protection
I, Vic Pires (Place of residence: United Kingdom (UK)), process personal data to operate this website only to the extent technically necessary. All details in my privacy policy.
Data protection
I, Vic Pires (Place of residence: United Kingdom (UK)), process personal data to operate this website only to the extent technically necessary. All details in my privacy policy.