* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I enjoyed this book and it really pulled me in so far. I’m hoping the rest of the series continues to do the same. I really like the characters and I wanted a little drama, which we definitely get here.

Would recommend.

I love a high school drama, but this one fell a bit flat.

Ruby attends one of the most prestigious schools in England as a scholarship student. James is a rich entitled lacrosse player. Ruby works hard at the school's event planning and James pulls a prank to blow up the first school dance of the year. As punishment, James is forced to quit lacrosse and join Ruby on the event planning committee where the two but heads but are also drawn to each other.

So this is cheesy and full of extremes that are typical of a teen drama ala One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl. But that is the beauty in these type of stories to me. How it fell flat is I didn't feel like the characters were developed well enough, they just felt cookie cutter. I can't put my finger on exactly what was missing, but I wasn't entirely drawn into the characters. I do think it would've been better to delve more into some of the side characters like Lin and Lydia. The ending also felt abrupt and left the story feeling like it wasn't a fully developed book.

Tropes
* Private school
* Geeky girl/cool boy
* He gets in trouble and his punishment is to work with her
* Enemies to lovers

2.5 stars

I was so excited to see Save Me as a Read Now on NetGalley, and also kicking myself for not downloading the following books while they were available!

James and Ruby couldn’t be more opposite. He comes from a life of privilege, deep rooted tradition and expectations. Ruby is a scholarship student at the most prestigious private school, goal oriented and completely focused on getting herself into Oxford. When their lives intersect, sparks fly and drama ensues.

I absolutely devoured this book! James and Ruby are the perfect example of why I enjoy a good slow burn romance. The yearning and tension between the two is deliciously drawn out. Too often with new releases, the couple gets together so quickly and I grow bored. This book had a perfect balance of push and pull and left me with knots in my stomach. I honestly love when a story can do this, it doesn’t happen often.

Ruby already knows what she wants in life and has a plan to see her dreams fulfilled. James on the other hand, his family has had his future mapped out for him his entire life. He wants more for himself and struggles to accept his familial obligations. Ruby helps him to realize that he deserves happiness.

It was great to see how Ruby and James navigate their differences and try to figure out how they can fit into each other’s lives. As a reader, this made them feel more realistic.

Save Me ended on a major cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see where Ruby and James’ story goes from here. I will be eagerly awaiting the release of book 2!

If you love a good dose of drama in your romance, along with longing and tension, then this is the book for you.

5 stars – Save Me by Mona Kasten was a fabulous read! This is the first book in a trilogy and a show on Amazon Prime. It’s an addictive story. You’ve got the super wealthy James Beaufort and his peers at a private school, Maxton Hall. Ruby Bell is another student but on a much lower economic level. Ruby sees something that involves James’ sister, and he goes out of his way to make sure that Ruby doesn't share it with anyone. There are several story lines happening here and they are good. You definitely need to block off some time to read this as you won’t want to put it down. Plus, it ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER! So have book 2 available to read.

A big “Thank You” to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me to receive a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

ate this up! i cannot wait to get into the rest of the series. there's just something about rich kids at boarding school that just sucks you right in. also am excited to watch the show!

So I went into Save Me having already watched and loved the adaptation, Maxton Hall. I was one of the people who finished the first season and immediately went looking for the English translation of the books, only to discover they didn’t exist yet. It’s safe to say when I saw this come up on the request form for July, I was all over it!

Save Me did not let me down! The adaptation is very true to the source material, but with the book we connect with the characters better and have more insight into the motivation behind their actions. I’m obsessed with the chemistry and tension between Ruby and James, and the forbidden different worlds conflict that stands between them.

This is a series so keep that in mind in regards to an HEA, and this is your warning to check your triggers because it’s not always pretty, but it’s SO bingeable! I forgot how intense the ending was going to be and now I’m running to read Save You so I can see what happens next!

**Thank you to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy! All opinions are my own.**

This was so good! I absolutely devoured it. I love a good enemies to lovers and this one did not disappoint! Ruby and James are everything. The drama and angst had me hooked until the end. And that cliffhanger has me wanting to dive into the next book immediately. I definitely recommend this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I watched (and loved) the Maxton Hall show before reading Save Me, so it’s no surprise I had a great time with the book too! It gave me major Wattpad flashbacks – I was giggling and kicking my feet like I was 15 again.
The writing is simple but very bingeable, filled with teen drama, romance, and angst that keeps you hooked.
I love elite private school settings and I really liked that it’s told in dual POV – we get to see both Ruby and James’ sides as their relationship shifts from 'enemies' to friends to something more. They come from completely different worlds, but they still see and understand each other in a way no one else does and I really love their dynamic.
Ruby’s ambition and determination to chase her dreams really stood out to me, and James… James "how do you want me" Beaufort??? I was ready to bite something when I read that.
I’m starting the second book immediately!
～Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!

5 Stars.

🏰 The vibes:
- Fancy private school
- Good girl / bad boy
- Book 1 in trilogy
- Rich kids behaving badly
- New adult
- Open door

🏰 My thoughts:
Welcome to Maxton Hall. We have studious Ruby who is organized and focused on getting into Oxford. All she wants is to blend in and be invisible. Then we have James who is co-captain of the school lacrosse team. He’s set up to take over his dad’s massive clothing business (regardless of what he wants); he’s popular and is a major party boy at school. When James takes a prank too far, he’s kicked off lacrosse and forced to help Ruby in her school events club. It’s very much the good girl and the bad boy who meet and both are forever changed.

🏰 Wow. So many feelings. First of all, I was very entertained and couldn’t put this down. There are so many teenage train wrecks that you can’t look away from. I LOVED this story. I don’t agree with the choices of the characters, but I really loved this story.

🏰 The author wrote these characters well because they are deeply flawed (specifically James and his group of friends) but I was still rooting for James. I so badly wanted James to do the right thing, and at almost every turn when it really counted- he chose wrong. And somehow I still loved the guy. That’s good writing. It was gut wrenching to see what he dragged Ruby through, but having James’ pov was so necessary and a strong part of the writing. His POV was where you see his intentions and where his mind is at, and that’s where you feel so much for the guy and just want him to have a win.

🏰 I loved Ruby so much. She had such grace and class at almost every turn. She brought out the best in others, and I wanted to give her a big hug the entire time.

🏰 There’s a situation involving a student and a teacher, and I felt extremely uncomfortable with that entire storyline. It wasn’t necessarily romanticized, but it wasn’t frowned upon as it should have been by the peers involved. It gave me the major ick.

🏰 Overall- this was an entertaining read, and I completely devoured it and immediately dove into book 2.

🏰 Book is set in the UK, so their age for drinking is different from the US, but lots of highschool parting involving alcohol, drugs, and sexual activities mentioned. This book is labeled New Adult - not YA, which I appreciated.

Note- open door (1 scene); language

Release date: July 1, 2025.

Thank you so much to Mona Kasten, Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley, and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

*note- posted on bookbub, Amazon, Instagram (posted on main feed 7/15/25) , goodreads, Storygraph, and barnes and noble. Links provided.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I enjoyed the show so much. The drama was so fun to watch. For once, I'm going to say the show is better than the book. The show was able to add scenes that developed the
relationship between Ruby and James more. I didn’t really buy their connection in the book.
I will definitely read the sequels just to see where the story goes and how it compares to the show.

This book demands a proper binge, I devoured it in less than a day and honestly it was even better than I was expecting!

I loved Maxton Hall and was hoping that someone would publish an English version of the books so I could read them. More often than not I feel like the books are so much better than the TV show but I was incredibly impressed with how similar the two are. From start to finish I was immediately pulled right back into this storyline and being able to read it from both Ruby and James perspectives was really an excellent experience. I love stories told from multiple POVs because it allows me to get in the heads of the MCs and see the story from different angles.

From the show I knew the ending of this book was intense and reading it felt even more emotional. I'm glad I already have access to book two because that cliff hanger was brutal!

If you love a true enemies to lovers story with an academic setting this book needs be pushed to the tippy-top of your TBR .

Thank you Mona Kasten, Rachel Ward, Net Galley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Save Me by Mona Kasten delivers on the promise of a standard YA romance, offering a predictable yet comforting framework for fans of the genre. Yet, its reliance on explicit narration over evocative portrayal ultimately renders the reading experience less sophisticated and more rudimentary than it could be. While it may satisfy a craving for a straightforward romantic escape, the novel's tendency towards telling rather than showing detracts from its potential for deeper emotional impact and character richness.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for the complimentary copy!

This book is out now!

I like many people out there indulged in Maxton Hall last summer and I knew it was a German book and was so sad when I learned there was not an English translated version out there. But lucky for us US readers, Berkley picked up all 3 in the series!

I don't normally like to watch the adaptation before reading the book but this was a special case and honestly this was such a refresher. Because I have to admit from what I remember of the tv show, they really adapted it closely to the book! So if you are a fan of this book, you should be happy with how the tv show is done.

I felt that the book did really well with classism amongst high schoolers. Ruby attends Maxton Hall on a scholarship and is not part of the privilege crowd like her counterparts. And her paths are crossed with the playboy, super popular, James Beaufort for a reason I don't want to spoil. Ruby wants no part in his world and because of that James is immediately intrigued. There is just something about James that just stands out for me. He is in this world of privilege and has all these expectations from his father but you can just tell he wants more from life and not to be part of that world. And meeting Ruby who lives just a simple life with her parents and sister really makes me him want to be something different. At one point he states "Ruby gave me a feeling I've never known before. Which is that, with her at my side, everything is possible. A beautiful, ugly lie. Because the truth is that for me, nothing is possible. Unlike her, the world is not my oyster. The course of my life is preset."

Despite their rocky start, I just love seeing their relationship progress from friends to more. Some things had happen that at the moment they were not talking to one another but landed an opportunity to spend a few days at Oxford to interview for college. What she had not been expecting was to also find James there as well. A moment before her first interview, he sees her in the common room where the students were waiting to be called in, he reaches out his hand and strokes her wrist and wishes her "Good luck" - SWOOON

Towards the end of the book, I feel bad for both characters - for James because something happens and clearly rocked his world and he becomes a shell of himself. And then for Ruby because she knows this isn't him even if she doesn't know the reason why he's gone back to drinking and drugs. And the book kind of ends on a cliffhanger after she sees James and another girl kiss - gasp! I am very excited to get to the next book to see what happens and I hope these characters get their act together (okay I know they are young but let me liveee).

I highly recommend if you love angst, academia, enemies to lovers, rich boy x poor girl!

Save Me by Mona Kasten
-Maxton Hall, Book 1-

3.5/5⭐️
1/3🌶️ (1 scenes, lots of innuendo)
1/3🦋

•My Thoughts•
This is a quick read full of teen angst and drama. Definitely NOT my usual type of read but I was intrigued by the show (which I haven’t seen) and the love people have for it! Plus NetGalley got me with their ”read now”. The writing was engaging and addictive. The characters were a hot mess EXCEPT for the FMC. Ruby was amazing - little level headed, go-getter and I loved how she valued herself when it mattered. James had moments where I liked him and moments where I wanted to whack him in the back of the head. Through it all, though, you understand why he is the way he is and I just wanted to hug him and pat his head. I didn’t like all the drinking, drugs and the school culture of the mean and wealthys. I did like Ruby, her family and friends, and the way Ruby and James intrigued and complemented each other. Did I love this? Not really. Was it addictive and easy read? Absolutely and that ending has me super curious as to how things are going to come around! Good thing I got book 2 on “read now” as well…

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing and Mona Kasten for the copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing for an early copy of Save Me by Mona Kasten! 💖
Ok so... did I actually like this more than the Maxton Hall tv show?!?! Um yeah! I LOVED getting some more details and getting to imagine it all happening (but still having some basis of what the characters and settings might look like 👀)! For some reason, in the show, James seems so much worse than he does in the book (or maybe that's just a toxic book boyfriend for me lol) but I kinda enjoyed him more as a book character! You can see him soften and get hurt versus in the show where it can be a little less depth. I also adored Ruby's character! As a stressed out, fairly uptight girlie, I loved getting to hear her narrate about her planner and her colors but also losing control of things (like her feelings for James 🥹).
ALSO, for some reason, the romance felt a lot more like the main point of the story but also about Ruby trying to get into Oxford! I loved having a little more depth to the situation and the characters! If you didn't like the Maxton Hall show, I would maybe try out the book anyway because it had similar but also kind of different vibes! Also, if you liked the show, I'd also recommend the book!
The book ended with a cliffhanger/heartbreaking ending and I am so glad I already have access to book 2 because that was WILD! 👀

Fans of Maxton m Hall this book is for you!
After I watched the series I was disappointed to find the book on which the series is based was not in English. That all changes with the publication of Save Me in English! This was a fun read as I was able to easily visualize the book in my head based on the Prime streaming show.



"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

4 ⭐️
Thank you, Berkley Romance | Penguin Random House
& NetGalley for my gifted advanced book copy 💕

“Save Me” delves into the stark socio-status disparities in society. Ruby comes from a hardworking, blue-collar family that loves her dearly. She’s a perfectionist who finds solace in completing tasks, making list, organizing, etc. Ruby works tirelessly to achieve perfection, make her parents proud, secure admission to Oxford, and remain invisible at Maxton Hall, an elite academy attended by the wealthy and powerful.

Initially, Ruby appears meek, studious, quiet, and submissive. She doesn’t like to draw attention to herself. However, her life takes a turn when she meets James. James is the complete opposite of Ruby—a typical elite, posh, and snobbish playboy. His character unleashes a confident and no-nonsense attitude in Ruby, and I thoroughly LOVED seeing her transformation.

Their relationship starts rocky, built on lies and reluctance. As they spend time together, they gradually grow comfortable with each other, revealing the beautiful and vulnerable sides they bring out of one another.

Mona Kasten’s writing is exceptional in its ability to address socio-status disparities with tact and grace. Her writing style is both swoon-worthy and engaging.

While the story is captivating, there are some repetitiveness and filler chapters that detract from the overall reading experience. And given this was a quick read, Ruby and James relationship happened pretty quickly and that took away from feeling their love had any substance to it.

Can’t wait for book two, “Save You” 💕


All my reviews are my own opinion.

This book had me begging for more.

It was written beautifully and was exactly what I expected and I cant wait to get onto book 2.

I loved the show so I had high hopes when I seen it! The book follows really closely to the show which I absolutely love.

I received a free copy of, Save Me, by Mona Kasten, , from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book one in The Maxton Hall series. Ruby Bell does not really fit in at Maxton Hall, but she is here on a scholarship, at the exclusive British School. Im glad I did not go to this school, the students are way to immature. I could not get into this book at all.