I hadn’t realized the show and the book were connected—it’s definitely on my watch list now. I really enjoy stories set in a school environment, and I was honestly surprised by how much I liked this one.

I can see why they made this into a tv show and I think that’ll be a better way to consume this story. This wasn’t bad by any means but it also didn’t reinvent the wheel when it came to high school romance. I recognize that this was written in like 2016? 17? And you can definitely tell.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much to say, but I think if you enjoy the CW and that type of programming, you’d like this. The romance between Ruby and James I think could’ve had more …depth? He’s not really the nicest person and I understand it has to do with his background, but some of the stuff he does to her is low down. She’s better than me because I wouldn’t forgive that easily lol. I will say, I want to know how things continue once they get to Oxford so for that I’ll be staying tuned in to the series as the translations come out.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Berkeley for the arc!

"That was a lie. I've belonged to you since you threw my money back in my face, Ruby Bell."
This one’ll be a small one

<><><>
He’s never wanted anything in his life before, doesn’t know how to, but he wanted her.
<><><>

I fell in love with the show immediately after it came out, and getting to finally the read the book was so amazing. I loved making the connections, pointing out the differences/similarities, and just overall being able to finally see where the show came from. I do however wish that I had read the book first because I think because I watched the show first it did affect the way I read the book, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

But anyways, there’s something that I just love about the book, the plot, idea, and finally Ruby and James. Reading this makes me happy, makes me laugh, and just makes me smile. I’d definitely recommend and if you haven’t seen the show yet then I DEFINITELY reccomend the book before the show.


Now. Onto the main event…
——-> James & Ruby 🤍

I love them, their dynamic from the beginning was so funny. Like that scene in the closet at the very beginning made me laugh in the middle of an airport-
*ahem but moving in* Though they don’t count as an enemies to lovers -I don’t care what y’all say that man was in love immediately- it still was such a good love story. I liked watching their friendship grow from dislike(more on Ruby’s side) to trust and eventually seeing their relationship blossoming was really nice. I mean, there’s nothing unique about them, but they’re still so loveable and everytime James would make a mistake you’d feel it like a stab because all you want is for them to be together and happy forever. AND THE ENDING FREAKING UGHHH, but we’ll get to that in a bit…

In the end she’s the girl that works for everything and he’s the boy who’s never worked, opposites attract, gorgeous dynamic, and so cute.


Onto my man: James Beaufort
Damaged, athletic, rich, and FINE. Do I love? Yes, yes I do.
And he cares, deeply, about those he’s close to. I mean he’d do ANYTHING for his sister, absolutely anything. He’s just so wonderful, and it hurt when he would shut down and I just wanted to grab his shoulder and tell him, “Don’t let them break you.” 🥺


Now Future Ms. Oxford —> Ruby Bell
First off let’s just say I love her name. I’m cursive it looks gorgeous, and it’s just so muah 💋
BUT ANYWAYS, though she was dramatic at times I did like her character. She’s hardworking, strong, and kind. She does however have a problem with keeping things in her head….but honestly who doesn’t?

She’s just overall so girl power. She has a plan and has been set on it for YEARS, and now it’s just out of her grasp and honestly it just makes me so happy. I mean she comes from, not nothing, but not much and she’s managed to score a place at Maxton Hall the school of the rich and an interview (+a hopeful place) at Oxford.

<><><><><><>


The only thing that I did find a little disappointing was that there was so many added things that were left unfinished or unexplained that I found them unnecessary. But other than that I truly did enjoy this book and I think that ending killed me because what. I was not expecting that, like I thought the show ending was rough but this one…dear heavens kill me now. I CANNOT wait for the second book and I just KNOW I’m gonna devour the rest of the series both book and show.

After watching the TV show, I was excited to finally read the book once it was translated. It delivered exactly what I hoped for, a deeper look into the characters and their story. The romance felt real and the emotions were spot on.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I LOVED this book 🥹 If you watched Maxton Hall and immediately went looking for the books, SAME. I was so bummed to find out they hadn’t been released in the US yet. So when I got the chance to read and review this ARC? I jumped on it. I love a good screen adaptation, but NOTHING beats the book. 🙌🏻

In Save Me, Mona Kasten delivers a beautiful story of young love, societal pressure, and navigating life at Maxton Hall—a prestigious private school full of secrets and expectations.

Ruby Bell and James Beaufort are total opposites. He’s the rich, arrogant, too-hot-for-his-own-good, lacrosse-playing Mr. Popular. Ruby’s a lower-class, type-A scholarship student just trying to stay under the radar. The dual POV lets you get inside their heads. You see James’s broken side behind the cocky facade and Ruby’s fire as she holds her own.

Their tension 🤌🏻 The banter, the slow-burn longing, the way they push each other’s buttons while secretly wanting more—I ate it up 👏🏻 I was all in on their growth, flaws, and that pull between them from day one.

The plot kept me hooked with twists, swoony moments, and lines I wanted to highlight and save forever. And that slow burn?? Worth it. 🥹

Can’t wait for book two!

Spice Level: 🌶️.5

Tropes:
💥 Enemies to lovers
🎓 Private school drama
🚪 Forced proximity
🔒 Secrets

4 stars.

Okay, full caveat up front: I love the Maxton Hall show, so I had an extra fun time reading this book! I loved having all the visuals of the actors and the extra details that the show includes in my head as I read the book.

If you've watched and loved the show, I really think you'll eat this book up.

If you haven't watched the show, here's what I think you need to know...

The book itself is translated from German, and that reads a little differently (than what I'm used to, at least). I would call it a "meat and potatoes" kind of book. It reads plainly, just as it is, without a lot of extra details or filler. However, there's still so much to enjoy, so I would definitely recommend giving it a try!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

My review is already up on Goodreads and will be posted on Instagram on Thursday, July 3.

I’m not a huge contemporary romance reader by my college-aged daughter insisted I watch Maxton Hall and I did binge it in two days and really enjoyed it. The story and book did not reinvent the romance or enemies to lovers wheel, but nonetheless, it is highly readable and enjoyable. The show followed the book almost exactly (and wow those actors nailed these characters) but since the book offered both Ruby and James’ POV you really get to see another side of James that the show could not totally explore, which gave the book more depth. The translation here is beautifully done. If there are any librarians on the fence about whether or not this series is worth it, believe me when I say your romance readers will devour it.

This book releases today; I saw a promo video for the TV series adaptation and found it interesting, so when I came across the English edition, I was curious to read it, and let me tell you, there’s something addictive about it. Now I get why it’s been translated into so many languages.

Book 1 in the Maxton Hall series translated from the German language novel.
This is an intense and slow burn college age romance of Ruby and James.
She’s won a scholarship to one of England’s most prestigious school. All she wants to do is put her time, keep her head down and graduate. All of that changes when she discovers a secret about a certain student that puts her in the spot light.
In an effort to keep the secret James befriends Ruby. However, as they get to know each other, impressions change and feelings develop and an unconventional enemies to lovers romance develops. The push and pull and the drama surrounding them made this an interesting read.

The way that Save Me took over my life and became my entire personality is shameful. The whole book was one long game of will they or won’t they, and I could not put it down. I stayed up until 2 a.m. reading it, and I have no regrets. It’s set at a prestigious private high school and is filled with drama, angst, secrets, toxic relationships, and rich kids behaving badly. It was utterly addictive and I need to read the next book immediately.

I adored Ruby and James. She’s a hard working scholarship student who is passionate, intense, and driven. And he’s the grumpy, unimpressed heir to a billion pound company who treats people like they’re disposable and only cares about lacrosse. They couldn’t be more opposite from each other, but they complement the other so well. They initially hate each other, but when they’re forced to help plan a school dance together, they spend time around each other and become friends. As they develop feelings, James fights against it because Ruby is everything his parents will never accept. Their relationship had all of the tension, chemistry, and pining I could ever ask for, and I could hardly stand how delicious it was.

I’m fully obsessed with this series and plan to start the next book immediately, and once I finish that, I’ll binge watch the TV series, and then I’ll impatiently wait and gnaw at the bars of my enclosure until I get my hands on the third book.

Thank you to Berkley Romance, Berkley, Penguin Random House, Mona Kasten, and NetGalley for the ARC.

📔Save Me
✏️ Mona Kasten
📆 July 1, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

READ IF YOU LIKE:
👜 private high school
👜 rich kids behaving badly
👜 strangers to enemies to friends to lovers
👜 they’re from different worlds
👜 bad boy x good girl
👜 will they or won’t they
👜 forced proximity
👜 forbidden love
👜 dual POV

Save Me is the first book in the Mona Kasten series that the Prime Video series Maxon Hall is based on, finally published in English. I enjoyed the show for the teenage, bully romance that it is, so I knew what to expect going into Save Me.

Obviously, the book is able to give a lot more context than what we saw on the TV show. It's told in dual POV (although more chapters are from Ruby), and I enjoyed getting to know the inner dialogue of both Ruby and James. I still found James to be the entitled brat that he is in the TV show, but he's reminiscent of many other TV and literary bad boys who fall for the good girl!

Again, because I'd previously watched the Maxon Hall series, I knew what to expect from Save Me, so there were few surprises. It follows the formula of the enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract, bullying trope, so it's not reinventing the wheel, but I enjoyed reading the base text for the popular streaming series. Like the first season, it ends on a cliffhanger… what will happen next with Ruby and James?

I received an advanced copy via NetGalley and voluntarily left a review.

Happy Pub Day!

Thank you to @BerkleyRomance, @monakasten & @netgalley for the free #gifted copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Save Me
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Mona Kasten
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬:Maxton Hall, Book 1
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬:355

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:
𝙍𝙪𝙗𝙮 comes from a lower income family. She is a scholarship student at Maxton Hall with hopes of going to Oxford. She is a planner girl, head of the events committee. She caught one of her teachers with a student (Lydia - twin sister of James).
𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 comes from a wealthy family and is head of the lacrosse team and thinks he can get away with anything since his parents donate a good amount of money to the school. He confronts Ruby about his sister’s predicament and then pulls a prank on her at the school dance that gets him pulled off the team and right into the events committee with Ruby.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬:
YA Romance
Private/Prep School
Sports Romance - Lacrosse
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Family Drama/Expectations

𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: I absolutely fell in love with this book! I read it in one sitting! I enjoy grumpy/morally gray MMC’s and strong FMC’s that give it right back at them. Ruby did this well with James. I loved all of the angst and banter between them. I really loved when they went to Beauforts in London to try on the Victorian clothing. Such a bummer that his parents were there. I adored the relationship development between these two - how they didn’t want to like each other, kept denying it but it was truly inevitable. James pulling her out of the pool had me swooning - the car ride home. There were so many tender moments just between them.

Even though a good chunk of the side characters were jerks, I really enjoyed meeting them too. I was slightly confused with what happened between Wren and Ruby when she transferred to Maxton Hall. I will patiently wait for the next book in the series, until then I will watch the adaptation of the Netflix show.

𝐂𝐖:Bullying, Teenage Drug/Alcoholism, Physical Abuse, Student/Teacher Sexual Relationship

Ruby, who is attending Maxton Hall on a scholarship, has always felt like an outsider compared to the other students who are millionaires and heirs to some of the most influential people. However, she hasn't let her lack of fortune stop her from being a kind and caring person. So when she finds herself confronted with Maxton Hall's golden boy, James Beaufort, and tries to buy her silence, she can't help but laugh him off.

Their relationship progresses as they are forced to work together for the school's party planning committee and things take a turn as James realizes that there's more to Ruby than he originally thought. I felt like his POV chapters, while limited, really carried a heavy impact.

There was also an element of high expectations due to the fact that the show has such a soft place in my heart, but the book exceeded them. Being able to see into the depths of Ruby and James' feelings really carried the book for me.

I’ve been wanting to watch the Prime show based on this book series but decided to read book one first since it was being translated into English.

The writing is very young adult but the topics and events on page are more mature. It has a Gossip Girl vibe to it. It’s an entertaining read even though I’m definitely not the target audience for it. There is a cliffhanger ending.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Save Me is the first book in the beloved Maxton Hall series. I saw the tv adaptation first and was so excited to read the story that started it all! Ruby Bell is a scholarship student who survives at the prestigious Maxton Hall by staying out of the spotlight. When she witnesses something she shouldn’t, Ruby and James Beaufort are brought into each other's orbit. As Ruby and James clash, they realize they have more in common than they thought. Will their connection survive Maxton Hall?

Save Me was such a fantastic book! Ruby and James are a sweet couple. I loved how James ends up absolutely gone for Ruby! He’s determined not to like her and falls anyway. Their chemistry is excellent and I love the banter between them. Ruby is a great character who has a very loving family. The twist at the end made me very eager for the sequel! I can’t wait to see how the story continues. I’m excited to see more of the tv adaptation too!

Readers who love enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and slow-burn romance will love Save Me.

Thank you to Mona Kasten, Berkley, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Save Me is the first installment in Mona Kasten’s Maxton Hall series and is being released for the first time in English this year (2025). After watching the TV show Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime last year, I went searching for the books on Goodreads and was sad to realize the books were only in German. I was ready to start taking German to read the books, but thankfully, Berkley picked up the books and had them translated (translator: Rachel Ward), and I have to say this series may very well consume me.

I loved that I found Mona Kasten’s Maxton Hall series thanks to Amazon Prime because if there is one thing I always love is finding new authors and their books. As soon as I started reading Save Me, I was transported back to when I watched the first season of Maxton Hall. I loved that the book is told in Dual POV, mainly in Ruby’s POV, but there is James’s POV, too, but not as much as Ruby’s.

I absolutely adore Ruby in the TV show, and I absolutely adore her in the book. She has such a kind heart and loves her family dearly, and it’s portrayed in both the book and TV show how she wants to keep her life at Maxton Hall and her family separate, and I can understand why. There are some ruthless people at Maxton Hall. Sadly, Ruby is about to become visible after two years of being at Maxton Hall because she saw something she shouldn’t have. Now, she has the notorious playboy and ruthless James Beautfort bugging her at every turn to make sure she doesn’t expose what she saw with his sister, and he’ll do anything to make sure she doesn’t talk.

I don’t want to go anymore into the storyline, but just know that the TV show and book are almost similar with slight differences, especially when it comes to the end of the book/TV show. I actually prefer the TV show’s cliffhanger ending over the book because, let’s just say James does something stupid at the end of the book, which made me not like him much, and here it was, he was, winning me over. Nope, not anymore! Hopefully, he’ll redeem himself in the next book.

I feel for Ruby for what she was put through with James since he was going back and forth with her, but I’m glad I got his POV because I understood him a little better as a character and why he was the way he was. It all has to do with the family he’s a part of and what he is being forced to do after he finishes Maxton Hall. Let’s just say the antagonist of the whole book is someone close to James, and I really can’t stand this person. He can kick rocks and leave James and Ruby alone.

Both the book and TV show had me hooked from the beginning, and here is one reader (and watcher of the TV show) who is anxious for the second book/second season of the TV show. I’m so glad I came across Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime, and I watched it because then I would have never known about the books. (Now, if only I could convince my oldest daughter to read the book and watch the TV show so she could fall for the story and characters just as much as I have.)

Overall, I give this book four stars and can’t wait to read the next book, especially after Mona Kasten left me with such a brutal cliffhanger. I need to know what Ruby does next and if she’ll forgive James. I don’t know if she should, but I’m here for whatever she decides.

Single/Dual POV: Dual POV

Cliffhanger: Yes.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoyed watching Maxton Hall on Amazon Prime, then pick up Save Meand read it. If you haven’t watched the show and enjoy reading Enemies to Lovers plus Opposites Sides of the Track storylines, then add Save Me to your reading list now.

What to Expect:
✔️New Adult Romance
✔️Enemies to Lovers
✔️Forced Proximity
✔️Opposite Sides of the Track
✔️Slow Burn
✔️Sports/Lacrosse

4.5 STARS ~~~ Thank you so much to the author and Berkley Publishing for gifting me an E-ARC of this book!

To start off, I originally watched the show and LOVED it. I’m so happy they are finally releasing the books in English. The translator did a perfect job taking these from German to English and I was never confused by grammar or wording used.

I was a little scared going into this since I already watched the show but I loved the book just as much!! I really enjoyed that the book focused a bit more on only James and Ruby’s relationship and we got a lot more cute little moments between them that really developed their relationship. They were too cutie in this book and I enjoyed imaging the tv show actors while reading all the scenes. Some parts I was even able to pick out exactly from the show!!

Overall, the plot was good and including more than the show did as I said before. I’m so upset about that ending though like why did that have to happen. It’s okay though, I’m going to trust the process. Other than that I don’t have much else to say since I’ve watched it before reading it but yeah I just love this whole book and universe so much.

I really liked Ruby’s relationship with Lydia in this. They seemed to have developed more of connection and friendship and it seemed really special. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing their friendship grow more in the rest of the series.

While I was really addicted to reading this, I rated it 4.5 stars because it did start off a little slow. Also that ending was just too upsetting. But overall I still loved it so much and I hope everyone who was obsessed with the show loves it as much as I did!! I CANNOT wait to read the next book and I’m so excited that Berkley accepted my ARC request for that one as well!!

Definitely recommend this one guys!!

READ IF YOU LIKE:
- poor girl X rich boy
- MMC with troubled home life
- a little bit of spice
- MMC plays lacrosse
- FMC strong/passionate yet feminine and seeks love
- not an easy relationship
- strong dislike to lovers

This book was amazing. To see how well the show follows the book was refreshing. This book had the right amount of trauma to romance. One of my favorite young adult reads so far this year

Captivating, spicy, and entertaining!

Save Me is an angsty, seductive tale that transports you to Maxton Hall, an elite private school for rich delinquent teens that has all the usual fare, entitled students, unrelenting bullies, sexual promiscuity, forbidden romance, naughty behaviour, innumerably delicious scandals, and a few hardworking scholarship students.

The writing is steamy and fun. The characters are rebellious, self-indulgent, and secretive. And the plot is a passionate, promiscuous, coming-of-age tale full of familial troubles, teenage angst, palpable attraction, witty banter, excessive indulgence, romance, friendship, heartbreak, and love.

Overall, Save Me is a wildly addictive, salacious, engaging novel by Kasten that immersed me so thoroughly in the decadence, lifestyle, drama, luxuries, and scandalous behaviour of the characters I didn’t want to put it down. It’s a true guilty pleasure that has undoubtedly not only left me craving for more but already counting down the days until I can get my hands on the second book in the series Save You, which is releasing on September 2, 2025.

Okay, I watched the first season of the tv show based on a German book on Amazon Prime after seeing a bunch of my favorite authors talk about it last year. And I loved it!

But at the time, the book hadn’t been translated into English yet. So as soon as I saw it pop up and then the publisher sent me a widget to read early on Netgalley, I jumped on the chance. I was a bit worried of course, because often the books don’t match what I loved about a show. But honestly, this book, or should I say the show, stayed so on track with the other. Reading this book put me right back into that world that I fell in love with last year.

Another issue I was worried about, but wasn’t an issue at all, was that I’m not always a fan of the whole boarding school storyline. But as with the tv show, I was hooked with the characters and the plot in the story right away when reading this.

I loved the way Ruby honestly did not want to even be seen by these rich people at her school. How she reacted when James tried to buy her off, and all the other things he tried and she was able to blow him off perfectly. Of course there is the slowly building attraction to each other, more than physical, as the story goes along. There are the times that he pulls back and is an arse (have to use that term as it is the one in the book, lol). As well as the in crowd bullies and mean girls, but even they seem to have their own backgrounds and reasons, whether good or not, for behaving the way they do.

I hated putting the book down to do other things, even as I was reading during a time when I had family commitments that forced me to do that. And as I remembered the story as I read along, I couldn’t remember exactly what happened that left us on the cliffhanger at the end of the first season of the show. But oh when that happened, yeah, all my emotions were right back there. I do feel like I remembered something else about the chauffeur that wasn’t mentioned in this book, so I don’t know if it was made up for the show, from another book in the series but added in early to the show, or if I’m remembering completely wrong.

So I decided to go back and rewatch the first season, even if part 2 isn’t until November I think? And as I restarted it, I saw that as usual with shows/movies from books, the show has added things that aren’t in the book. But again I wonder if those are things later in the other books since I haven’t read them. Or it’s possible that they just needed to flesh out a few of the storylines more than in the books. I also noticed that James is a little meaner seeming in the show than in the books. And the show is giving more hints to something that happens at one of the parties in the book that has to do with Ruby’s past.

I also have put in my request for the 2nd and 3rd book on Netgalley, here’s hoping I get those approved!