Review: Trailer Park Princess

Trailer Park Princess by Nikki Lark
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Ellie moves into a trailer park as a kid and finds her people in the form of Tank, Kade, Cyrus, and Jinx. Four boys who become her entire world. They grow up tangled together, inseparable, chosen family in the truest sense of the word. Until Ellie’s mother’s luck changes and she gets engaged to a senator. She’s high flying now folks, and just like that, Ellie is uprooted and taken away from the only home she’s ever known.

Four years pass. Those years are not kind to her. Ellie is abused by her jerkhole of a stepfather and, desperate for escape and justice, reaches out to a group of vigilantes for help. The twist? Well not really a twist for us. The vigilantes are the same four boys she grew up with. The same ones who never forgot her. And this time, they’re not letting her slink off into the sunset.

However, there’s a price for their help. They aren’t Robinhoods after all. If they’re going to kill her stepfather, Ellie has to belong to them for one year.

Fully.

Completely.

No limits.

She leaves her dorm and moves into their house. They give her a room painted exactly like something she once dreamed of. They all want her. They all remember her. And she’s never stopped wanting them either.

Here’s where my frustration kicks in.

This book ends abruptly. No real cliffhanger. No rising tension. Just… done. And with only one book currently out, that ending feels especially unsatisfying. I genuinely loved the first half of this book. The childhood chapters, the bond between Ellie and the guys, especially Tank.

I’m rooting for you Big Guy!

Their childhood was emotionally rich and well done. The kids didn’t feel like someone was writing for babies, and they didn’t feel like tiny adults. They were kids thrust into adult situations.
But once we hit the present timeline, the story peters out! And that’s where the fun should’ve begun!! We’re introduced to Ellie’s new life and barely introduced to the Big Bad of the story. Then BOOM, the guys show up, and suddenly the entire second half of the book takes place over roughly a week.

The Big Bad just slips from the pages. Ellie’s mom does a page runner too. The abuse storyline barely gets explored. Character development slows to a crawl, her trauma just glossed over.
We get a small burst of rushed spice near the end, and then the book is over.

There’s no real payoff, no escalation, no thread that makes me desperate to continue the series. It feels like the author had a strong concept and a solid beginning but didn’t fully flesh out the plot.
With deeper character development and a clearer storyline, this could have been something really compelling. As it stands, it’s a promising start that never quite commits to its own potential.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


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