~Book Review: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles ~

Name:  Wild Cards

Author: Simone Elkeles   

Publisher:  Walker Books for Young Readers

Expected Release Date: October 1, 2013

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback
Genre: YA/Contemporary Romance

Source: ARC (BEA) 

AMAZON / B&N

After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama.  Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

Simone has done it again - the master of DUAL POVs!  She has managed to create another story that I absolutely adore. New material from Simone Elkeles? Heck yeah!  When my friend brought me this book from BEA, I was literally jumping up and down from happiness. I was reading another book at that moment but I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new treasure that I had.  I started reading and within a day, I finish it.  I enjoyed it so much that it left me asking and wanting more.  This story was everything that I was hoping it was going to be; fun, sex, snappy and AH-mazing!

First, we meet Derek, our male protagonist.  Derek is your typical bad boy with a I-don't-care-about-anything attitude.  He is the type of guy that does not like to commit and he is not afraid of saying so.  Due to a reckless prank gone bad, he gets expelled from the private school that he is attending and is obligated to move to Chicago with his stepmother.  Derek is not thrilled about this, but it’s his only choice.  His father is deployed overseas in a submarine.  He doesn't have any other family except a grandmother that he doesn't want to know anything about.  Second we meet Ashtyn, a football player (and yes, she is a girl) with a really strong personality and smart. Ashtyn lives with her father because her mother abandoned them when she was a little girl.

When Derek, his stepmother his little brother move to Chicago, he meets Ashtyn. Their first encounter is not really friendly and much to his surprise, he finds out that she (Ashtyn) is his stepmother’s sister ( Are you still following me? LOL).

I cannot begin to explain the awesomeness of this book.  I absolutely love Ashtyn's character.  She is really compassionate and loyal to her teammates and her family.  I love the way that she fights for what she wants and she is not one of these whiny, annoying female leads.  Derek on the other hand, he is really hot, I mean, there were times that I just wanted to keep reading just to know about him.  He doesn't like commitment at all.  When the attraction between these two characters start developing, Derek is honest with Ashtyn and tells her that he doesn't do relationships.  Let me explain something, I really despise the relationship in books where everything is so perfect that it doesn’t feel real.  That was not the case in this book. While I wanted them to be together, I also wanted for them to fix all of the problems and misunderstanding that they were having, and come clean about their feelings.

Needles to say, that I love the book.  I felt that I wanted to live in their world.  I would love to read more about them in the sequel.  I know Simone Elkeles is not going to disappointed me. At the end, Wild Cards was a great read and if you are a fan of Simone’s work, I am pretty sure you are going to love Wild Cards. So, save the date on your calendar and go pick up this beauty when it comes out.