Being young is all about the experiences: the first time you skip school, the first time you fall in love…the first time someone holds a gun to your head.
After being held hostage during a robbery at the local convenience store, seventeen year old Edie finds her attitude about life shattered. Unwilling to put up with the snobbery and bullying at her private school, she enrolls at the local public high school, crossing paths with John. The boy who risked his life to save hers.
While Edie’s beginning to run wild, however, John’s just starting to settle down. After years of partying and dealing drugs with his older brother, he’s going straight—getting to class on time, and thinking about the future.
An unlikely bond grows between the two as John keeps Edie out of trouble and helps her broaden her horizons. But when he helps her out with another first—losing her virginity—their friendship gets complicated.
Meanwhile, Edie and John are pulled back into the dangerous world they narrowly escaped. They were lucky to survive the first time, but this time they have more to lose—each other.
“You were going to give it up to Duncan Dickerson?” he sneered. “Are you serious?”
I halted, staring at him. This was not good. “How do you know about that?”
“Anders overheard you and Hang talking.”
“Bastard.”
“Well?” he demanded, acting all authoritarian. Idiot.
“To be fair, I didn’t know his last name was Dickerson,” I said. “That’s unfortunate. Though, I wasn’t actually planning on marrying him, so . . .”
“Not funny.”
I shrugged.
“You barely know the guy.”
“Um, yeah. None of your concern. We’re not talking about this.” How mortifying! My face burned bright. People should just gather around and cook s’mores. “I appreciate that we’re friends. You mean a lot to me. But this is going to have to fall under definitely none of your damn business, so go away please.”
“We’re talking about it.” He advanced a step.
“No we are not.” And I retreated.
“You were going to let a complete stranger touch you.” Advance.
Retreat. “People do it all the time. You do it all the time.”
“But you don’t,” he said, taking the final step, backing me up against the side of his car and getting all in my face. “Edie, this is your first time we’re talking about. Isn’t it?”
“Yes, and it’s going to be messy and painful and probably horribly embarrassing and I just want it over and done with.” I tried to meet his eyes but failed, settling for a spot on his right shoulder. “You’re not a girl; you wouldn’t understand. Also, last time I checked, you’re not the gatekeeper of my hymen, John Cole. So back the fuck off.”
He said nothing.
Deep, calming breaths. “Look, someday I’ll meet someone I really like and we’ll have a deep and meaningful relationship and go at it like bunnies. But I don’t want to be the dumb virgin in that scenario.”
He slowly shook his head.
“Also, I do not want to die a virgin.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Hey, you and I both know death can occur at any time.”
“This is crazy.”
“I’m seeing a therapist!” I told his shoulder. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a little bit messed up these days. It’s hard for me to trust people. That’s not going to change anytime soon.”
He screwed up his face at me. “Wha—”
“I’m just trying to be practical.”
“Well, you’re being ridiculous. None of this makes sense.”
“It does to me.”
Again, he said nothing.
In fact, he said nothing for so long that I finally looked him in the eye. The anger had left him, replaced by an emotion I didn’t recognize. Worst of all, he still smelled like summer. A little sweat and the open night air, everything I loved. Liked. I meant liked.
“What?” I said, finally.
He let loose a breath. “I’ll do it.”
First off, can we discuss how gorgeous this cover is? When I look at it, I don't think YA at all, which makes it so intriguing. I've only read Lick by Kylie and couldn't wait to jump into her newest release.
Edie thought she had her whole life ahead of her, spending nights at slumber parties with her best friend and just trying to survive the mean girls in high school. Until one night changes everything. After surviving a drugstore hold-up and robbery, Edie looks at life differently and finds herself fed up with the bullies, so she enrolls in the public school. Edie doesn't expect to run into John, the very boy who saved her during the robbery and the only other person who could possibly understand what she's going through. Edie and John start a friendship as Edie becomes more wild and John finds himself taming down and helping Edie do the same.
Wow, did this book suck me in. From the first page of this book, I was hooked and shocked by the situation Edie had found herself in. While I hadn't read the synopsis before going into this book, it was pretty obvious she was going to meet John again when she transferred schools. I loved how relatable Edie was and how she wasn't this gorgeous, confident girl. It was so refreshing how she was actually just friends with John for a majority of this book, but of course couldn't help but crush on him. With a guy like John, especially when he started to straighten up his act after the robbery, who wouldn't have a crush??
With the shocking beginning of this book, it was easy to forget that this was a YA, but as Edie went to a new school and found new friends, I was quickly reminded how young they actually were. You still had the petty popular girls who would tried to bully Edie and the cliche girls who threw themselves at John because he was the hot bad boy in school. This, though, made it so much more apparent how much Edie was changing and I loved watching her grow and change, in both good and bad ways.
Overall, this was definitely a raw, emotional book about two people who go through a tragedy and only have each other to lean on in the aftermath. I was pleasantly surprised at Kylie Scott's dip into YA and the addicting and real story she gave us.
About the Author
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/
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