{Review} Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Wild Cards
Series: Wild Cards #1
Author: Simone Elkeles
Release Date: September 24, 2013
by, Walker Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288

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?{Goodreads}

~Review:
 Holy flipping cow!!!! I can't believe I even got this book! Simone Elkeles is a really well known author thanks to her Perfect Chemistry series. So when I found I had this book in my possession post release I about freaked!! I did a happy jog and everything.

  Now, that being said I still haven't read the Perfect Chemistry series yet but it's another one I have been dying to read! I will get to it soon enough I promise! Now to talk about Wild Cards. I really liked it. It was cute and it was funny! Derek is an absolute dream boat and Ashton is snarky and independent. The banter between these two was delightful. I enjoyed the multiple POVs. It's always nice to know what is going on through each characters head as they start to fall. Ashton was probably the most stubborn about it. I loved it. ;) Ashton is the star kicker...on the boys varsity football team. How great is that!? The last book--and only other book--that I read with a girl on a boys football team was Catching Jordan. I liked that one but I think I liked this one more....sorry Miranda Kennealy! Even though they were similar I liked Elkeles version better because of the family she put together. The boys on the team looked out for Ashton but they also respected her. I also liked how the verbal language was considerably higher in decency. There weren't as many cuss words as there were in Catching Jordan. I don't mind it often because hello! We are teens and this day in age swearing is about as normal as breathing. But there is respect in words. Elkeles gives that respect. Ashton is beyond independent and even more stubborn. She has the will of--of I don't know (running short in comparisons) but she has a lot of will and determination. She doesn't like things being handed to her. She likes to work for her earnings. I love that about her. She has her quirky habits. She plays to win and she wins because she plays....hard.

  Derek is a bad boy. Whoopdey Doo! Isn't it always a bad boy!? Yes. Am I complaining? No. ;) Derek is more of a punk than a bad boy. He is witty and charming and likes to grease pigs and set them loose during graduation ceremonies. Haha ok so he is trouble with a capital T but he is harmless. He isn't the roofing bad boy. He is the prancing bad boy. Ultimately he has a great heart. He fixes up sheds and mows lawn with no ulterior motive. The boy just has a serious mouth and prank problem.

  Put the two together and you got one heck of a couple. Goodness these two were making me laugh! They are both incredibly stubborn. It was like watching those goats with the horns ram each other over and over again. Haha lets just say when the first time a couple meets ends with a pitch fork in a shoe...it's bound to be interesting. It was. I read this book pretty fast. The stuff that both Ashton and Derek had Togo through had my full attention. This isn't a light read. It had more depth. Both characters had struggles they had to deal with. This wasn't a heavy read either. It was a light heavy? I don't know don't ask.

  Simone Elkeles righting is nice. It flows easily. Each words slides into the next and before you know it you have read half the book. She has a nice sense of humor being able to commit to the snarky replies Derek and Ashton throw at each other. Ultimately Derek and Ashton were adorable especially at the end. Oh my goodness that end was adorable!! I can't wait to read the next one! There was only one thing that bothered me about the book. There was some round about incest. It wasn't true incest but it was enough to make me not jump on the TeamDerekandAshton boat. Derek's stepmom is Ashton's sister. So basically Ashton is Derek's aunt-in-law. No blood ties but I don't know I like to stay away from that stuff. Ya just weird to me. There are so many different ways you could come about a couple meeting and I prefer to stay away from instances like this. Eventually I kind of just ignored that little fact as best as I could and enjoyed the story for what it was.

  Wild Cards was an enjoyable read. I loved Simone Elkeles writing style and the story she created. The characters were well developed and the love was adorable. I can't say it was a favorite but it was well worth the read! I would recommend it to all contemporary fans! Like I said before, I haven't read anything else's from Simone Elkeles so I can't compare it to her Perfect Chemistry series. Bottom line: Wild Cards was good..great even! It was fun, funny, and really cute. I really liked it! Give it a try when you got the chance. Borrow it, buy it. However you see fit but I do think it is worth the shot. :)

~Rating:

4 of 5 stars!

*a copy was provided for review purposes*

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{Blog Tour} Review of Doomed by Tracy Deebs

Doomed
Author: Tracy Deebs
Release Date: January 8, 2013
by, Walker Childrens
Source: *a copy was produced by the tour host for review purposes*
Format: Kindle
Pages: 480

Beat the game. Save the world.



Pandora’s just your average teen, glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.{Goodreads}

~Blog Tour Fun:
    Favorite Quote:

"'I really like you Pandora. I don't want to make a mistake with you.'

Life's full of mistakes ?????. And if you don't kiss me now, when are you going to? We're almost out of time.'

'I won't let us run out of time.'"   

Sorry yo! Had to mask the identity of the speaker..it is a love triangle ;P

And because I really like this one too....

  "There's something inside and I strain to see it. Nearly cry out when I can finally read the word. 'Hope.'......We might very well live long, poductive lives. They won't be the lives we had once planned for ourselves but in this place, at this moment, that doesn't matter."

~Review:

  Holy shit you guys!! This book was fantastically amazing! It totally rocked my socks off. ;D I have to admit that I prefer the old cover but the cover has nothing to do with the pure genius of this book. I had the worst time putting this book down…and at times I had no choice because I was reading it during the last two weeks of school before winter break, which meant I had finals to study for, which meant if I wanted good grades, I was going to have to put the book down and do some work. It. Sucked. I wanted nothing more than to sit down and read the book until every single page was gobbled up and digested. (ermm that didn’t sound as good as I hoped haha).

  What would you do if the world as you knew it came crashing down because of a video game. Yupp! You heard that right. A video game. Its Pandora’s seventeenth birthday and to her surprise she gets an email from her dad. The same dad that hasn’t been around for years. The same dad that has her mom panicked telling Pandora that she is never to speak, email, write, or see her dad…ever. There aren’t even any pictures of Pandora and her father…and she was what, five when he left? So twelve years of no communication from her father and she finally gets some. The email has promises of old letters that were written to her and always returned , never before seen photos of them and an explanation to why he left. Never would have Pandora thought that that email, those pictures would be the worm that starts world domination. Domination that is only going to stop if Pandora plays the game.

  Like I said…Holy. Shit. This book was absolutely mind blowing. It was fast paced and completely captivating. I was hooked from page one. Tracy Deebs wove a perfectly unique, action packed story that is sure to take over the hearts of gamers and readers a like..hell, I think everyone should read it but that’s just me. At the beginning I had a little bit of a rough time trying to distinguish between what was going on in the game (especially the talking) and what was going on in the real world but after a while I had no problem easing in to the switch. When I really got into it (which ended up being every time I opened its pages) I had trouble distinguishing the lines between the book and the real world. Tracy is such an amazing writer where that is just the only way to read her book. Its not too often a book completely captures you like that but Doomed does that too you. I literally felt as if I was there every step of the way through Pandora’s journey. The writing for Doomed is clear and imaginative. Tracy definitely doesn’t hold back. 

  The story is told from Pandora’s point of view being that she is the protagonist but Eli and Theo were equally important. O my goodness. These boys! Theo is so smart. He is always one step ahead. He is quick on his feet and always so calm in the toughest situations. Theo is broody and mysterious. Oh! And he is totally hot.  He isn’t the best with jokes and taking things lightly. A smile from him is a rare occurance. He tends to be more in his own thoughts but when he steps out he totally shines. Then there is Eli. The one who can make light on things. He jokes around is more carefree.The one who can tell a joke or make a face to ease the tension...that is why I love him..so much!!! 

  I honestly have no clue what else to say other than you need to read this...like ASAP. I loved this book with a passion. It is something that makes you reflect and wonder. What would you do? Would you be able to survive? How would you act? How would you feel? It was almost scary. I have nothing else to say..I am leaving this review now. Read. Love. You need this book. You will NOT be sorry you read it and you will thank me later ;D

This review was part of the Doomed Blog Tour at Itching for Books.  

 

~Rating:

 

5 of 5 stars..this book rocked my socks! ;D
 

Thanks for stopping by!

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Have a great weekend!! 

<3 Jaiden