- Publisher: Ilsa Madden-Mills
- Publication date: 5/11/2014
- Series: Briarcrest Academy, #2
- Pages: 345
Born on the poor side of town...
Ballerina Dovey Beckham is a scholarship student at Briarcrest Academy, determined to prove she’s more than just a girl with the wrong pedigree. She does whatever it takes to succeed in her endgame, even if it means surrendering her body…but never her heart.
Until the day she meets him, and he rips apart all her well-laid plans. Suddenly, the girl everyone thought unbreakable might just shatter.
Born into wealth and privilege...
Cuba “Hollywood” Hudson is rich, spoiled, and a star football player. With his fast cars and superficial girlfriends, he lives the high-life, hiding his secrets from the world.
Until the day he meets her, and she offers him something he’s never tasted... love.
But once in a lifetime kind of love doesn’t come easy. When trust crumbles and doubts creep in, both will have to decide to either love or let go... forever.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy, where sometimes, only the wicked survive.
@ Goodreads
Review
“The sun may be gone, but the stars are still there, waiting, always giving you light.”
For the second book by Ilsa Madden-Mills, I had high expectations, especially after reading her first book, Very Bad Things. Yet she managed to create an entirely new plot with new characters that were not only heartbreaking but also real and relatable. Not relatable in a “I’ve gone through the exact same thing” but the fact that anyone can relate to the hardships that life throws at us. (Although the things Dovey and Cuba go through are a little extreme for me).. I love Ilsa’s writing style as she really took this book to another level. There is so much heartbreak and so many tears that could be shed. Both of the main characters are at that pivotal point in their lives where they could crash and burn at any moment. There was a lot of surprises because of this, I kept waiting for everything to fall apart… And it did, time and time again.
“It hit me then, my epiphany. Death is a constant, but love? It is rare.”
Dovey was an admirably strong character that pushed through so much crap. I really loved how the author portrayed her. She’d been betrayed by the guy she loved, yet she wasn’t whiny. Bitter? Maybe. But not enough to totally throw me off the book. There was so much drama that she had to go through and I have to say that with this book, the author went deep and she went dark. (also, by “so much drama” I don’t mean the kind that is superficial and annoying. nah ah. Real crap went down in this book 
On the other side of the story is Cuba. (Cue the *sigh*s).Cuba is the bad boy in school that always has a girl on his arm = ultimate player right. Add into the mix that something bad went down between him and Dovey (which you would know about if you read Very Wicked Beginnings) Cuba seems like this total jerk. He broke Dovey’s heart and it’s easy to hate him….. at first. Then the author takes the book into his point of view and this whole new world is opened up and this whole new side of the story is revealed. Dovey and Cuba were a match made in heaven just based on how crapped up both of their lives were. Cuba has had his own heartbreak and he lets this overcome him. He doesn’t believe he deserves a happy ending and this causes him to make some bad choices. So the real question is… will Dovey be able to change his mind?
This book is freakish amazing. I loved the characters and how the author incorporates them into the plot. This story is heartbreaking because the characters struggle, but the book overall is full of hope and courage. I can tell you I am super psyched for the next book in the series, Very Twisted Things!
<3 Works of Fiction
“Here’s the thing, Cuba. Somedays will eat you alive. They’re promises you make to fool yourself into believing everything will turn out right in the end. Someday, your ship will come in. Someday, you’ll tell me why you’re an asshole. But that someday gets further and further away, until before you know it, it turns into never. Make your someday, now. That’s my motto.”
Buy Links
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Author Info.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills writes about strong heroines and sexy alpha males that sometimes you just want to slap.
She collects magnets and rarely cooks except to bake her own pretzels.
When she’s not typing away at a story, you can find her drinking too much Diet Coke, jamming out to Pink, or checking on her carefully maintained chocolate stash.
She loves to hear from fans and fellow authors. Drop her a line on the contact page.
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