Friday, September 27, 2013

Review: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Wild Cards (Wild Cards, #1)
Wild Cards (Wild Cards #1) by Simone Elkeles
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?
”add
Publishes in US: October 1st 2013 by Walker Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Contemp
Source: Bloomsbury via Netgalley
Series? Yes. Wild Cards

Buy it: 

Author stalk away: ~site 

 
    This was a fun and tense contemporary romance. I connected with both characters, and the dual narration gave me access to their thoughts, reasoning, and emotions. 
    Ashtyn is amazingly tough in the physical sense since she is a female football player. She has faced so many challenges to do what she began to get her father's attention but ended up falling in love with. She's proved herself to her teammates and they trust her and protect her, accept her as one of theirs. I love the easy but deep friendship she has with the guys, especially Vic, who never failed to make me smile. 
    Derek is a hot cowboy type, who has a lot of pain underneath the surface. He is harboring a lot of guilt in regards to his mom and football, so he quit. After that he couldn't seem to stop getting in trouble, which leaves him following his stepmom from California to a new town--Chicago. It is hard watching him try to fit in, and still keep who he is. 
     The tension and chemistry between Ashtyn and Derek is palable, and I love every minute of it. They are both holding each other at arm's length though which sometimes I just wanted to smack them and tell them to get on with it. 
    I really appreciated the family aspect of this one. While neither side was perfect, there were members that I liked. I appreciated that Derek's dad was a navy man, and even though his absence was hard, he is doing it for a good cause, and even though Derek has issues you can tell that his dad did his part when he was home. I love little Julian, he is such a sincere and well done 
    The ending did feel a little rushed, but I am eagerly awaiting more from these characters.

Bottom Line: Sparks and tension between the main characters kept my attention.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Do you think girls should be allowed to play football with guys?
Follow on Bloglovin

23 comments:

  1. I'm so happy to hear that someone enjoyed this book after I have heard some pretty bad things about it. Great review :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds cute & I like that the author didn't make the dad like the anti-hero or cause of dysfunction etc,. Absentee parents are usually portrayed as failures in the parenthood dept. and I personally think that's unfair and insulting sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked this one pretty well too-- Derek was my favorite, LOL! I love that you said "that it kept your attention with sparks between the main characters". That is AWESOME, girly! I hope your next book is as good a read as this one!!

    Absolutely. If a girl can do it, I think she should be allowed a shot! (:

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am really looking forward to reading this one, the chemistry between Ashtyn and Derek sounds great. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been hearing good things about this one! So, I cannot wait to read it! :) I really enjoyed Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry series, so I am excited about this one!

    Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like that it has a dual narrative. Glad you enjoyed this!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I remember when I saw this book on Netgalley, but didn't request it. The relationship between the characters sounds pretty interesting :) Great review!

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aw, yay! Glad you loved it. <3 I think it sounds pretty amazing. Glad you loved the characters :) Sigh. I love broken characters.. Think I need to read this one. <3 thank you for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I liked this one and thought the romance was fun, but I thought it needed more development. I was hoping for a lot more from this author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So glad you enjoyed this, I know reviews have been mixed but it's nice to know you liked it :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This sounds amazing! I think I'll love to read about the family dynamics. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ooh, Wild Cards looks cool! I really want to read it now! Have added it to my TBR list. Great review! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've heard a lot of mixed things about this one but I have an ARC of it so I'm going to give it a shot.Your positive review has me more excited though!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think girls shoulddo whatever their best tells them to. I am so glad you liked it and that the story worked out. I have this on my Kindle so I'm liking forward to it! (:

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yay! I'm so glad you liked Wild Cards. I love Simone's other books - I've read them all, so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

    As for girls playing football, I don't think we should keep a girl from playing if she wants to and has the talent. We don't keep boys from typically female roles...

    ReplyDelete
  16. I really enjoyed this one too! I thought Derek was great, and although Ashtyn drove me a bit crazy I still liked her a lot. Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  17. EEEE, so happy you liked this one. I keep putting it off but I need to pick it up soon.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've only read a book by this author, but I should try another one, I'm curious about this new series.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love when a multiple POV works and you can connect to both characters in a story, that sounds great! The romance seems like it could be really interesting too.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am glad to see this great review. I have seen some mixed reviews. I will have to give it a shot. Thank you for the great review.
    -Dilettantish Reader

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm read quite of lot of mixed reviews for this book. At this time, I'm unsure if it's something I'll read.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Loved the chemistry between the two! I'm really excited for the books to come and looking forward to some great sports moments.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear from you! (I always try to visit your blog back) I love links, so feel free to link to your blog or a post you like.
Sorry, but I am award and tag free zone, I do not have the time to return. Comments are reward enough :)