My Thoughts:
Maverick “Rick” Prince is getting settled into school life. Eloise “Lo” Stone is having doubts that are
very evident but is she just imagining things or just a feeling of things to
come. Lo’s life seems so
complicated. But at the core of this
story, she’s still a young woman having to deal with a lot of what may seem to
be adult problems. She’s had so much
disappointment in her life that it’s like she comes to expect it.
Maverick shows what a lot of young men go through when they leave
home and go off to college. It makes me
think of some of the pieces about fraternities that have been in the news
lately. You also have to think about
what that does for a high school sweetheart’s relationship when there’s a
split. This is why I feel that this
latest story in the Wicked Bay series
is more new adult than young adult. I
wouldn’t want a young person getting the impression that this is the type of
behavior that goes on at all colleges.
It would be a good teaching moment but if you let your young adult child
read the book. Maybe you should read the
book first because you will also have to decide how you feel about them reading
the more romantic moments.
Even though there’s a lot going on with Maverick, I felt this was
more about Lo. Maybe it’s because I
could connect with her character a lot more.
I was lucky enough not to het hazed while at school so I can’t say I know
what Rick’s going through. It’s a story
that seems very realistic even though it is a work of fiction. After all the ups and downs that the author
gives her main characters she was very nice by making them happy at the
end. She then makes her readers happy by
letting them know there’s a book five.
EXCERPT:
“Maverick?” I gasped
at the sight of my boyfriend leaning against the hood of his car. “What are
you—”
He stalked toward me,
buried his hands in my hair, and kissed me. Deep and slow and full of unspoken
promises. Our tongues tangled together as he guided me against the side of his
car, pressing into me, showing me just how much he’d missed me.
“Maverick,” I
murmured, curling my hands into his t-shirt.
“Fuck, I’ve missed
you,” he breathed between kisses.
When he finally pulled
away and stared down at me with those intense eyes of his, my mind cleared.
“Why are you here?” I arched a brow. I wanted to believe it was because he
missed me and just had to see me but there was something glittering his eyes.
“I missed you,” he repeated.
“Maverick...”
His walls slammed up
and he narrowed his eyes. I let out a heavy sigh, able to see straight through
him. “Kyle told you, didn’t he?”
“It should have come
from you.” He gave me a pointed look that I felt all the way down to the
pit of my stomach.
“That’s not fair.” I
stepped back, running a hand through my hair. “I called last night to tell you
and you were—”
“Shit, I know.” He
tilted his face skyward and let out a long sigh. “This, me being away, it’s
harder than I thought it would be.” When his eyes met mine again, my shoulders relaxed,
the annoyance ebbing away.
“I know. We both just
need to give it time.” I slid my fingers through his belt loops, pulling us
together. “And we both need to relax a little. I can’t freak out every time you
go to a party and you can’t freak out that I’m working here.”
He stiffened but I
yanked harder. “Maverick.”
“I won’t pretend to
like it, because I don’t.” His dark gaze flicked behind us to Hitters. “But I
trust you, Lo, and I know you need this.”
“Thank you.” I leaned
up pressing a kiss to his jaw, but Maverick dipped his head, capturing my lips
in a breath-taking kiss.
“Maybe we should take
this somewhere else,” I whispered. “Unless you have to get back to SU?”
“I don’t need to be
back until morning. You have me all night.” His voice was thick with need, and
it softened something inside of me.
“Perfect. I’ll text my
dad and let him know we’ll be at the pool house.”
His eyes danced with
desire as he kissed me again and then opened the door for me. I slid inside and
waited for him. There was so much I wanted to ask but I didn’t want to ruin the
moment either. So I sat quietly while he drove us back to his house.
“I can’t believe
you’re here,” I said as he pulled into the drive away and cut the engine.
“I wanted to see you.”
“Wanted to or needed to?”
“Both, I guess,” he
admitted, reaching over and sliding his fingers into mine. “I’m not going to
lie to you, Lo, I was pissed when Kyle told me about Hitters. But mostly, I was
pissed it came from him and not you.”
“Maverick, I— you’re
right. I should have told you. I should have made you listen. But Gus is good
people. And Sarah and Liam seem really nice. And it means I don’t have to be
there so much.”
His expression
softened. Maverick didn’t need me to spell it out for him, he knew how hard
things had been since Stella and Bethany had moved in a little over a week ago.
“Come on, let’s go inside. We’ve missed you.”
“We?” I asked as I
climbed out of the car. Maverick smirked, holding out his hand for me.
“Yeah, me and him.” He
dropped his eyes to his crotch and I rolled my eyes.
“Oh my god, you’re turning into Kyle.”
“I thought you dug
that cocky humor he has going for him?”
“Gross.” I smacked his
arm. “That’s my cousin you’re taking about.”
“When you say it like
that...” Maverick grimaced and pulled me into the yard. The Stone-Prince house
had become my second home over the summer. Which was weird since I once hated
the place and everything it stood for. But now I kind of loved it. Not to
mention the fact it housed three of my favourite people.
“Should we go inside
and say hello?” I flicked my head to the main house, but Maverick was already
pulling me toward the pool house.
“We can say hello later or in the morning.”
I couldn’t hide my
smile at that. Even if it was only a flying visit, Maverick was home and didn’t
want to waste a single second of it.
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