Title: Very Bad ThingsAuthor: Ilsa Madden-Mills
Series: Briarcrest Academy #1
Genre: NA Contemporary
Published: September 9th 2013
Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any nineteen-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect...
Leaving behind her million-dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she becomes a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex.
Then she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.
When it comes to girls, twenty-five-year-old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about... until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.
As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy... where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.
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Oh, how I loved this book! I was drawn into the intensity right from the beginning, wondering what Nora has been through to crack at an important function and declare in front of a packed crowd, “F*** Braircrest Academy, and f*** you all.” I knew from that moment I needed to see what happened to her, why she was fed up and what set her on this downward spiral.
Nora is one of those fractured people that had a terrible thing happen to her, and lives in a family that tries to maintain the perfect façade, but it is far from perfect. The mother, she is a grade A cow – I wanted to bring that woman down a couple of notches. The absent father should've been around more. Then there’s the unstable brother, Finn. Nora has tried to get over her past, but instead has decided that rebellion is the way to go and makes a list: drinking, drugs and anonymous sex are high on it. Completing this list lands her on Leo's doorstep. Their encounter was quite amusing; even though Nora was in trouble, it didn't stop her trying for the anonymous sex and it was funny seeing Leo struggle with his male urges. The age problem is a huge factor for him and he tries to fight the connection he has with her.
I loved seeing all the characters grow and form relationships. One side character I loved was Sebastian, he is the flirty, fun younger brother of Leo, and both Leo and Sebastian have had their fair share of loss. I liked how that even at his younger age, he could see things better than Leo. He is a character I want to see more of.
I enjoyed how Ilsa Madden-Mills wove this tale together. The characters struggled back and forth with their feelings, and with the age differences and issues they have in their pasts. There were some sweet and sizzling swoony scenes, as well as the right amount of humour to counteract the dark issues. I was sucked into the complicated world and couldn't put the book down until that final page. I am looking forward to continuing in this series and reading more from Ilsa Madden-Mills, I assure you!!!
Complimentary copy provided by the Publisher, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
