ARC Review: Wild Cards

Wild Cards
Simone Elkeles
Release Date: October 1, 2013

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?

Rating: 3/5

Quotes:
“I never believed in love at first sight, until I met Derek. It's all-consuming and delicious and wonderful and exciting. At the

 same time, it makes me nervous and self-conscious and emotional. Love exists. I know it does, because I'm madly, deeply, hopelessly in love.”

“Julian, sometimes girls are like junk food. They look good, and they sure taste good… but you know they're not healthy for you and cause cavities so it's better to just leave 'em alone. Got me?”

My Thoughts:
I was actually excited to start this book. I read Perfect Chemistry, also by Elkeles, a little while ago and I  really liked it. So when I saw I was approved for this book on Netgally I did my little happy dance and sat down right away to read it. Sadly, this book didn't meet up to expectations. I think my biggest problem was the bipolar relationship between Derek and Ashtyn. One second they love each other, the next second they hate each other. Don't get me wrong I can be a fan of the love/hate relationships, but only when they are done right. In my opinion this one wasn't and it actually got a bit annoying.

Romance: Like I just said the romance between Derek and Ashtyn had its problems. And I blame a good amount of them on Ashtyn. I tried to like her, I really did, but as the story went on I got more and more annoyed with her. She has a major problem with sharing her feelings and  is always assuming the worst case scenario.  That is very problematic in a relationship don't you think? One positive thing, you could say, is that when they were getting along the romance scenes were steamy. Very very steamy. I'm not sure about that fine line between Young Adult and New Adult, but this is right on the line.

Friendship: At the very beginning of the story we see a glimpse of Derek's friends but that is about it for him. Most of the friendships in the book were Ashtyns. I really liked how the other guys on the football team respected and protected her. Her girl friends were nice, but they didn't seem that exceptional.

Ending: The ending of this book really confused me. I way okay with the book until the very end. Everything just started rushing and I didn't really follow. It felt like she was just trying to finish the story in time instead of nicely wrapping everything up.

In all: This is a book about a roller coaster relationship. It has lots of ups and downs and it moves very fast. I would recommend this book for you if you like those type of relationships or if you are a die hard Simone Elkeles fan. Otherwise, I suggest you pass on this one.