16 November 2014

Very Bad Things Review

Very Bad Things - Briarcrest Academy #1
by Ilsa Madden-Mills





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What they say: 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.



What I Say: It's taken me ages to write up my review for Very Bad Things because I'm not entirely sure what I think about it. Whilst reading the book I went in stages of liking it, then  not enjoying sections, then loving others! 

Nora is in a tailspin and doesn't really know how to cope with her past and the 'very bad things' that happened/are happening to her. Her answer & coping mechanism is now set straight to rebellion and acting out. I couldn't really blame her because she has a terrible home-life and doesn't exactly have good role models. Her mother is awful! She becomes fixated on Leo and is extremely determined in her pursuit. After the Tiffani saga, I'd have given up, or at least made Leo suffer for how he treats her.

I usually get annoyed with similar heroines but this time I was more fixated on Leo and how badly he treated Nora. He leaves her hanging and constantly plays a switch back and forth between pushing her away and seeing his 'fun-buddy', whilst smothering her/stopping Nora from moving on. I know Leo has a really heartbreaking past as well but his fear of love does a lot of damage to not just him and Nora, but also to his brother Sebastian (whom I loved btw).

On the other hand the secondary characters Sebastian and Drew were awesome and I would like to have seen more of them.

I think the main problem I had was the manner in which the horrible things that happened to Nora were tackled. Certain issues were almost ignored for a long time (yes, I know this was and should be Nora's decision) and not handled as sensitively as I would have expected. 

Certain events leading up to the ending were a tad convenient. I did enjoy the book and so when I look at all the positives and negatives, it makes it really difficult for me to rate Very Bad Things

I'm still to unsure what I think, so for now I'm going to award 3 - 3.5 Stars in my Sky!



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