Title: Very Bad Things (#1 Briarcrest Academy)

Author: Ilsa Madden-Mills

Release date: September 9.13.2013

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

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 soul mate.  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.

Disclaimer: This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of language, sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Review:

What an amazing book! Since I live in the Dallas-Ft Worth metroplex and this is set in Highland Park (a very snooty part of Dallas) I connected immediately just because of the location. I thought Nora was a strong character once she decided that she had had enough of kowtowing to her mother and doing what was “expected” versus what she wanted. Naturally this did not sit well with deal ol’ mum. But as the story goes on and you learn of some things in Nora’s past, you definitely do not blame her for her actions. Sure some might be a little extreme but all things considered, they could have been much much worse. Leo has had a rough life, giving up his dream to take care of his brother when their parents were killed. So throw together these two people with lots of baggage and you get a book filled with angst, self discovery and acceptance.

We give this book 4 paws and wonder what book 2 will bring!

Excerpt:

Nora and Leo Meet

“Drop the paint and turn around slowly with your hands in the air.” The loud command was said with a deep voice. “I’ve got a gun, so move nice and slow.”

I bent over and placed the can on the pavement. I started to turn when— “I said put your hands in the air!” he yelled.

I yanked my hands up and eased around to face the owner of the voice.

He was about ten feet away from me, standing six feet and then some. He was missing a shirt but wearing a pair of black athletic shorts and flip-flops. Judging by his disheveled dirty blond hair and bloodthirsty eyes, I’d have to guess this might be the owner of the Escalade.

And I’d just woken him up.

He came closer to me, and my eyes were immediately drawn to his green-and-blue dragon tattoo. Like a giant snake, the scaled body of the dragon wrapped around his forearm and bicep with the neck coming down from his shoulder and the head resting on his broad chest. Red flames poured from its mouth, between laser sharp teeth.

This guy looked medieval.

So, I squinted and pictured him as a rugged Viking, wearing a horned helmet and gripping a spear instead of a gun. Maybe holding a shield instead of his flashlight and definitely wearing some of those laced-up leather boots. The word berserker (from round two of the famous spelling bee) came to mind, and I rolled the syllables around my tongue . . . ber-serk-er. Yep, that was him alright: one pissed off Norse warrior.

I grinned at my amazing analogy because, well, I’d had too much to drink.

“You think this is funny, son?” he snapped.

I shook my head, suddenly aware that some guy was pointing a gun at me.

And he thought I was a boy.

Trailer:

About the Author:

Ilsa Madden-Mills is a loving wife and mother, a loyal friend, and a teacher. When all that is done, she writes. Obsessively.

She spends her days with two small kids, a neurotic cat, and her Viking husband. She collects magnets and rarely cooks except to bake her own pretzels.

When she’s not typing away at a story, you can find her drinking too much Diet Coke, jamming out to Pink, or checking on her carefully maintained chocolate stash.

She loves to hear from from fans and fellow authors. Check her out on Facebook or her author website.  You can also find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

Buy from:

Amazon * Smashwords

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***I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***