I listened to this on a recent long distance drive - it certainly kept me awake! It's beautiful written, and read by Cassandra Campbell. The heroes, Lucy and Jude, are mesmerising. Only half way through at this stage, in a 9 hour 20 min audiobook, but full marks for intensity so far.

Part of my foray into Young Adult. ( )

'I danced until the sun set and the sky grew dark. I danced until I tore through the same CD three times. I danced until I'd chugged down two liters of water. But no matter how hard I danced, or how intensely I concentrated on perfecting each and every step, I never stopped thinking about Jude.'

PLOT

Lucy Larson's life has never been the same since a family tragedy five years ago. After her Father's business failed, Lucy and her parents moved to their small lake house in Southpointe, and Southpointe High is the last place that Lucy wanted to take her senior year of school.

Until she runs into Jude Ryder. He's everything a girl wants, and he's everything that Lucy should avoid, with his dark and troubled past. Despite their problems, they can't keep away from each other, but Lucy is about to uncover something about Jude that puts her own troubled past into the open. Can Lucy move past this new development, or will it push the pair apart for good?

MY THOUGHTS

I got this book as a Kindle Edition for around £2.50 on Amazon, because after reading the description I thought the story sounded interesting. My judgement proved to be true; I read the book in three days and it gripped me from the start. The mystery surrounding Lucy's own past was already interesting, but throw the enigma of Jude into the mix, and it makes for a truly engaging story.

This definitely wasn't your typical high school romance; this had true value and real mystery behind the characters. The chemistry between Lucy and Jude is unmistakable from their very first meeting, and I could tell that something was going to grow between them.

I admired Lucy's character, she had a sense of self respect and doesn't allow Jude to own her and tell her what to do. He's very over-protective and jealous, which I sometimes found to be a bit too much, but we know that it's because he truly loves her and doesn't want anything to happen to her. He's guilty of jumping to conclusions and misjudging a situation; but then, they're both as bad as each other. They both have trust issues, they're both afraid of being hurt, but there's no mistaking their feelings for each other, and it makes for a beautiful relationship.

THE AUTHOR

This book was written by Nicole Williams, who writes Young Adult stories because she still believes in true love. At the end of this book, there's an extract from the next installment of Lucy and Jude's lives called 'Clash'. The third installment is called 'Crush' and I plan on reading them soon. ( )

This book seems to be the average good girl falls for the bad boy book. There is always at least one tormented soul who needs to find absolution. This book has many tortured souls who need to find their way out of their dark holes. Although this is a typical book, it kept me intrigued. Even when I thought I couldn't read anymore of the good girl/bad boy cliche, I kept on reading. Nicole Williams seems to never disappoint in her ability to take a typical book and make it worth reading. ( )

Read my overall review of the whole series here! Spoiler Free!

This book really blew my mind away. I started reading it in the hopes of finishing it quickly so I could move onto my next holiday break read but I was sucked in so quickly and I couldn't put it down.

I wasn't expecting much given the description of the book. I thought it was going to be your typical bad-boy meets popular/good-girl routine of young adolescent novels but that was far from it. Lucy and Jude's past adds a lot more to the story and not in an entirely predictable way and the story is written in a way that appeals to an older teen audience.

Jude reminded a lot of a young Christian Grey minus the need to dominate his woman. He is very possessive which is really attractive and I know that makes girls swoon but also scary because it could have been too much. Actually, at some points in the book I felt like the relationship bordered on unhealthy. My mind often drifted to another book I had read this year, The Taming by [a:Teresa Toten|297306|Teresa Toten|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1364748864p2/297306.jpg], where a teen relationship turns into an abusive one. I really feared that this was going to happen here but I'm glad it didn't.

I think the reason it didn't was because of Lucy. Lucy was a great lead who had a lot of self-confidence and was smart enough to realize at various points that this relationship could have turned into a very unhealthy one. She wasn't completely delusional about their relationship which was refreshing and respectable.

At first I didn't think there was much to their relationship other than a physical attraction but they do develop enough of a connection otherwise.

There isn't too much to the plot besides their relationship but there is a enough of one to keep you interested. I didn't find it very predictable either (which is a major bonus for me). I thought the description was a little deceiving with respect to Lucy's dance aspirations. I was thinking that the dancing would be a prime focus but it really wasn't--which was A-okay with me really.

Overall: it was a very quick read that instantly drew me in. I read the sequel in a day and can't wait to read the 3rd one! If you enjoy a star-crossed teen romance you will enjoy this book!

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESousBookReviews.com as well as read book series recaps!

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Loved the drama and angst in this book. I was expecting a cutesy romantic contemporary. And was pleasantly surprised that it was so much more than that. This book had some strong scenes that left me biting my nails and worrying about the outcome. I really enjoyed it. Also Jude Ryder is SOoo Hot!! Just wanted to say that :) ( )