Ballerina Dovey Beckham is a scholarship student at Briarcrest Academy, determined to prove she’s more than just a girl with the wrong pedigree. She does whatever it takes to succeed in her endgame, even if it means surrendering her body but never her heart.
Until the day she meets him, and he rips apart all her well-laid plans. Suddenly, the girl everyone thought unbreakable might just shatter.
Cuba “Hollywood” Hudson is rich, spoiled, and a star football player. With his fast cars and superficial girlfriends, he lives the high-life, hiding his secrets from the world.
Until the day he meets her, and she offers him something he’s never tasted…love.
But once in a lifetime kind of love doesn’t come easy…especially when dirty money, past sins, and old flames threaten the very fabric of their lives.
MY REVIEW 5 ++++++++++ STARS
Talk about amazing. I loved this book so much. Who would have known that Cuba "Hollywood" Hudson has a heart. Dovey sure as heck had it. His heart belonged to her even if he did not know it.
This book was raw, emotional, strip you bare of emotion and I loved it. There were times that I was breaking, not sure if I could handle these emotions that felt so real. Ilsa's wording through out this book was so good, I thought how the hell are Cuba and Dovey not real people. I felt like I was reading a journal at times and not a story. Cuba and Dovey's Journal. Yes, I will think of it that way.
"I remember everything we did, Dovey. Every date, every kiss, every whispered word," I admitted, my voice low, filled with-need?"
Dovey is from the wrong side of the tracks you could say. Growing up poor she has a lot of responsibilities for her young age. Yet, she got into BA as a dancer, the one thing that will help her out of Ratcliffe and get her somewhere better. She is friends with one person at BA, Spider and he is a good friend for the most part. I think that people need to look at there friends and evaluate them, are you missing out on something, how much do you know about your friend?
"As the sun rose, I realized the world is all about complimentary opposites. We exist with ups and downs, shadows and light, with heaven and hell. Everyone makes a choice, and I picked mine willingly. I'd harm only myself."
Dovey is in a rock and hard place with her life. She has Sarah and Heather-Lynn, they have looked after her, help raise her, kept her focused on her dancing. I want to talk so much about this, it would just give it away. There was a huge sacrifice that Dovey makes for Sarah and Heather-Lynn as well. Just, WOW. My heart broke a little more. I can't even think about having to make that choice for myself. She is a strong woman.
Cuba, who is to say the rich have it easier is full of shit. Cuba may have the money and the good looks but he has been through some really hard times. I was not sure if I was going to like him at all. I was sure that he was just going to be this total arrogant jerk and he was at times BUT he had his reasons. So here I am saying that I love Cuba. I really do, he handled his situation the way I think most people would. Although I just wish he could have seen that he was making the wrong choices before everything else happened.
"It's that silly ballerina, isn't it? She's the one you really want?"
At the end of it all this book is about a persons self-worth, learning to love yourself first and that despite the situations that we were born into you can make something of your self, learn to love others, who ever they may be. It is ok to say that you made poor decisions, make the changes and love someone who may have made those decisions that altered your life.
I really think that Ilsa has written a book that was so much more than "another book," I can't even put all my feelings out there so you could understand what I am trying to say. So please read the book when it comes out, enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post and leave a review.
Excerpt for Very Wicked Things
Book #2 of the Briarcrest Academy Series
by Ilsa Madden-Mills
I got out of the shower and dressed hurriedly, anxious to get back to Cuba.
The door opened, and like he did it every single day, he stepped inside the steamy bathroom.
“Think I need a shower, too,” he said, his fingers easing off his football practice shirt.
What? Now?
Trying to play it cool and failing miserably, I moved my eyes off his naked chest and checked out his track pants and the obvious bulge he sported.
Oh. Did his lower body match the rest of him? Was it all sinewy muscle and big?
Just, yeah. That thought got stuck in my head and went round and round.
“You staying?” he asked, a grin working his face. Pleased at my open admiration, probably.
“No,” I said, but made no move to go. ‘Cause I had no shame when it came to catching a glimpse of his muscular body.
“Good,” he said, his smile broadening.
He pivoted to turn on the shower, and my eyes betrayed me again, admiring the muscles in his back, checking out how they twitched and rippled when he moved. Football and rowing had been good to him. My fingers itched to know how they’d feel underneath my hands. Which was stupid because we had nothing in common. Not a rich Highland Park boy and a poor girl from Ratcliffe.
And most importantly, he was a player, not to be trusted.
He hooked his thumbs into his pants, paused a moment—maybe waiting to see if I’d run from the room?—but when I didn’t budge, he slid them and his underwear off. My mouth opened. Cuba Hudson, the most popular guy at Briarcrest was standing right in front of me, naked and beautiful. And like the cocky bastard he was, he posed for me, his big-ass biceps and chiseled abs making me vibrate all over. Need for him slammed into me.
Did I say he was hot?
Well, I was wrong.
He was off-the-charts, no-holds-barred, freaking going make-me-lose-my-mind-right-there delicious. The ultimate man-candy, the kind I knew to stay away from, yet here I was, ogling him.
“Still leaving?” he asked huskily.
“Any minute,” I said in a weak voice, backing up to the wall and propping myself up. “Just chillin’. Shower wore me out. I might need to hold this wall up for a sec.”
“I want you to stay,” he said, eyes at half-mast, glowing with heat.
“Why?” I said, aching to touch him. But that was crazy. I was a virgin, and I didn’t know jack about touching a guy’s you-know-what.
“Look at me, Dovey.”
I tore my eyes from his manhood, blushing.
His eyes burned. “There’s a sense of urgency in my head. Like our time is limited.”
I nodded. Yeah, same here.
“And, I’ll be honest, I don’t want to rush you, but I’m dying to sink into you. I want to set you on fire with need for me.” He ghosted his hands over the steel rod between his legs. Once, twice, and—holy shizzle, he didn’t stop.
My chest rose faster and faster, and I tried to chill-out, but I couldn’t.
He lowered his voice. “Kiss me again, Dovey.”
Oh. “That’s a terrible idea, Cuba. Cause you’re naked, and I’m turned on because you’re naked. And you’re touching yourself. And you’re naked.” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Not a good combo. Odds are we’ll end up in that shower together or back in your bed doing the double-backed monster.”
“Then join me in the shower. I’ll be good. For you.” He arched his back, his hands still doing that back and forth that was driving me insane.
Liar, liar, pants on fire, I thought. No way he would he be good.
Because he was the Heartbreaker of Briarcrest Academy. And one wicked boy.
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