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.
THE RATING
Derek Fitzpatrick is a former football star player and a self-acclaimed bad boy who loves to pull off pranks. He has perfected his I-couldn’t-care-less attitude to a tee. Nothing gets under his skin. I was really surprised to see him as unfazed as he was when he got expelled. His priorities are definitely messed up. The guy is more concerned about the unruly backyard than he was of getting kicked out.
Ashtyn Parker is a newly elected football captain with a body that begs for attention and an attitude that bites. She’s equally tough and girly though I did like her tomboy side more than her insecure, crying-into-the-pillows side. Oh yes, the book is heavy on emotions. However, due to the uneven pace, I found it hard to fully connect with what was happening with the characters.
Stuck together due to unusual circumstances, Derek and Ashtyn feel instant love-hate attraction towards each other. While one is too blatant about it, the other does her best to hide it for fear of being laughed at. The hot makeout scenes are definitely intense and oh-so-good. All the drama due to miscommunication and witty dialogue exchanges are interesting to read about. However, because of the alternating viewpoints, the story lacked in build-up.
Wild Cards turned out to be an enjoyable read for me. Where it lacked in depth and emotion it made up for it with all the crazy attraction between the main characters. Some of the scenes are definitely swoon-worthy, I enjoyed the non-date-date scene a lot. Humorous at times, Wild Cards is a predictable book that one can finish in a few hours. I’d recommend it to readers of Simone Elkeles and anyone looking for a quick read.
“Just because you can deal with bullshit on your own doesn’t mean you should.”
“I know he wants to fight for something. . . deep down he’s got a basic, intense desire to compete. It’s killing him that he’s ignoring his instincts and instead is determined to keep himself a ghost of who he can be.”
So awesome, we posted our reviews on the same day!!!! I seem to have liked this more than you did but I'm glad you enjoyed some parts of it. I kinda agree with you that the alternating POV somewhat affected the story. Honestly, I think it would have been better if we saw this all from Derek's POV instead. (I may be biased because I like him better) Anyw, I'm excited for the next books!
Yes, it'd have been so much better if the book was told from Derek's point of view. And I also like him better. 😉
I'm excited to see whether the next book will be about Jet or Landon.
I'm on the fence about this one, honestly. I have a hard time getting into books where the main focus is the romance or relationship. I had a similar problem with The DUFF. I just… I don't know. I do like snarky bad boys and banter, though.
My sis felt the same way about not being able to connect to the characters. She read me lines when they were playing some drinking game, I think, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. I did, however, watch the web series for Wild Cards that Simone produced online. It's quite campy, but I love stuff like that so I'll probably keep watching all the episodes.
I enjoyed this one quite immensely, Sana. Definitely quick but Signature Simone, for sure.