Book Blitz, Review and Giveaway: Ilsa Madden-Mills "Very Bad Things."

@ilsamaddenmills    @KirstyLBooks
The Hopeless Romantics Book Blog are pleased to be a part of the Book Blitz for IIsa Madden- Mills "Very Bad Things."

(Giveaway at bottom of post)

Release date: September 10

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 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.

Review: Kirsty Lander

I really loved the majority of this book but towards the end I started to get a little lost and my connection with the characters started to dwindle. That being said though, the first 80% or so was brilliant and I loved it.

Nora Blakely was an interesting character to me. After reading the blurb, I thought there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to be able to relate to her. She's a spoiled rich girl, attending private school who probably thinks the world owes her everything. I could not have been more wrong. Her home life is hell - her father is never around, her mother won't accept Nora being anything less than perfect. And her brother? He isn't even worth the air he breathes. 

Seeing Nora struggling with life was awful to witness. The reader knew she was hiding a secret, causing her to act out and be absolutely nothing like her former self, but we just didn't know what exactly caused it. All of a sudden her life was all about drinking, drugs, and trying to find somebody to sleep with. It was about letting go.

Ahhh... Leo ♥ What a silly, silly boy he was. He's new to Dallas, him and his brother have only been there a matter of days and already he's had a school girl stripping for him. CRAZY, I tell ya. There was an instant attraction here with these two, but Leo was a full on scaredy cat. Having lost loved ones at an early age he is too scared to open his heart to a potential new love. He is happy to ignore his feelings for Norah and go about his life. Oh if only it was so easy.

"Nora Blakely was everything I avoided when it came to girls. 

Her kind expected love and commitments, two things I'd run away from a long time ago."

I did really, really enjoy the.. I want to call it relationship, but there wasn't really one for a LONG time, but you get the picture. Anyway.. I enjoyed it. The attraction they both had for each other was POURING through the pages. Nora was happy to admit her feelings, which she did do on a regular basis. Leo on the other hand, he did all he could to bury them. To forget her. To forget his happiness and just carry on with life. It was painful.

"He was my Prince Charming but I wasn't his Cinderella."

Fast forward weeks and weeks of sexual tension, heart ache and denying of feelings and I'm starting to get irritated. Nora constantly spoke of soul mates and how she felt Leo was her soul mate, yet they had only shared so much as one, maybe two kisses. I have no issue with love at first sight or the likes, but to talk about soul mates having never had a date or anything with the guy was too much for me. And in the midst of all of this happening, she barely thought twice before going on a date with an ex of hers. I just didn't buy it.. I understand having to get on with your life when the one you want doesn't want to know, but I didn't agree with her actions overall.

The actual writing of this book I thought was excellent and I had no issues with it at all. I was engaged from the beginning and I found myself often sneaking in a page or two when I was busy. That's when I know I'm reading a good book. I also loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, I found myself highlighting more of those than anything. 

"She's this beautiful chaos."

Overall, I really did enjoy this book. The characters were well written and the story did have me interested for the majority of it, the ending just lost me a little bit and I found myself falling out of love with the love story a little tiny bit. Having said that, I am interested for the rest of the story and am dying to read about Sebastian and Mila!

I rated "Very Bad Things " 4 Hearts

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.

About the Author:

Ilsa Madden-Mills wrote her first work at the age of twelve when she penned a little ditty about a handsome prince who had no sense. Since then, she’s always written, whether it was for work or fun. When she was young, she entered every short story and poetry contest around; when she was in college, she wrote for the university paper; when she taught English, she wrote a play along with a wonderful group of drama students. 

Very Bad Things is her first full-length novel and part of a new series called Briarcrest Academy.

She graduated summa cum laude with a master’s in English from an esteemed university in the South where she now resides. She spends her days with two small kids, a neurotic cat, and her Viking husband. 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 fans and fellow avid readers. Check her out on Facebook or her author website.

Author/ Book Links:

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7059622.Ilsa_Madden_Mills

Book trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0eLwXXpdc

Facebook Author Page:  https://www.facebook.com/authorilsamaddenmills

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ilsamaddenmills

Author Website:  https://www.ilsamaddenmills.com

Giveaway:

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