Wild Cards by Simone
Elkeles
Synopsis:
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.
Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without
a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the
chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship,
until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their
rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting
Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing
to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?
“Expelled. Actions have consequences, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Despite numerous warnings about your
cheating, drug use, and pranks, you have again disobeyed our rules and proven
yourself unworthy to be a student at Regents Preparatory Academy. Obviously
this also means you will not be invited to rejoin us again for your senior
year.”
With this we begin
the journey of Derek Fitzpatrick. I have had a love affair with Simone
Elkeles’s male characters for years now.
I fell in love with her first male protagonist Alex Fuentes in 2008 and
I have stalked her ever since! She
introduced these wonderful characters to the world of YA fiction in her Perfect Chemistry Series. I was head over heels! Being her number one fan I am thrilled she
has birthed a new series for us all to enjoy!
I loved this
book! Set in Fairfield, the same city
her Perfect Chemistry Series takes
place, Wild Cards takes place on the
other side of town at Fermont High School the rival school of Fairfield
High. We meet Derek and from the get go,
he is every bit the bad boy Simone is famous for writing. Being expelled from private boarding school
in the first couple of pages, Derek is forced to move with his stepmother to
Chicago. Not wanting to be there and
trying to find his way back home Derek meets his stepmothers little sister and
finds she makes him feel things he doesn’t want to own up to.
Ashtyn is a great
female character. She is smart, independent, pretty
and she is the star kicker for her school football team. Ashtyn is dating the quarterback of the
football team and is pretty happy with her skills, her friends and her
boyfriend…that is until Derek comes along.
Everything isn’t
peachy for these two teens, Derek has a loving father but he is in the Navy and
lives most of his life underwater in a submarine. He likes his stepmom but misses his mother
whom he lost to cancer as a teen. Ashtyn’s
father isn’t very interested in her life and her mother left as a child so all
she has are her friends and her teammates who she cherishes with all her heart.
Told in alternating
POV (my favorite way to enjoy a book) you get in the minds of both Derek and
Ashtyn and you fall in love with the hearts under their tough hard shells.
“Keeping Ashtyn at a distance is what I need to do, even though I sense
an undercurrent of something I can’t put my finger on and don’t really want
to….”~Derek
Derek has a secret
that he keeps from Ashtyn, and he harbors guilt about his mother’s death that
forced him to quit what was to be a bright football career. Both Derek and Ashtyn have abandonment issues
that cause them to run from each other and fight feelings they have for one
another from the beginning. Derek has never been one to commit and Ashtyn has
never been one to be in a non-committed relationship. Both are complete opposites in so many ways
yet are so alike in the ways that it counts.
On a trip they take together
to Texas, Ashtyn and Derek learn things about each other and themselves that
force them to take a closer look at who they are and who they want to be.
With a fabulous bunch
of supporting characters, Monika, Trey, Victor, Brandi, and Mrs. Worthington,
this book has humor that takes the edge off.
I think Mrs. Worthington steals the book! She was amazing and I love her!
Another great story
from Simone and I can’t wait for part 2 in the Wild Card series!!!
