Blurb:
Why
do good girls fall for bad boys?
17-year-old
Vija Skalbe wants to be an all-American girl—no matter how hard her parents try
to impose their strict Latvian standards on her. She feels unsure of herself
with one foot in each country.
Then
Nolan, a folksinger, steals her heart at a coffeehouse. When Nolan stops at
their table, it’s Vija’s friend, Caprice, who does all the talking. But it is
Vija who gets his phone number—and later the back seat of his motorcycle. Soon
she is cruising from one adventure to another, dizzy with joy, her new-found
freedom and the excitement of being with the kind of guy who is a challenge.
However,
when her father has a heart attack, Vija must take over running the family
lawn-care business. She feels overwhelmed until sweet brainiac Joel volunteers
to help. He shares the workload and lifts her spirits with his humor. But it is
Nolan who fills her heart.
It
doesn’t matter that Nolan wants everything his way. Or that he’s constantly
eyeing other girls. Or that he can be pouty and punitive. Or that he says she’s
seeing things all wrong. Until it does matter. But Vija’s in so deep. Will she
deal with Nolan’s controlling tactics, or is she too far under his spell? Or
will Nolan give up his bad boy ways for her?
About the Author:
Award-winning
author Ann Herrick grew up in Connecticut, where she graduated from The Morgan
School and Quinnipiac University. Her books have received the ALA Recommended
Book for Reluctant Readers Award, the IRA/CBC Children’s Choice Award and EPPIE
Young Adult Finalist Award.
The
vast majority of Ann’s books are HFN (Happily For Now, with the possibility of
Happily Ever After. The characters are in their teens, after all, so Ever After
would be a *really* long time.) Two books have positive endings, but not the
standard HFN or HEA, but with those possibilities if the reader reads very
carefully between the lines at the end of the story.
She
now lives in Oregon with her husband, who was her high-school sweetheart. Their
daughter is grown, married and gainfully employed, and has given them their
only grand-dog, Puff, a bloodhound-rottweiller-beagle mix, and six
grand-kitties. While Ann misses the East Coast, especially houses built before
1900, she enjoys the green valleys, fresh air and low humidity in Eugene,
Oregon.
Review:
But
all I could think about while I read this book was, “That girl needs to be
grounded.” And, “Vija’s in an abusive relationship with that Nolan kid. She
needs to get away from him. Why can’t she see how much Joel really cares about
her?” Am I really that far over the hill? Although, at seventeen and even
thirty I admit I was pretty desperate for affection and allowed myself to be
used. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on Vija.
The
fact that I had such a visceral reaction to the characters shows how real they
were. And I did keep reading. But Vija really should have been grounded. And I
guess I am getting too old for YA books.
Author Website: http://annherrickauthor.com/
Heat Rating: PG
Length: 151 Pages
Digital Price: $2.99
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