Review: This story broke my heart is all the ways I love!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2014
I was delighted to find that my review copy of Very Wicked Things also contained a surprise prequel novella, Very Wicked Beginnings. I absolutely loved every bit of that prequel, getting tons of insight into who Cuba and Dovey were before they met, how they grew up, their early family lives... and how their initial relationship developed. Reading that novella was crucial because Very Wicked Things opens up with Dovey and Cuba, a year after their breakup. As a reader, I was so taken with them in the novella, that my heart broke immediately wondering what on earth had happened to them. Dovey is almost your anti-heroine. Unlike most weak female main characters in books, this chick is strong, she knows what she wants, she refuses to let her emotions get in the way of her goals. And she absolutely won't let a broken heart break HER. Cuba is the posterchild for your stereotypical wealthy, popular football God who can have any girl he wants. But underneath the facades of both of these characters, they are broken and tormented by pasts they can't escape.My heart broke from the first page on. When I say my heart broke, I mean that literally. As a reader, my very favorite thing is those painful heart twinges I feel when I am so immersed in a story that my heart hurts right along with those characters. And that mine did. Very Wicked Things is written in dual points of view, giving us insight into both Cuba and Dovey as they live their daily struggles, secretly burying their feelings for each other. I love love love that sense of longing, that slow build between characters, that scenario when two characters feel like they can't be together and we just want them to find their happy ending so so badly. Yes, they'd been together before, but something has happened in that year, and as a reader, we don't know what has transpired until much later in the book. My heart hurt for pages and pages and pages. And I loved that.Something happened at a point in the story and I slowly grew disconnected to a degree. I think it was around 70% when so much started to happen, so many characters started introducing their issues, a lot of drama started happening at once, and I felt like I was an outsider watching it all happen, rather than feeling immersed as I had previously felt. I loved the dynamic the author created between Dovey and Cuba, their broken relationship, the heartbreaking dialogue they spew at each other in the face of hurt and anger. I loved all of that and I wanted more. Late in the story, things escalate from the halls of Briarcrest Academy and we're taken into a much darker, ugly world with these characters. While I understood that this was necessary for the story to develop, it still left me wanting for what once was earlier on in the book.This book started out so strong and stayed that way for much of it. While I slowly felt a sense of disconnect later in the book, I never stopped feeling completely invested in the story. With that said, I found the ending to feel a little too perfect, too abrupt considering the gravity of the events that had previously transpired. It seemed like things went so far off course, so outside of the box, that it was all tied up a little too neatly and easily in the end. I wanted all those hurtful comments revisited in some way. I wanted redemption and a happily ever after for both Cuba and Dovey, but I felt like it came too suddenly, too predictably. I may not have loved or grasped every bit of the journey, but I certainly am glad I took it with them. This author has absolutely delivered another unputdownable, original story in this series.