Review: Started Off Amazing, Then Something In The End Ruined It :(
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2014
Rating: 3.5+ starsVERY WICKED THINGS starts off during Cuba and Dovey’s senior year. They are not speaking and have apparently been broken up for an entire year after a rather public breakup. I’ll admit I was a bit confused as to what happened between them, especially since they seemed to smitten with one another in the prequel. However, it was obviously these two still had feelings for one another, regardless of how they spoke or didn’t speak to one another.Let me start with Cuba. I LOVED HIM!!! And not because he was a hot stud of a football player. I loved him because of how honest he was with himself. He may have acted a certain way while in school or on the field, but deep down he was this amazing guy who did have feelings, yet felt undeserving of love. Cuba’s past broke my heart and I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be okay. Did he make mistakes? Yes. Should he have been honest and told Dovey the truth? Yes. However, his intentions, no matter how misguided, were never malicious and he always had Dovey’s best interest in mind.And Dovey – I liked her a lot. She grew up with an unfortunate past, but she managed to rise up and make something of herself. She landed a scholarship at the prestigious Briarcrest Academy and has the opportunity to make a career as a ballet dancer. She was focused and relationships were not going to come in her way…until she met Cuba. She let him in and he let her down. Now a year later, Dovey is a little different and has her guard back up, but one thing hasn’t changed. Cuba Hudson still makes her heart flutter and deep down she knows she still wants him, no matter how much she tells herself otherwise.Ok so I really enjoyed how the author started this story – with Cuba and Dovey already broken up and not on speaking terms – and loved how they started going back and forth with one another. It was obvious that they still had feelings for one another but like most teenagers, they didn’t make the best decisions nor did they communicate in the best way. But, keeping in mind that this is a book about teens in high school, I overlooked any issues I may have had with that. Instead I just sat back and enjoyed the story.In addition to the romance, there was Cuba’s past and Dovey’s responsibilities that caused conflict. Although I found these plot points interesting, I do wish that the story stayed focused on Cuba and Dovey’s love story more. I found the secondary stories to be a little underdeveloped and a little glossed over.The reason I’m mentioning the secondary story lines is because something happened towards the end of the book – that was non-relationship related – that ruined my opinion of Dovey and this book. Dovey went through with something that I feel was horrible and completely unnecessary, in my opinon (See Spoiler Below). I understood the reasons WHY she made the decision to do what she did, but by letting her actually go through with it and showing it to the reader, I was disappointed.As a whole, I loved these characters and the story. However, once Dovey did what she did, my feelings of love and adoration for the story ended. It was hard for me to get over it. Now this may sound harsh but it ruined the story for me. Although the ending was sweet, I just never was able to overcome it.This book started as a 4.5 star read for me – with all the sexual tension and angst that I know and love – but once Dovey went down that certain path, it went down to a 3 star read.