Review: 5+++ Totally PERFECT Stars!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2014
I’m not sure how to even write this review, my head was all over the place from the very beginning to the very end.  Ella has stepped up her game big time with this book! It was total perfection. So beautifully done, my emotions weren’t in check at all! If this woman ever stops writing it would be a huge injustice to us all.  As with every book that Ella writes, she takes you on a journey that you never presume to know the outcome of.  Isn’t that wonderful?  Nothing is black and white with this book and I swear I needed a stuffed animal, tums to help me cope.  This is by far the best book I’ve read this year, and I say that with 100% certainty.  My advice: If you haven’t read an Ella Frank book before, DO IT NOW and start with this!“I only have me to think of now.  Me in this place, with nothing but time.  Time to remember or, as they are all hoping.  Time to forget.”Addison is just beginning her senior year in High School and she is by no means an innocent little High School girl, but she’s also not a “bad girl” if that makes any sense.  This girl has confidence that shoots through the roof, and the looks to back it up but she’s far from perfect and has some pretty heavy stuff on her shoulders.  Everybody knows who she is, and what she’s gone through and all of this plays throughout the book.  Addison seems to be your perfectly put together High School girl, but I can guarantee that is not the case.  I truly loved Addison and had to put myself in her shoes to fully encapsulate her story in my brain, and after I did that I was done for, committed and knew I wouldn’t see the light of day until I read “The End.”“My ending, staring right at me from the very beginning.”The bell rings, Addison is late for class with him Mr. McKendrick.  She doesn’t even know what has hit her, but I believe it’s that pure shrill type of vibrancy that she has on the outside, now consuming her on the inside.  Not even Addison knows how to react right away, but her body does and she slowly and not so meekly begins her seduction of her hot new teacher.  She has one goal and it’s to have Mr. McKendrick.  Ella Frank is great at the tease, and the way these two go back and forth is the best kind.  Everything from Mr. M’s snarky stubborn replies to Addison’s relentless pursuit is done perfectly.“I wondered at that moment what I’d done to deserve this.  Surely, this was some kind of f*%*%d-up karma because the girl in front of me had the face of a woman that would bring men to their knees.  Men just like me.”This story is told behind the eyes of both Addison and Mr. M, as well as it plays out in the past and present tense which I found extremely necessary in order to understand this book completely.  I loved being able to see the true insecurities that belonged to Addison, and how she went through the shifting vulnerabilities that plagued her and made her character truly believable.  Being in Mr. M’s head had a totally different but equally important role,  his POV was more of a clear vision into how he wanted to deal with this new temptation, and how he struggled against his morality and judgment.  I know some people feel weird about student/teacher stuff, but in this story it just didn’t matter to me.  He was truly a good man and I felt like he always thought about Addison first.  Addison was slightly more reckless in her taming of temptation, and I love that crazy girl!So as these two go through this little game of attraction and lust, when the good stuff happens it’s REALLY good, like crazy hot.  And my anxiety didn’t stop when they finally hook up, in fact it got worse!  Because this little forbidden romance isn’t the only thing happening while you’re reading this book!  The stuff with the past and the present include a character named Doc who I can’t tell you about, there’s little trinket stuff that I can’t tell you about, there’s places and things and twist and turns and ahhhhhhhhh!  It’s so freaking crazy good!  And on top of all of that you’re just scared the whole time of them getting caught, not knowing if what they have is something that will last, or if they have to give it up for the sake of what’s “right and wrong” or if someone or something will take it from them, PLUS all of that other stuff I mentioned before!  You honestly are driving blind through this book, and have no clue what happens until it actually happens, isn’t that awesome?My heart was all tied up for the last 20% of this book and I’m not sure how many times I held my breath but it was A LOT.  I will say this, there are some really cool and insightful references in this book with some other really cool things that you just don’t see every day in every book.  It was truly beautifully done, and obviously Ella did some amazing research.  Couple that with her insane creativity and BAM—perfect book.  I cried my eyes out and when I finally did reach “The End” I was a total and complete sobbing mess for way more than one reason.  This book won me over a thousand trillion percent and I would suggest it to ANYBODY.  Even if you don’t typically like student/teacher just try it, the story goes so far beyond that, I promise.  I just didn’t want it to end, I need it to go on forever and ever.“I’ll teach you how to come with a man inside you.”“Not a boy, Addison, a man.  Now go.”“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”