OMG I am in LURVE and even if it might be skeevy AND even if it might mean serious legal issues I am going to say that I am all about asshat extraordinaire: Jack Hunter. He is the three magic things that make my tingly spots tingle in a book boyfriend. Number One: He’s a raging prick. Number Two: he’s devious. Number Three: under all the hardness and unapproachability something lives within that that tough shell that is worth a hundred Tom, Dick and whatever name is popular this year.
This is my first introduction to Sara Wolf and Lovely Vicious had my attention from about four paragraphs in and I was riveted by the time Isis Blake cocked her arm back and punched Jack Hunter in the eye. Man… what is better? A man with a sharp tongue or woman with a right hook?
Isis is a new girl to Northplains, Ohio. She has recently moved (escaped) from Florida (Hell) to live (eek out) with her mom (broken ghost) where they are both getting (just grasping) a fresh start (barely surviving). When Isis attends a party hosted by one of her schoolmates she meets a drunken mess of a girl, Kayla, who she takes pity on. I got a good chuckle out of how well Sara Wolf wrote Kayla’s drunken babble–History of the planet, indeed! When Jack Hunter makes an appearance at the party the world as it seems to exist in Northplains, Ohion stand still for all of those people at the party. Everyone that is but heart hardened Isis who thinks the Jack is too good looking and too perfect to be worth knowing. Kayla, Isis newly found drunken pal, has nursed a crush on the high school celebrity for years, but this matters not to Isis when she hears Jack’s harsh words to her three-sheets to the wind friend and the asshat-ish cut direct and it’s resulting tears push Isis to introduce Jack to her five closest friends.
Sara Wolf didn’t make Isis a superhero heroine just out there trying to right the wrongs of broken hearts everywhere. She weaves a very complex background story which creates an incredible psyche that demands Isis act on a sense of honor that pertains solely for Kayla. She even punishes both herself and Jack just to ensure Kayla’s happiness. Lovely Vicious sometimes feels like it’s a love/hate relationship with Isis and herself, Isis and Jack–while at the same time it’s a reconciliation with herself and Jack through her acts with Kayla. It’s often a dark look at the loss of self-love, hope and dreams through the eyes of survivor that doesn’t realize that she is still a victim through the acts of her own self-destruction.
There is no part of this book that can be taken lightly. You are faced to look at body image issues, peer pressure, violence, sexual promiscuity, self-destructive behavior, isolationist behavior, death, illness, mental illness and mental impairment, poor impulse control, and overwhelming trauma and wholesale crisis. The simple offer of trust is an exceptional feat for both Jack and Isis. It’s pretty interesting that even though both are incredible at reading people and are pretty good at reading one another that even when they stripped the other bare they seem to recognize the vulnerability that it presents not only in the other person but in themselves as well. When they are faced with mutual self-destruction all they seemed to do is compare battle scars.
Now I can’t say much for what happens in this story other than that the end made me “WTF!” Then I went back and read the last three chapters again three more times and just shrugged and wept for more. MORE DAMMIT! Day-UM! The book was too good! Too, too good.
I have not read Sara Wolf’s Arranged Series and I am all up for them after reading this book. The one thing I really loved about the characters in this book was despite all the knocks Isis took in her shitty life she hit bottom and then she rebuilt and made herself “fabulous”. I loved her vocabulary and the way she talked. I think that if Jack is my book boyfriend than Isis is my book girlfriend. This YA book just became a menage book. Sorry Sara Wolf, I don’t think you meant for this series to branch into erotica but now I’ve gone and done it!
I say HELLS YEA! READ THIS FREAKING BOOK NOW! Can’t wait for the next one. I don’t think Sara Wolf would lie to us… she seems pretty honest–so the date of Savage Delight should be January 17, 2014. I would give her a basket of internet kittens, a picture of Lee Joon shirtless and a video of my sister blinking her eyes for directions on how to acquire a review copy of the next book. My sister can REALLY blink her eyes competently. What do you say about a trade?
The ways you can find more information on the viciously, lovely author of this book would be to check out her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads! Her other books are Arranged and Disarranged.
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