Rebel by Ginger Scott is now live!
An emotional, YA, friends-to-lovers, forbidden romance. With wonderful characters, an engaging, heartfelt story and lots of feels, I loved it.
Amazon
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Blurb
On the surface, Cameron Hass always seems a bit risky. First to take the dare, last to leave the tracks in the face of an oncoming train, the Boston rebel has always liked to flirt with danger. But underneath, he’s terrified. Not about breaking an arm or getting pulled over for driving twice the speed limit, but about the man he’s going to become when he graduates from Welles Academy. His role models have never really been much to look up to.
Brooklyn Bennett, on the other hand, always appears to have it together. Every button is done, every hair in the perfect place, every grade not just an A, but an A+. Beautiful, smart, and from political royalty, Brooklyn set her future goals at the age of five, and she’s never strayed from the path of following in her parents’ diplomatic footsteps.
Until now.
Surviving a terrifying car crash her junior year left Brooklyn questioning a lot of things. Losing her best friend left her feeling alone. But Cameron’s always been a good listener. And messy or not, his heart has always been in the right place. And when Brooklyn needed someone, he was right there. Maybe . . . he’s been there all along.
But how do chaos and rules go together? And what happens if the rest of the world wants to keep them apart?
Review
4.5 stars
The second book in The Boys of Welles series, this is an emotional, YA, friends-to-lovers, forbidden romance. With wonderful characters, an engaging, heartfelt story and lots of feels, I loved it.
Cam was introduced in the last book in the series as the friend and roommate of Theo. He is the fun-loving, pot-smoking daredevil who didn’t seem to take school, or life, seriously. But, of course, there’s much more to him than we knew. His family history is sad and twisted, and he’s doing his best to get through school while dealing with his complicated personal life. And seeing who he truly is and what he has had to deal with, I felt so much for him.
His complete opposite, Brooklyn is a studious and driven perfectionist. Her father is running for senate, and she’s always been the picture-perfect political daughter, with plans to one day follow in his footsteps. But a devastating car accident changed all of that. Brooklyn survived the crash that killed one of her best friends a year earlier, but she’s been left physically scarred, and questioning everything. Now, she’s trying to finish up senior year, and she’s feeling a bit lost and alone, and Cam is there for her.
The relationship between Cam and Brooklyn is gorgeous. They’ve been friends for years, and for all of that time, he has secretly loved her. We get to see the moment where Brooklyn’s feelings begin to change, when Cam offers to help her in her continuing recovery, and she starts to see something new in her old friend. It’s sweet, flirtatious, full of chemistry and all of the excitement and tingles of that first big attraction, and I loved watching everything change for them.
The falling sensational no longer pulls my body down; I’ve landed at the bottom. This is as far as I go. I’ve fallen completely.
But what is a happy time for the two of them quickly becomes dramatic with others in their life clearly unsupportive of a kid with Cam’s reputation being with the school’s golden girl. His whole life he’s never felt good enough, and now he’s getting it right up in his face. And the most vocal of all is Brooklyn’s father, who openly disapproves and doesn’t want Cam anywhere near his daughter.
So we get this ‘us against the world’ dynamic, which makes everything about their relationship more intense, and I loved watching Cam and Brooklyn love and support each other through all of the challenges that they are facing.
“I don’t care what my dad says, Cameron … I need you. And I’m so fucking afraid of never feeling any of those things again.”
Ginger Scott writes the most beautifully emotional YA romance. I felt so much for these characters. I cared for them, I loved them together, and I was desperate for them to find their happy ending. Their story is written with so much heart, with scenes that I could see playing out like a movie, and that had my heart pounding, bringing so much emotion.
He marches toward me. I drop my shoes to the ground just as his hands push into my hair and his lips cover mine. I cling to his wrists and stand on the tips of my toes to meet his kiss, and when we break, he leaves his head against mine.
“Thank you for not being ashamed of me,” he says.
*clutches heart*
There are deeper themes that come up throughout the book that bring additional depth to the story, and I thought they were addressed really well. It’s dramatic, but sweetly romantic with moments that had me laughing and smiling, and it finishes in a great place, and I was left happy and satisfied.
There are hints of something going on between the two remaining characters in the friend group, James and Morgan, and I’m really excited for their book coming out next.
I loved this one.
4.5 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The Boys of Welles
About the Author
Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before, Wild Reckless, Wicked Restless, In Your Dreams, The Hard Count, Hold My Breath, A Boy Like You, A Girl Like Me, Memphis and Cry Baby.
A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.
When she’s not writing, the odds are high that she’s somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork ’em, Devils).
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