November 3, 2014

BLOG TOUR REVIEW, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Wild (The Ivy Chronicles #3)


It's a bittersweet thing, being a part of the WILD blog tour, organized by Bookslapped. Bittersweet because it means that Sophie Jordan's awesome new adult series, The Ivy Chronicles, is complete now that we have Georgia's story. Want to know more? Read on for my review and an excerpt. And, don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end!

Wild (The Ivy Chronicles #3), by Sophie Jordan
To Be Published November 18, 2014
Publisher: Avon
Format: e-ARC, obtained from Edelweiss
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble 
 

Rating: 4 STARS

(From Goodreads) A good girl goes fabulously bad in the final book in New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s sexy New Adult romance series, in which three Ivy League suite-mates seek higher knowledge of just how far they can go.

Months after her boyfriend dumped her, Georgia can still hear the insults he hurled at her. Boring. Predictable. Tame. Tired of feeling bad, she’s ready to change her image, and go a little wild. What better way to prove her ex wrong than a hot night of sexual adventure at the secret campus kink club?

In the shadowy den of the kink club, she unexpectedly runs into Logan Mulvaney, her friend’s little brother. A player extraordinaire too hot for his own good, he may be younger, but the guy is light years ahead when it comes to sexual experience. Now he’s telling her to go home—“good girls” don’t belong here!

Georgia is tired of having others define her. She’s going to teach Logan a lesson he won’t forget—one white hot, mind-wrecking kiss . . . that leads to another . . . and another . . . and. . . . Realizing she’s way in over her head, Georgia runs.

Only Logan won’t let her go. Everywhere she goes he’s there, making her want every inch of him. Making her forget who she is. Who he is. And just how wrong they are for each other.


We finally get a glimpse of good-girl Georgia's life in the final book of Sophie Jordan's The Ivy Chronicles book, WILD - and, Georgia is anything BUT wild. In it, Logan teaches her how to live by her own rules for the first time in her life, and the process is a slow and painful one. Georgia has been groomed to be the perfect southern girl who will go on to be the perfect southern wife and mother. But, she's so tired of being perfect. Logan is willing to show her how to walk on the wild side, but Georgia is not going to come along easily.

Logan made this book everything that is was for me. There was such a big deal made by Georgia and other characters in the book about his age. He's only 18 and a senior in high school. So, yeah - I get it. I can see why Georgia and her friends might have a hang-up about him dating a 20-year-old in college. Not to mention the fact that Logan is a certifiable man whore. Like, card-carrying member and everything. So, yes. There were many reasons to give Georgia pause when it came to starting any sort of relationship with Logan. 

But, damn, that boy has some charm. And he is absolutely persistent. I love a persistent man who goes after what he wants. In truth, it was one of the several things about Logan that had me constantly forgetting that he is supposed to be only 18. Most of the time, he acted much older than that. I don't remember any 18-year-old boy from my past acting quite so responsible, patient or persistent. 

Perhaps it was partly due to the fact that he and his older brother Reece had to deal with their drunk of a father their whole lives. Or the fact that Logan realizes that if he wants to be something more, he has to work hard at it. So, he is a star baseball player, holds down a steady job at Reece's bar and gets good grades in school. And, he takes care of his female BFF in such a sweet manner. I was afraid that her presence indicated the start of a love triangle, but I worried for nothing. There was no triangle, and Logan's careful treatment of her simply solidified my love of him. In any case, Logan was damn near perfect. 

The only thing I wanted more of from him was the ability to say no to Georgia. She really needed that. Hell - she needed a good slap up along side the head. I had a lot of problems with her. I know she was fighting some serious stuff inside her head. The constant pulling in two different directions between what she was born to do and what she wants to do. What her parents want for her and what she wants for herself. And, the casualty of all the indecision is Logan and his feelings. Georgia would give in to her own desires and have a wonderful time with Logan, and then she's come back to reality, convince herself that he was the wrong guy for her, and kick him to the curb. Time and time and time again she did this, and it made me hate her. No really - I HATED Georgia for a long, long time. 

At first, Logan thought it was interesting and cute when Georgia would battle her inner demons with him. Then, when his feelings became involved, he actually manned up and told her about them (see - not at all what an 18-year-old guy would do). And, then when she still pulled and pushed and pulled and pushed, it no longer was amusing for him anymore. It was like Georgia didn't even care that she was hurting herself and destroying the boy that she had fallen in love with - all to please her parents that don't seem to give two rips about her. It was absolutely maddening. 

The times when Georgia allowed herself to be happy were the best parts of the book. She was fantastic with Logan. They were a great couple with some super hot chemistry. Those were some GOOD parts. I loved seeing Logan in action at the kink club in the beginning, too. That man is talented. And, the ending absolutely made all the angst and frustration I felt through 90% of the book totally worth it.

One side note - the book starts off with Georgia contacting Annie and asking her to bring her along to the next kink club meeting so that Georgia could demonstrate that she wasn't as buttoned up as everyone thought. Why in the HELL do these girls keep actively seeking out this horrid person and ask to spend time with her??? In both Foreplay and Tease, Pepper and Emerson were both treated to Annie-style attacks that were dangerous, vindictive and hurtful. Georgia knows all about her and what she did to her BFFs, and yet, she still seeks out her company willingly several times in Wild. WHY?  Ugh. 

I'm looking forward to Sophie Jordan's next foray into the new adult genre after her success with The Ivy Chronicles. These characters are fantastic and the love stories exciting and satisfying. Wild put the exclamation point on this awesome series. 

Excerpt

            I flipped on the television and changed clothes, hanging up my sweater and folding my jeans neatly. After tucking my boots into the corner of the closet, I reached for my phone to call Mom back. She hated it when I didn’t call back on the same day.
            Sitting cross-legged on the bed, I watched a cop chase a bad guy across the screen as the phone rang in my ear. On the final ring, Mom picked up. “Georgia, hi!” Her voice was full of energy. Reminiscent of how she sounded on the intercom all those mornings in high school.
            Attending the school where your mom worked as a principal had been less than fun. Thankfully, she adored Harris – everyone in my hometown did – or I never would have been asked out on a date. Not too many guys want to date the principal’s kid. Harris had been confidant enough to not let it intimidate him. I’d loved him for that. Of course, his father was a city councilman … and happened to be the current mayor. My mother loved him for that.
            “How are you? How’s school?”
            “Good, I’m—“
            “Did you change your password? I was trying to get online and look at your current GPA.”
            “No, Mom, I haven’t.”
            I might be twenty years old, but my parents were footing the bill for school and still expected full access to my life – that included online viewing of my grades at any time during the semester.
            “Hm. Maybe I hit the caps button. I’ll try again later.” She took a breath and slid into the next topic. “Have you thought more about your summer plans? I’ve been talking with Greg Berenger and he can get you on here at the bank. It would be a great way to get your foot in the door for when you graduate.”
            And there it was. The expectation that I’d come home. Eventually. I’d finish college and start my career back in the bustling metropolitan of Muskogee, Alabama.
            “Um. I’m not sure yet. Still looking into a few things…”
            “Georgia  Parker Robinson.” She must have heard something in my voice because hers just got all principal-mode on me. Not to mention she was whipping out my full name. “This is your future. You need to take this seriously and not wait until the last minute.”
            “Of course, Mom. I know.”
            A pause fell. “Is this because of Harris? He won’t be here this summer, you know. His mother said he took an internship in Boston.”
            “You spoke with his mother?” I couldn’t help it. My voice escaped in a squeak.
            “I saw her at the store. What was I supposed to do? Ignore her?”
            “Sorry,” I mumbled.
            “We both agree that this is just a phase he’s going through… this other girl is just a fling—“
            “Mother! You discussed us … her?”
            Her is a girl I’ve never even met, but someone Harris started fooling around with a few weeks before he dumped me. It was such a cliché. But then wasn’t there truth in clichés? That’s why they existed.
            “Don’t get upset. You and Harris will work this out—“
            “I don’t want to work it out with him, Mom. He cheated on me. He broke up with me.”
            “You’re both so young. You don’t understand yet. This will only make your relationship stronger down the road.”
            “Mom, this might be hard to believe, but I don’t want to be with Harris anymore.”
            “Oh, this is so unlike you, Georgia. You’re not they type to hang onto pointless anger.”
            “What do you mean? Why is this so unlike me?” What was I like then? The kind of girl that would let a guy stomp all over her heart and then ask for seconds?
            “You’ve never disappointed me before.”
            And not marrying Harris would disappoint her? Was that her implication?
            She continued, “You always make the right decisions. We raised you to be reliable.”       
            Boring. Harris’s word drifted through my mind just then. He’d called me boring when he broke up with me. Oh, there had been other words. Other accusations laid at my feet, but that one stuck in my head the most. 
            I sighed and rubbed at my suddenly aching forehead, like that accusation was in still lodge in there, an annoying pebble I couldn’t shake lose. “I’ll let you know about the job.”
            “Please do. The position won’t be available forever. Mr. Berenger will hold it as long as he can as a favor to me. I could have expelled his son that time when he stole the test from Mrs. Morris’s desk and sold the answers to everyone, remember?  I only gave him on campus suspension.”
            “Okay, Mom. Tell Dad and Amber hello for me.”
            “Good night, honey.”
            “Night, Mom.”
            Ending the call, I fell back on my bed. Law and Order was starting over again, the familiar theme music racing over the air.
            Restlessness hummed through me … and a low undercurrent of anger. Mom. Harris. Joshua. Their voices overlapped through my head, making my stomach churn. All three of them thought they knew me so well. Boring. Reliable. Serious.
            All words to describe me. All words I wanted to fling to the floor and stomp on until they were dust beneath me. Holding up my phone again, I scrolled through names, stopping at one at the very bottom. My thumb hovered over the keypad before reaching a decision and typing.

Me: So what does one wear to a kink club?
Annie: Something you can easily take off…

Giveaway

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About the Author

Sophie Jordan grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she's also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Avon historical romances. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she's not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes and Diet cherry Coke preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows. Sophie also writes paranormal romances under the name Sharie Kohler.

Learn more about Sophie --> Website * Twitter * Facebook

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