Review: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Image & description from Goodreads

After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama.

Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

My Thoughts:
I've been on quite a reading binge lately.  Wild Cards has been one of the better books I've read in the last few weeks.  I'm from TX so it didn't hurt one bit that Derek was a smart mouth, boot wearing, piece of eye candy.  I can see how he could drive most girls to do some crazy stuff.  His need to constantly push Ashtyn away was a little annoying, but in the end he got out of his own way.  Ashtyn is not your typical female MC.  She's one of few female high school football players and she's fought her butt off to prove she deserves to be on the field.  I loved the banter and sarcasm that flowed between Derek and Ashtyn.  The chemistry is H~O~T, HOT when a guy and a girl get such a rush annoying each other.  The only thing that bothered me about this story was the ending.  It was a little too perfect.  Without smacking you with spoilers, I'll just say it's a little unrealistic that Derek's grandmother would do what she did.  Also, a little more should have been said about Derek & Ashtyn's trip to Texas in relation to the travel.  Texas is huge and it takes at least 2 hours to get from one big city to another.  Unless her football camp was within about 30 minutes of his grandmother's house it's unlikely she'd be calling a cab to take her between the two places.  I know that seems like a minor detail to focus on, but it bugged none the less.  Over all I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a good, young adult romance to read.  I disagree with Amazon's Grade 9 & up rating.

I'd say for readers 16 & up.  Moderate sexual content and language.