Review : Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Wild Cards (Wild Cards #1)
Author : Simone Elkeles
Publication Date : October 1st 2013
Publisher : Walker Books for Young Readers
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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?

Personal Thoughts

Simone Elkeles is one of the very first authors who got me hooked onto YA contemporary novels. Her Perfect Chemistry series and her How to Ruin Series were instant favorites of mine. So, when I found out about her new series, Wild Cards, I was beyond excited. Having read the book now, I must say that I'm disappointed with the outcome.

After a prank gone wrong, Derek is thrown out of his school and he's forced to live with his new step-mom's home in Illinois. There, he meets Ashtyn, his step-mother's younger sister, a high school football player. Wild Cards was written in the POVs of both of Derek and Ashtyn. No matter how hard I tried, I never formed a bond with any of these two characters. They weren't bad or underdeveloped, but their voices lacked that spark that could have held my attention. Ashtyn, especially, was a weak character who lacked a back-bone. Since she was a football player, I thought for sure she would be this headstrong girl who could stand up for herself. In truth, she was a fragile character who lacked determination. I also didn't feel the passion she had for football. Derek wasn't a brilliant character either. His role in the book was ... inane, for lack of better word. He did absolutely nothing when he was in Illinois. He was pretty much unmemorable and never really caught my attention.

The romance was the antagonistic kind. From their first meeting, Ashtyn and Derek regularly argued for the silliest reason and while it was fun at first, it got frustrating by the second half of the book. I wanted more sweet and romantic scenes between them, but it never happened. Additionally, I personally thought that they lacked the chemistry that Simone Elkeles' previous couples had. Ashtyn and Derek's relationship just came across as boring to me, in all honesty. However, my biggest gripe with Wild Cards was the football element. When I read the blurb for the book, I thought that the sports angle would be pretty significant to the plot, but in the end it came across as baseless and inconsequential. I was expecting plenty of scenes of Ashtyn actually playing football at games, but unfortunately I was not granted those scenes. Here's the thing, I went into the book expecting a Miranda Kenneally type of novel, which is why I think I didn't enjoy the book as much as I wanted to. That was my mistake.

While Wild Cards was a complete disappointment to me, I do think die-hard fans of Elkeles will enjoy this title. Be sure to check out reviews on Goodreads before deciding if this book is for you or not.

Rating

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 4/5

**Overall Rating : 2.5/5**

Thank you to NetGalley and Walker Books for the e-ARC of Wild Cards.