Review : Most Likely To Succeed by Jennifer Echols

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Most Likely To Succeed (Superlatives #3)
Author : Jennifer Echols
Publication Date : August 4th 2015
Publisher : Simon Pulse 
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In this sexy conclusion to The Superlatives trilogy from Endless Summer author Jennifer Echols, Sawyer and Kaye might just be perfect for each other—if only they could admit it.

As vice president of Student Council, Kaye knows the importance of keeping order. Not only in school, but in her personal life. Which is why she and her boyfriend, Aidan, already have their lives mapped out: attend Columbia University together, pursue banking careers, and eventually get married. Everything Kaye has accomplished in high school—student government, cheerleading, stellar grades—has been in preparation for that future.

To his entire class, Sawyer is an irreverent bad boy. His antics on the field as school mascot and his love of partying have earned him total slacker status. But while he and Kaye appear to be opposites on every level, fate—and their friends—keep conspiring to throw them together. Perhaps the seniors see the simmering attraction Kaye and Sawyer are unwilling to acknowledge to themselves…

As the year unfolds, Kaye begins to realize her ideal life is not what she thought. And Sawyer decides it’s finally time to let down the facade and show everyone who he really is. Is a relationship between them most likely to succeed—or will it be their favorite mistake?

Personal Thoughts

Saying goodbye to characters that you have grown to love over the course of a series is always a bittersweet experience. I opened Most Likely to Succeed with feelings of excitement, because we were finally getting to Sawyer and Kaye's stories, but also a tiny bit of sadness because I wouldn't be able to see these characters again. Despite that though, I closed the book with feelings of overwhelming happiness because Most Likely To Succeed ended up being my favorite book in the Superlatives series.

One of the greatest things about this series is how realistically Jennifer Echols is able to portray teenage characters. When I read about the whole gang in the series, I find myself transported to my own high school days. With Kaye, my connection was effortless because I was Kaye in high school. She was hardworking, pushed herself to the limits and was driven to the core. What really struck me about Kaye though, was the absolute passion she had for her extracurricular activities. She went to lengths to make the homecoming dance at her school happen and I couldn't help but root for her and her goals, knowing that she wasn't just doing it to have a good college application. Kaye also experienced a staggering amount of pressure from her CEO mom. Having grown up in a poor neighborhood full of drug addicts, she pushed her children to work hard so that they did not have to face what she had to when she was younger, sometimes, exceedingly so. It was easy to feel for Kaye because her mother tried to control every part of her life unknowingly causing her to be unhappy. Over the course of the novel, we do see Kaye grow and mature into someone more outspoken, unafraid to speak out her real feelings to her mom. At the same time, I was glad that while Kaye objected to a lot of what her mom did to her, she was never disrespectful towards her. Even though Kaye's mom was a strict lady, I knew that deep down she did it to help her daughter become a strong and independent woman later in life.

Not going to lie, my main reason for looking forward to Most Likely to Succeed is Sawyer. I fell in love with this misunderstood goofball, who also enjoys wearing his pelican costume as a mascot, from the very first. There was just something about him that was so endearing despite his player ways. In Most Likely to Succeed, we get to know more about his backstory involving his broken home and his shaky relationship with his father. Despite everything though, Sawyer continued to be the funny dork that he was and put on a happy face, never once complaining about his situation. Believe it or not, I fell even harder in love with the boy than I did in Biggest Flirts. I also loved how Sawyer wasn't just a flirty goof, he was also someone who worked as hard as Kaye, but wasn't expressive about it. The phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover" definitely applied to Sawyer. The romance between Sawyer and Kaye was just so cute. They were an unlikely couple because of their constant teasing of each other, but we all know that made them perfect candidates to be a couple. Kaye has a jerk of a boyfriend for about 30% of the book, but they break up and there's no cheating involved. One of my favorite things about the romance was how Sawyer constantly made Kaye feel beautiful. He appreciated her and her natural afro hair and constantly complimented her on it. I thought it was so sweet. These two had me grinning like a fool when they were together. Most Likely to Succeed was also incredibly sex positive. Jennifer Echols' sex scenes are always classy and authentic. Besides great characters and a great romance, Most Likely to Succeed also had a positive depiction of genuine female friendships and it has diversity without being stereotypical, that I wholeheartedly adored.

There are many reasons I love the Superlatives series, but to name a few, it's fun, romantic and has some of the most authentic portrayals of teenagers that I have ever read about without relying on cliches. Sawyer and Kane's romance was the perfect way to end this series and while I'm a little sad to say goodbye to them, I couldn't be happier with the way the story wrapped up! Definitely check out this series if you like books that have humor and are just in the need for a cute and fluffy romance book!

Rating

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

Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon Pulse for the e-ARC of Biggest Flirts.