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A review by maggiereb17
Misfit by Elle Kennedy
5.0
Holy fucking shit, that was a RIDE.
First of all, I fucking adore this book. I love the characters, I love their Gossip Girl/Heathers-esque banter. I love that each one of them is completely fucked up and so so damaged. I love the story, and the drama, and the endless winding plot threads all overlapping.
I think the thing about this book that is going to get it mislabeled/misunderstood, is that it’s not so much a romance as it is the beginning of an R rated teen drama book series. The first book isn’t just the story of RJ and Sloane, though their romance does have an arc and ends in a good place, it’s more the story about the boys in the prep school. It’s about each one of them and all the messed up things they’ve done, or that have happened to them. This isn’t so much a romance series as it is a NA contemporary series with romance. And I absolutely love that about it.
The boys are all fucked up in their own way and I love them all for it. RJ, who despite being the boy who’s been kicked out of almost every school he’s ever attended, is actually the best acting and most well adjusted of them all. Silas, who pretends at being the all American good guy, but who lets himself be swayed by petty jealousy, strings along his girlfriend, and is the only one who won’t admit to the damage he’s done to get put in Sandover. Fenn, who’s seemingly an all cards on the table a pretty boy man slut, but who actually has deep dark secrets he keeps in fear of losing the very few friends he has. And Lawson, who is fucked up beyond belief, and who loves to create chaos and inebriate himself so badly that he doesn’t have to live in his own mind while sober.
Then there are the girls, Sloane and Casey, polar opposites but tough enough to handle the fucked up boys at Sandover. Sloane who, for all her pretty popular girl exterior, is much more of a Bender than a Claire. And Casey, who is as genuinely good and kind as she seems, but is intensely traumatized.
The characters themselves are what make this book so good in my eyes, and I love that we got POVs from almost all of them (all save Casey), because their stories are all interesting. I loved reading the romance between RJ and Sloane, but I equally loved watching Fenn and Casey circle each other, watching Silas make all the wrong choices, and watching Lawson fall into a spiral of self destruction so thorough and complete I don’t know how he’ll top it.
I know how the series will likely end: RJ with Sloane, Casey with Fenn, and Silas with Lawson. But I know that getting there is going to be an endless spiral of high school drama and I am so ready to read it. This makes the favorites list and I am eagerly awaiting the next one.
The important thing to remember when going into this book, is that more than being a romance, it’s a Gossip Girl-esque NA prep school drama series about the boys at Sandover. They are the main characters, and, though the romance is the main plot, it’s not the only plot.
For me that is what makes this book so good/unique/interesting. Elle Kennedy excels at writing men, more so than most romance authors do, and so writing a series with 4 broken prep school assholes as the main characters? Of course she’s going to kill it.
I’m eagerly awaiting the next one, and I already can’t wait to re-read this one.
(My 100th book of the year)
First of all, I fucking adore this book. I love the characters, I love their Gossip Girl/Heathers-esque banter. I love that each one of them is completely fucked up and so so damaged. I love the story, and the drama, and the endless winding plot threads all overlapping.
I think the thing about this book that is going to get it mislabeled/misunderstood, is that it’s not so much a romance as it is the beginning of an R rated teen drama book series. The first book isn’t just the story of RJ and Sloane, though their romance does have an arc and ends in a good place, it’s more the story about the boys in the prep school. It’s about each one of them and all the messed up things they’ve done, or that have happened to them. This isn’t so much a romance series as it is a NA contemporary series with romance. And I absolutely love that about it.
The boys are all fucked up in their own way and I love them all for it. RJ, who despite being the boy who’s been kicked out of almost every school he’s ever attended, is actually the best acting and most well adjusted of them all. Silas, who pretends at being the all American good guy, but who lets himself be swayed by petty jealousy, strings along his girlfriend, and is the only one who won’t admit to the damage he’s done to get put in Sandover. Fenn, who’s seemingly an all cards on the table a pretty boy man slut, but who actually has deep dark secrets he keeps in fear of losing the very few friends he has. And Lawson, who is fucked up beyond belief, and who loves to create chaos and inebriate himself so badly that he doesn’t have to live in his own mind while sober.
Then there are the girls, Sloane and Casey, polar opposites but tough enough to handle the fucked up boys at Sandover. Sloane who, for all her pretty popular girl exterior, is much more of a Bender than a Claire. And Casey, who is as genuinely good and kind as she seems, but is intensely traumatized.
The characters themselves are what make this book so good in my eyes, and I love that we got POVs from almost all of them (all save Casey), because their stories are all interesting. I loved reading the romance between RJ and Sloane, but I equally loved watching Fenn and Casey circle each other, watching Silas make all the wrong choices, and watching Lawson fall into a spiral of self destruction so thorough and complete I don’t know how he’ll top it.
I know how the series will likely end: RJ with Sloane, Casey with Fenn, and Silas with Lawson. But I know that getting there is going to be an endless spiral of high school drama and I am so ready to read it. This makes the favorites list and I am eagerly awaiting the next one.
The important thing to remember when going into this book, is that more than being a romance, it’s a Gossip Girl-esque NA prep school drama series about the boys at Sandover. They are the main characters, and, though the romance is the main plot, it’s not the only plot.
For me that is what makes this book so good/unique/interesting. Elle Kennedy excels at writing men, more so than most romance authors do, and so writing a series with 4 broken prep school assholes as the main characters? Of course she’s going to kill it.
I’m eagerly awaiting the next one, and I already can’t wait to re-read this one.
(My 100th book of the year)