ARC, 402 pages
Release Date: September 9, 2014Published by: William Morrow PaperbacksStand-aloneSource: Around the World ARC ToursFor fans of: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Chick-lit, Girl PowerSam McKenna’s never turned down a dare. And she’s not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.
So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She’s even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won’t risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty…no matter how much she wants him.
As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they will stop at nothing to drive her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out.
At any cost.
Now time’s running short. Sam must decide who she can trust…and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I can’t lie, I added this one on a whim because I was hearing so many things about this one and it wasn’t even out yet! I thought it was going to be like a love story, but it wasn’t exactly. Regardless, THIS WAS BAD ASS!
“Jonathan is the Cadet Colonel. You can’t be all female around him. As if being female is somehow a sickness Mom and I can’t get over.“
pg. 4
I really liked the main character. She was strong, sassy, and didn’t take any s*it. She was her own person and her own opinions were important to her. In short, she was bad ass. So many times she should’ve given up and just tried keeping herself safe, but she didn’t. She went over and beyond in making sure that she stayed strong and didn’t let anyone or anything upset her. This is definitely a novel everyone will be yelling “GIRL POWER” about.
“…some friendships never die.“
pg. 71
As for the romance, it was really non-existent. Which is strange because I did end up liking it. Normally I’m not a huge fan of books that don’t feature a romance, but this one made an exception. It was against the code of ethics for one, but other than that, there were so many twits and turns, it just didn’t seem like there could’ve been a really great romance. Like literally as soon as you got it in your head to like or dislike someone, they ended up being the enemy!
“I’ve worked so hard to get here and now[…] You being here takes away something that’s really special to me.“
pg. 94
Basically, this book taught me one thing. TRUST NO ONE. There’s so many people in here that I thought was helping her and that she had on her side, but she didn’t have anyone. She was there by herself and people were against at every turn. I found myself so frightened for her. Like enough to make my heart race and almost give me a panic attack. I knew she was strong, but at the same time, going through all that she did, any sane person would’ve broken a long time ago. In other words, she was crazy lol
“It’s scary how much my recruit buddies know about Phineas and Ferb.“
pg. 287
In short, this book was a real eye opener for me. Having cousins in the military (one of them being a female) I never really sat and thought about how they treated them while they was there. Regardless, they each spent eight years of their life in the military. Sam shows me that they HAD to be bad ass to endure some of the things she went through. And all willingly. She chose to miss out on the boys and make up in high school just to take on a dare. I’d say she’s the most bad ass character I’ve ever met.
Overall, I give this