Like most seventeen year olds, Ridley Heller thought she had her future all
planned out. What she wanted most in life was to get out of small town Harker.
Her only goal was to keep her mouth shut and her grades high so she could win a
cheerleading scholarship to Stanford. But that was before she met Bo. In
Ridley’s wildest dreams, she could never have planned for someone like Bo, for a
love so intense it left her breathless. No human girl could. A haunting
stranger that watched her from afar, Bo stole Ridley’s heart from the moment she
laid eyes on him. But he has secrets. Bo’s a vampire. Both his past and his
present are a danger to Ridley, but the biggest threat is not her blood; it’s
her heart. He’s feeding a thirst for revenge that will cost him his life, and it
may already be too late. The more darkness Ridley uncovers, the more she
realizes that her life will never be the same—with or without Bo. Can she
sacrifice her future and her heart for someone who has a death wish?
The problem with books about vampires in a high school setting is the risk that it could come across as Twilight’ish. Listen, I get it…I enjoyed the Twilight series as much as the next reader BUT I’m looking for a story that has some uniqueness to it. Unfortunately, the story fell short. Not only did it have a Twilight feel to it but it also had a Mean Girls touch as well. The combination of the two really threw me BUT it DID get better.
The attraction between Ridley and Bo is instant. How can Ridley not be attracted to him? He’s mysterious, a fine male specimen and believes in steering clear of any high school non-sense. And because of all those qualities she breaks up with Mr. Popular, Drew and dumps his shallow-ass. Slightly predictable but not every story can have the element of surprise and that’s totally okay.
As the story progresses and the attraction between Ridley and Bo grow stronger, the secret that he’s been hiding becomes discovered. How Ridley discovers this is creepy, frightening and totally awesome!!! This is where things get a little more interesting and the whole draining another vampire can literally kill Bo.
Enter Lars. This is where the story takes a Mean Girls approach. Lars is the new arrival at the high school and he’s there for Bo and not in a good way at all. Trinity is who is the arch-enemy of Ridley gets turned by Lars and all her ugly qualities she had when she was human only become magnified after her “change”. I won’t tell you how it takes a Mean Girls approach but I will let you read the book to figure that one out.
There is a touch of angst within the story and I love when stories have a touch or ton! Bo is on the hunt for the person who murdered his father and he’s trying to do this before his untimely death but it’s not as easy as he or Ridley thinks. Bo continues to get weaker and weaker and eventually Ridley begs him to drink her blood and that was one hot scene!! I almost forgot I was reading a book on high school romance!
There is mystery around who Bo is and what he is but only Lucius can reveal that to Ridley. And the book ends with a cliff-hanger and who doesn’t love a cliff-hanger?
You are probably wondering why I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Easy, the book did pick-up and it did shed its Twilight feel AND it was filled with more angst. If you can push past the things I struggled with, you can enjoy the book. If you are in need of something between books…this could very well be the book for you. 
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