Title: Wicked Thing (Wicked Thing #1)Author: Angeline Kace
Published: September 26, 2013 by Accendo Press, LLC
Reviewed by: Isalys
Reason for Reading: Copy provided by Inkslinger PR in exchange for an honest review.
Carmyn Rafferty witnessed the aftermath of her mother's affair. She learned at a young age not to trust anyone. Especially not your spouse. So she's planned. She's planned every detail of her life: who her husband will be, what their careers will be, what their lives will be like. All to avoid the pain of infidelity.
Dallas Brown lives a life all his own. He doesn't do relationships, he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, and he doesn't live up to anyone's expectations but his own.
When Carmyn's fiancé cheats on her, it sends her into a whirlwind of one-night stands with the most infamous player on campus. She can't seem to stay away from this tough guy and his dangerous motorcycle. Everything about him is the complete opposite of who she'd planned to fall in love with: tattoos, dark stubble along his jawline, and hair that brushes his shoulders.
As Dallas and Carmyn begin to fall deeper and deeper into each other, they learn that love can truly be a wicked, wicked thing.
As a fan of Angeline's "Descended By Blood" series, I was really excited to read her latest venture into Contemporary New Adult. As usual, Angeline did not disappoint me!
Many of us like to think that we have our lives all mapped out with a big, grand plan of how we're supposed to live it. Carmyn lived her life entirely on the plan of having a plan. At a young age, having witnessed her mother destroy her family, she does not want to follow the same footsteps. While still in college, she's already figured out who she wants to marry, where they'll live, how many kids they'll have, and even what they'll drive. However, life is anything but predictable and the one thing she tried to avoid was the one thing that turned out to be unavoidable. Catching her fiancé "in the act" with another woman, she was absolutely devastated. With the help of her best friend Ava, who is absolutely hysterical, she decides to throw caution to the wind and just have fun, starting with the biggest playboy on campus, Dallas Brown.
They say that opposites attract and that is not more apparent than with these two. Dallas, unlike Carmyn, is carefree with little thought to what or who he'll do next. He's a sexy, smooth, sweet-talking Southern boy who is irresistible to the ladies and he knows it. Now that Carmyn is officially free, he intends to use those charms on hottest, formerly most ungettable girl in school.
Dallas is almost a perfect paradox. On the outside, he's the quintessential "bad boy" package complete with tattoos, a custom built motorcycle, and enough notches on his headboard that it looks like ancient cave drawings. However, there's so much more to Dallas than meets the eye. He's warm, tender, honest, intelligent, and protective. Dallas didn't want to just seduce Carmyn, he wanted to conquer her. He wanted her to want him like he wanted her!
Dallas and Carmyn's journey together was so much fun to read. In fact, I started and finished it on the same day. They had moments where I wanted to take turns knocking them each upside the head, but it's all part of the process of falling in love and learning from your stupid-ass mistakes, lol. Amiright?
Wicked Thing was a fun, entertaining, and heartwarming story about two people who learn that falling in love is not always a part of the plan and who learn to let go, trust and forgive.
Sidebar: Dallas and Carmyn's story concludes with Wicked Thing and so it reads like a stand-alone. However, Angeline will be giving us Denton's story next. Denton, even though he's only a secondary character in this book, plays a very important role in the culmination of Dallas and Carmyn's relationship and he has his very own story to tell!
As part of today's blog tour, Angeline has shared with us one of her unedited, deleted scenes. This is from Camryn's point of view and it details what her mother did that ultimately led to her trust issues.DELETED SCENE
The very first scenes I wrote for Wicked Thing were a pivotal scene for Carmyn and another one for Dallas. I ended up using Dallas’s scene as the prologue and just had Carmyn mention what happens in her scene later on in the book. I thought it’d be fun for the blog tour, though, to share Carmyn’s scene with you guys first hand. Please note that since I didn’t use this scene in the book, it has not been in the hands of my editor. ~Angeline Kace
~ CARMYN ~
I stand up and wipe my mouth after puking in Mrs. Rita’s daisies. I talked the school nurse into letting me walk the two blocks home when she couldn’t reach Mom on the phone to come get me. She must be out shopping.
The sun is shining and a mild breeze brushes against my warm cheek. It does little to ease my nauseous stomach. I can’t wait to be in my own bed.I’m ready to collapse by the time I walk through the heavy front door and pass the kitchen on my way to the stairs.
I stop short. A man with gray sprinkled throughout his dark hair is standing against the island with his broad back to me. That’s weird. Dad doesn’t have grey in his hair. This man is older than him. But the woman lying on the island with her legs wrapped around him is definitely Mom. Her shiny, brunette locks—the exact shade as mine—rain down over the side of the island.
I’m stunned by a million different things all at once. The first is that they’re having sex. I’ve had sex-ed so I know how it works. I’ve even seen it action when Martin down the street tried to show me one of his dad’s pornos last summer. Boy, did he get in trouble. But I have never seen it in real life. It looks like it hurts, but the loud noises they’re making aren’t in pain. It’s no wonder they didn’t hear me come in. But the piece about this whole situation that repulses me more than anything else is that Mom is doing that with a man who is not Dad.
I clutch the strap of my bag back in my fist and squeak out, “Mom!?”
The man looks over his shoulder at me while Mom scrambles to unwrap her legs from his hips and cover herself up. “Carmyn, in your room. Now,” she says it like I’m the one who got caught having sex.
I’m so confused, frustrated, and sick in a whole new way that I follow the steps up to my room. I plop down on my bed and grip my stomach. This was not how I thought the rest of my day would go. I thought I’d come home and sleep until Mom got home and made me toast and an Orange Julius. I may not be able to keep it down, but the smell alone would have been comforting. The kind only a mother can give you. But I’m sure toast and Orange Julius won’t help me feel better about this. Now I know why Mom wasn’t answering the phone when the nurse called. Does this mean Mom and Dad are going to get a divorce? If they do, what will happen to me? Who will get the house? Where will I live?
My heart thumps against my chest and my deep breaths fill the pocket of space remaining in my fetal position. I’m as small as I can make myself, but it still isn’t enough. The walls and ceiling are caving in on me, weighing on my lungs and it’s just a matter of seconds before they crush me.
The front door closes and then the floor boards creak as Mom comes up the stairs. She knocks softly. “Carmyn?”
“Go away!”
She opens the door and comes in. “Oh, honey.” The mattress dips as she sits down and rubs her hand along my shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” I jerk away from her and scoot over to the other side of the bed. “What were you doing?” I’m disgusted. She disgusts me.
“Carmyn…I…Your father and I haven’t been happy for a long time—”
“What are you talking about?” I shake my head. Yes, they have. I’ve seen them; Dad always kisses her goodbye every morning and kisses her when he comes home. He looks at her like she’s his whole world.
“I’m saying I made a mistake. It happened only this one time and it won’t happen again, so your dad doesn’t need to know about it.” She looks at me sternly, her root-beer eyes blazing.
I sit up. I’m not intimated by her. Not this time. I tilt my head at her in question. Who is this woman who betrayed our family and is now trying to keep it a secret from Dad? “Mom—”
“It will only hurt him. I don’t want to do that to him. Do you?”
Me? She’s the one who did this. Not me! I didn’t think I could be anymore disgusted with her, but she’s full of surprises today. I glare at her. “You either tell him, or I will.”
We stare off for a few tense breaths until she nods and stands up. “All right, Carmyn. If that’s what you want. I’ll tell him.” It’s spoken as a challenge, tiptoeing as a threat. She turns, as graceful as ever, and walks out of my room.
When the door closes behind her, I scream and throw my pillow at the door. I wish it was something harder. And I wish it hit her.
My mouth salivates. I swallow hard as I jump off my bed and run toward the bathroom to vomit.
This day will change my life forever.
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