Release Date: September 9, 2014Published by: William Morrow PaperbacksStand-aloneSource: Around the World ARC ToursFor fans of: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Chick-lit, Girl Power
Sam 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.
"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
"...some friendships never die."
pg. 71
"I've worked so hard to get here and now[...] You being here takes away something that's really special to me."
pg. 94
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."It's scary how much my recruit buddies know about Phineas and Ferb."
pg. 287
Labels: Chick-lit, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance