Book: Cruel Boy
Author: Clarissa Wild
Publisher: September 26, 2019
Publish Date:
In the ocean, Sam Cook snaps pictures of creatures under the surface. That’s not all she saw that day. She can’t tell anyone what she saw nor can she decipher if she caught the full truth. Sam is the quiet girl in her grade with just one friend, Mo. Not even Mo knows what Sam saw that day. She can’t tell anyone and she can’t be involved without knowing the truth. Sam knows she went unnoticed.
Only she was wrong. Someone saw her in the ocean that day.
Nate Wilson is the most popular guy in school, football quarterback paired up with the meanest girl in school, Layla. Every girl wants Nate even though he is the school’s biggest heartbreaker. Even though he shouldn’t, he has his eyes set on Sam. He promises to break her, to make her do what he wants. She has something he wants and he won’t stop until he gets it.
Wild built her characters and the story-line with great detail. There were a lot of feelings flowing through the pages; fear, anger, excitement, betrayal, second guessing, and much more. The interactions between Sam and Nate were flirtatious and sometimes dangerous. At certain points, the story almost reminded me of 13 Reasons Why but was its own entity.
Wild did a great job with making her characters complex—especially Nate. Everyone had their opinion on him and thought they knew the truth, but there was so much more to the bad boy of the story. Sam wasn’t a weak willed character, she stood her ground and fought for what she believed in. When things got tough, she didn’t depend on a different character to pull her out of the mess. The heat in this book wasn’t overbearing but was still there when Nate and Sam were together. The duo of Sam and Nate complimented each other in a lot of aspects and it was wonderful. Wild kept things consistent and tidy.
Verdict: Cruel Boy was an enticing read. The characters were well built and displayed. They broke a lot of stereotypes and did things that weren’t expected given they were in high school. There was enough suspense to create the need to keep the pages turning. This story was interesting and attention grabbing from start to end and I loved the relationship between the two main characters. The bad boy was just the right amount of dangerous, if not a little more than expected, and was handled well by the heroine. The ending was more than I anticipated. Part of the ending was hinted throughout the story but not fully given away and it was enough to keep the suspense there.
Rate: 4.5/5
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