Monday, August 3, 2015

Most Likely to Succeed ~ Jennifer Echols (earc) review [@SimonTeen @JenniferEchols]

Most Likely to Succeed (Superlatives #3)
Simon Pulse
August 4, 2015
352 pages
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In this sexy conclusion to The Superlatives trilogy from Endless Summer author Jennifer Echols, Sawyer and Kaye might just be perfect for each other—if only they could admit it.

As vice president of Student Council, Kaye knows the importance of keeping order. Not only in school, but in her personal life. Which is why she and her boyfriend, Aidan, already have their lives mapped out: attend Columbia University together, pursue banking careers, and eventually get married. Everything Kaye has accomplished in high school—student government, cheerleading, stellar grades—has been in preparation for that future.

To his entire class, Sawyer is an irreverent bad boy. His antics on the field as school mascot and his love of partying have earned him total slacker status. But while he and Kaye appear to be opposites on every level, fate—and their friends—keep conspiring to throw them together. Perhaps the seniors see the simmering attraction Kaye and Sawyer are unwilling to acknowledge to themselves…

As the year unfolds, Kaye begins to realize her ideal life is not what she thought. And Sawyer decides it’s finally time to let down the facade and show everyone who he really is. Is a relationship between them most likely to succeed—or will it be their favorite mistake?
Most Likely to Succeed continues the Superlatives series started in Biggest Flirts and then Perfect Couple. The books - and the characters - tie together, but they can also be read as standalone books. Each novel centers around one couple, but the three couples from the series are all part of the same group of friends. You're likely to get some minor spoilers if you read the books not in order, but nothing too major (other, of course, than that they end up together).

I liked Kaye and, especially, Sawyer when they were part of Harper and Brody's story in Perfect Couple. Sawyer's character was a lot of fun, but there were things said that made me think he was more than the flirty, goofy guy always hooking up with a different girl. Honestly, I didn't remember Kaye, as much, but I did remember that there was something between her and Sawyer.

They were both characters I looked forward to getting to know better, whose stories I wanted to read.

Anything and everything that I liked about them in Perfect Couple was so many times better in Most Likely to Succeed. Sawyer is sweeter and goofier than I would have thought, but he's also a more complex character than I anticipated. There is so much, much more to Kaye, her life, how she behaves (and why) than was even hinted at before> (At least so far as I noticed.)

I really loved that each of them had their own thing going on. Kaye had her perfectly planned out future - going to Columbia with her boyfriend, etc, etc - and everything she did seemed to revolve around that plan. Except that she's now not so completely sure it's the right plan, anymore. Sawyer has a reputation he seems perfectly happy upholding, but there's more going on for him than anyone cares to realize.

So, they each had lives, decisions and difficulties. They also had one another. Even if it wasn't entirely clear how, or to what extent.

They are characters - and characters' stories - I like individually, but they're something extra, something special together. I loved Sawyer more as the novel progressed and we learned more about him and saw more of him with Kaye. I didn't love Kaye, at least not in the same way. I liked her but I loved the progression of their relationship, their interactions, their setbacks, all of it.

Most Likely to Succeed is a great, sweet, sexy romance centered on two really well done characters.








thank you to the publisher for the digital copy, through Edelweiss, for review

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