When the most popular girl in school and a gang member from the wrong side of the tracks meet, they may just find out they’re perfect for each other. Brittney Ellis, the prettiest girl in Fairfield High School, is the epitome of perfection from her looks and her captain position on the “pom poms,” to being recognized as one half of the golden couple alongside her well-mannered boyfriend. What people don’t know about her is she actually is pressured by her emotionally distant parents to be perfect in order to make up for the flaws of her twenty-year old mentally disabled sister, who Brittney fights with her parents over not to be sent away to a handicap home.
Alejandro Fuentes (Alex,) a Latino Blood gang member is the only one in his family closest to actually graduating from high school. Raised on the south side of Chicago he’s the definition of a bad boy. Faced with a bet, he’s challenged to take Brittney’s virtue before Thanksgiving. Brittney notices him trying to be smooth and puts forth her best efforts to force herself to be repulsed by him.
Alex opens up to Brittney about his life and role as a gang member, showing his life had its extreme lows. After Alex meets Brittney’s sister, Shelly, and her disapproving parents, Brittney realizes that there is a lot more behind the mysterious Alex Fuentes. In a spiral of surprising and quirky events, they find themselves head over heels in love with each other. Brittney tries to make Alex see that he can be so much more than a destined gang member. Alex realizes that he himself wants to be a better person not only for Brittney, but for himself as well.
Meanwhile, Alex owes a favor to a high ranking gang member, who raised him as his son, and Alex is dragged into things he would never want to do. Now pulled into the life of drug dealing and smuggling, just like his deceased father, he must find a way to hide it from Brittney, get out of the mess he’s in, and keep his loved ones safe.
As all this is going on for Alex, Brittney tries to find ways to make her friends and family realize that Alex is not a bad person. She fights for their love and eventually stands up to her parents, gaining the respect and voice she’s longed for for so long. After some fighting, heartbreak, uncovered motives and truths, revealed pasts, and life threatening situations, Alex and Brittney finally stay together. They realize the challenges of their relationship will be hard, but will be an adventure to overcome together.
The novel was a great read for those who are interested in romance novels that don’t have passé, sparkly, bloodsucking undead. Those who enjoy realistic, yet overly romantic themes will like this novel and all of Alex’s bad boy glory. The novel, shortly after its release, was announced to actually be a trilogy. Each book in the trilogy follows the dangerous lives and loves of the Fuentes brothers.
