Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any 19-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect. Or is she?
Leaving behind her million-dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she changes the course of her life, becoming a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, … alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex.
Then through a chance encounter, she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.
When it comes to girls, 25-year-old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about… until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.
As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy… where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.
WARNING: This is dark new adult romance with mature themes. Over 18 please. THIS IS NOT YOUNG ADULT.
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Nora is young, immature, fighting some demons, and annoying at times. Leo is too old for her, fighting feelings his feelings, and not ready for what is in store for him. I felt like all the scenarios in this book were unbelievable. I was pulled in at the beginning but after a while it was hard to get through. I only finished because I purchased …
Doing bad things is not the end
Leo & Nora…so hot! Nora starts us off with a dramatic impression. I read this a while back and decided to re-read as audio. I loved it just as much the second time around. Their attraction to each other is irresistible. They both have tragedy in their damaged hearts but they fill each others broken edges. Flove …
Nora and Leo will have you hooked from very beginning. Nora is just done! Done with stupid parents, stupid school, stupid life! She is done trying to portray the perfect girl she has been trying be to. Under the surface she is hiding way all her pain and secrets and somethings got give. From now on she is going tone bad… so bad that no one can …
Great in Audio!
The following ratings are out of 5:
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Favorite Quote: Nora to mean girl “Sometimes I wish I had a lower IQ so I could enjoy your company.”
The heroine: Nora Blakely – she has a …
I loved the characters and all the intense drama, but I wasn’t really feeling the insta-love.
This is very much a young adult story about Nora Blakely who some people would perceive as being a spoilt little rich girl. Yes, she comes from a wealthy family but with that comes conditions set in place by her mother. There are expectations she must meet to keep her mother happy and keep the peace in general.
Nora has had to put up with a lot …
I didn’t expect to love this. I also didn’t expect to stay up to half past 5 this morning to finish this. Mills has such a way with characters. Every single character is so fleshed out, no matter how small their role in the story. This is a wee bit darker than I thought it would be and there’s a couple of trigger warnings. But Nora was such a …
“He’s my Romeo, but I’m not his Juliet.” Woah. Hold the phone- that drew me in right away, and since I enjoyed other Ilsa stories and new adult stories are my jam, I dove right in.
Nora is your class “perfect girl” drowning in the weight of expectations- smart, involved, perfect manners, and engaged leader- and she’s lost in this persona. Her …
The one thing i loved about not having read all of my favourite author books is that when you go back to the earlier work you know it’s a book that has all the feels to it and i was not disappointed with Very Bad Things
From the beginning i knew i was going to love Nora she was so programmed and had to do the right things and be under her mothers …
DNF @ 20%. I get that she’s technically legal (18) ~ but as she’s just starting her senior year of high school, a relationship with a 26yo isn’t romantic, it’s creepy. Especially given that he’s a responsible and mature (attraction to aforementioned high schooler notwithstanding) 26yo who is raising his 17yo brother and runs a business.
She isn’t …
A beautiful read!
He’s a tattooed bad boy who’s sworn to never fall in love, especially with a high school girl…
But she keeps showing up at his gym, wearing short skirts and tempting him with her list of bad things…
Flawless writing. A beautiful and heartbreaking story.
You will get addicted, you will flip through the pages as fast as …
This was an unexpectedly emotional read for me. Nora Blakely is a tortured, lost character and her feelings hurt my heart (in the best way of course!). She fights so hard to find some tiny bit of happiness through the pain in her life, though she takes a very wayward path to do it! Leo Tate has his own inner battles, but his strength has helped …
What a good read. Such an emotional story. My heart felt heavy and I found myself holding my breath during certain scenes. Definitely need book 2 ASAP!!!!
Ohhhhh Leo….I wanted to Gibbs slap him more than once, lol. There is someone else in this book that needs more of a slap than that…I’ll let you figure out who I mean when you read it! As you can tell I got sucked in to these characters and their story and I really loved it. They made me shout at them mentally more than once, I just had to find …
I am notoriously bad at going back and reading work from authors that I’ve read a book or two that I’ve loved. I am desperately trying to fix that, and I started with Very Bad Things. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!! This book completely consumed me in every way possible. I had started a little bit of it during some down time earlier in the week, but from 30% I …
I just loved this story. Once I started I could not put it down until I finished. A girl tortured by her past and a man who was resistant to opening his heart.
Nora was raised to be the perfect daughter. Exceptional manners, top of her class, yearbook editor, debate team captain, student body president…you get the picture. However, she’s …
Very Bad Things is my first read by Ilsa Madden-Mills and it was amazing. Even though I wanted to ring Nora and Leo’s neck at times, I completely fell in love with them and their story.
On the outside, Nora Blakely has it all. She’s nineteen and has what every girl wants. On the inside, she’s unhappy. It’s not the life she wants. She leaves it …
(3.5 stars)
We meet Nora at a time in her young life when she doesn’t know who she is. On the day that everybody thinks she’s lost her mind, she locks eyes with a handsome stranger. As Nora tries to check things off her “Bad Things” list, she is brought face to face with that stranger, Leo. I’m having trouble putting my feelings about this book …
I was completely absorbed by this books. It’s had all the drama and angst to keep you glued to it completely next thing I know BAM!!! I’m at the end of the book I’m like really I love the intensity of Leo & Nora love their chemistry was off the charts. Overall I love this book look looking forward to reading the next book in the series.