A riveting new adult trilogy about love, loss and chaos by bestselling author Jackie Wang.KNOXOne smile was all it took to ignite my obsession. I fell in love with Caylen Mollett long before she became my best friend. And I continued to love her, even when she belonged to someone else.I promised I’d always be there for her…and I’d keep my promise, even if it meant sacrificing everything.CAYLENI … it meant sacrificing everything.
CAYLEN
I fell in love with a volatile god. One of the wealthiest men in the world, and my best friend—Victory Wilton.
I loved him long before he inherited a billion dollars.
And I continued to love him, even when he tried to break us.
I made a vow, for better or for worse…and I’d keep my promise, even if it meant sacrificing everything.
VICTORY
I fell in love with my smart and sexy roommate. My best friend. The only one who saw past my wealth, good looks and playboy persona.
Caylen Mollett saw me for who I truly was: a sad young man with a broken family and a lonely childhood, and loved me despite my flaws.
She loved me long before I spiralled out of control.
And she stayed with me, despite my anger and cruelty.
I didn’t deserve her kindness, but I made a vow to never hurt her again, and I’d keep my promise, even if it meant sacrificing everything.
more
I couldn’t put this down, even when it had me ugly crying
I can’t remember how I first discovered this author, but I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of her books. I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this, I’m not usually the biggest fan of the New Adult genre, but decided to give it a go. Whilst I really enjoyed her Northbridge series, this has become my favourite Jackie Wang book. This is the first part of a trilogy and does end on a cliffhanger. There isn’t any cheating in this book, nor would I describe it as a love triangle.
Tox (Knox) and Vic have been best friends since they were little, growing up more like brothers. In their senior year of high school they allow the awkward new girl in school, Cay, to join their little group. The book starts with them preparing to move on from high school, Tox is staying in Seattle, whilst Cay and Vic are heading to Harvard. Tox has harboured a secret crush on Cay and when he discovers Vic and Cay are going to be roommates he expects the worse….and isn’t wrong. However it doesn’t take much to turn a perfect situation into a nightmare.
It’s very difficult to review the plot of this without giving away spoilers, so I’m going to keep my opinions very generalised. The first 60% of the story is from Tox’s point of view and my word, keep a box of tissues handy. Tox broke my heart again and again, his emotions were so visceral yet he never felt weak or pathetic. Even when things were going well there was almost a sense of foreboding. I liked how the characters (aged 18 – 21) did feel a little immature and naive at times, yet never childish or annoying. I really liked them, even when I didn’t like their actions….you’ll understand what I mean when you read this.
At 60% we switch to Cay’s POV and the story briefly backtracks over some events, giving us another perspective and filling in ‘missing detail’ from events that didn’t involve Tox. I really liked Cay and although she seemed to lose herself in her final year of college I guess it wasn’t too surprising given all that she was going through. If I have any criticism it would be that I would have liked more reason/evidence/scenes of how things were going wrong for them. It felt a little as though we went from sublimely happy to massively dissatisfied fairly rapidly, and whilst I could infer why, I personally wanted just a little more.
I read this in one evening, I simply didn’t want to put it down. Whilst this isn’t ‘sweet’ or ‘clean’, the love scenes are fairly minimal and fitted the story well. There is bad language but not excessively so, and again more in fitting with the ages of the characters and real life. If you are looking for a well written book that has great characters and all the feels I really do recommend this.