If high school has taught mathlete Jade Aaron anything, it’s that nerds never get the guy. So when rock star Lennon Pryor starts pursuing her, It’s not rocket science. This doesn’t add up. I mean, sure, he’s hot. And charming. And a god on the guitar… But he’s also the world’s biggest player. Being with him would be a bigger mistake than 2+2=5. Until graduation night, when a reckless … 2+2=5.
Until graduation night, when a reckless moment leads to a reckless kiss. And now Jade’s falling for the one guy destined to break her heart.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains one epic party, complete with every high-schoolers-gone-bad shenanigan, and two opposites with nothing in common and nothing to lose…except their hearts.
Each book in the Grad Night series is STANDALONE:
* Love in the Friend Zone
* Love Between Enemies
* Love Beyond Opposites
more
This is my first book to read by this author. It is the third in her Grad Series, but they’re all stand alone novels.
I can see this quickly becoming a favorite among the YA romance lovers. I could even see it as a popular teen movie.
Lennon is a teen rock-star who has fallen in love with Jade, a mathlete. He keeps his feeling towards her to himself (dating plenty of other girls in the mean time) because he plans on hitting the road for tours after high school. Graduation night comes and almost the whole book is centered on that evening. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book before that spans over mostly one day. Even though it is mostly based on such a short time period, it was still exciting to read.
Their relationship with each other is cute, but will it become more? If so, how could they make that happen when she plans on going to college, and he plans on becoming famous.
I’ve read so many YA Romance books lately that I feel are such examples of toxic relationships and I hate that they’re written to teens who might not see how unhealthy they are. This was a refreshing novel because they actually both have respect for each other. There was also an underlying “follow your dreams” theme.
I would recommend it to you teen room ace lovers with a warning that there is lots of language (including f word several times), underage drinking, heavy kissing, and sexual innuendos.
I received a copy from the publisher through Net Gallery for my honest review. Thanks for the opportunity to read it! I enjoyed it.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Erica –
Molly E. Lee is a new-to-me author, which means I read the third installment of the Grad Night series as a standalone, with no confusion at all. I am beyond curious to read the first two installments and others by this author.
The events of Love Beyond Opposites takes place within a singular night, with a prologue and an epilogue set during freshman year in high school and freshman year in college.
Teenagers believe girlfriend and boyfriend means someone you think is hot that you go on dates with, not realizing there is a more important part of that compound word, other than girl or boy… friend.
The Rock Star & the Mathlete.
Lennon spent the whole of his high school career avoiding the girl he truly wanted, fearing he’d hurt her when he reached for rock-stardom. He fell into the trap of how a rock star should/would behave/act/react, instead of being himself, which only made him all the more of a broody heartthrob.
Jade is the quintessential geeky, awkward, one-of-a-kind girl. Born with the gift of numbers, the mathlete has a creative streak for illustration, particularly for graphic novels.
Both of them feeling pressure to fit into the boxes their parents try to fit them into, over their high school career, the math teacher’s son and the math teacher’s best student bonded, becoming friends over interactions three times a week, while ignoring their attraction.
A series of calamities on graduation night draws Lennon and Jade closer together, in a yummy, angsty page-turner of a novella, which I devoured in a single sitting.
Highly recommend to young adults and those young at heart, looking for an injection of the addictively sweet rush of first love.
Young Adult age-range: 12+, includes kissing, alcohol use not by the MCs, and profanity.
Avid Reader –
M/F YA Romance
This is the third in a series, but can be read as a standalone. It’s a sweet story about crushes, growing up, following your dreams, and learning to trust in yourself.
Jade is a shy nerd who is amazing with numbers. Her parents have worked incredibly hard to show her that their occupations are exactly where she needs to end up. Her mom is pushy and almost cruel at times and I really didn’t like it at all. I thought that her dad was not a strong enough character to stand up to his own wife. Jade is trying very hard to please everyone around her – her teachers and parents – that she is losing sight of what makes her want to get up and get going every day.
Then you have Lennon. He wasn’t ever a big brain. His dad is a teacher at the local high school and is head of the mathlete division – which means that Lennon gets to see Jade every week. What starts as a crush blossoms into songs and feelings that were long buried. Lennon is also trying to figure out what is the most important to him – his music or following his dreams – the big question becomes can he have it all?
These two have an epic night together with one mishap after another. It’s a story that takes place over the course of one night but is so packed with emotions and events that it feels longer. I think that this was a great story, but more geared towards teenagers.
I do wish we would have had more time with them in the epilogue but know that you can only do so much in the pages. It was a story that was sweet and innocent, but packed a lot in to it.
Kris –
Young adult novel about a hopeful, upcoming rock star and a super geeky mathlete. Jade and Lennon got to know each other from school and Jade’s math club taught by Lennon’s dad, the professor. Lennon has a one-track mind for his future. He wants to play music and college can wait. Jade is a genius in math and pressures by her parents to go that route are high, when all she wants to do is draw graphic novels. Lennon’s dad asked him to leave Jade alone because Jade isn’t the love ‘em and leave ‘em girl and Lennon isn’t sticking around after graduation. The two are friends but they want to be more. Graduation night they end up on several crazy adventures together, all leading up to Lennon’s showcase with the record executive at his huge party. All kinds of sidetracks ensue and while it’s a fun night, I found the story to get a little monotonous. By 60% in, still nothing has really evolved between the characters or in getting Lennon to the party. I ended up getting “skimmy” on reading every word. Flash forward, a good story with a good ending and fun side characters. Just wanted the middle to move a bit faster, even for a novella.
Jordan –
Love Beyond Opposites is the third book in Molly E. Lee’s Grad Night series, but I read it as a standalone and I had no issues following the storyline. I really enjoyed Jade’s character and I thought she was fun, relatable, and I especially loved that she was not only incredible with numbers, but that she was also talented in a more artistic way. Although I am usually a huge sucker for the whole opposites attract love stories, I wasn’t as sold on Love Beyond Opposites as I thought I would be. It’s not that I disliked Lee’s book by any means, however, I just felt it was a little drawn out at some parts and most of those parts tended to be during Lennon’s point of view. Honestly, I usually really enjoy it when authors write with a dual point of view because I think it tends to give more of a big picture view, but in this situation, I almost wish it was more of just Jade. Maybe if I had read the previous two books in the series I would have developed more of an appreciation for Lennon?
Jade Aaron, the mathlete, and Lennon Pryor, the rock star, have been dancing around each other since their freshman year, but that all changes on graduation night when a series of events leads to Jade and Lennon spending the evening together. As the night progresses, one bold action leads to a reckless kiss, but a rock star falling for a mathlete just doesn’t add up.
I liked reading Jade and Lennon’s love story, however it just didn’t quite end up being my perfect equation. That being said, I still liked Lee’s writing style and I would be interested in reading what she does in the future!
3 stars for Molly E. Lee’s Love Beyond Opposites.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Love Beyond Opposites (Grad Night #3) by Molly E. Lee to read and review.
I somehow missed the first book in the Grad Nights series but after I read Love Between Enemies, I needed to know more about Lennon!!
Lennon and Jade have been friends for the past four years but they couldn’t be more different. Lennon is destined to be a rock star. Jade is a mathlete. But their friendship, even though seems surface, works. They get each other. When grad night, and Lennon’s huge party approaches, they both know that this will be the last chance they have to explore what could have been.
The thing I love about opposites attracts stories is that the characters are never really opposites. Once they take the take the time to get to know each other and dig a little deeper, they figure out that they have way more in common than they ever thought they could. That’s definitely the case for Lennon and Jade. From the very beginning I was rooting for them to figure it out. I need to hurry up and read Love in the Friend Zone! Books 2 and 3 of this series has piqued my interest. I’m pretty sure this is the last book in this series. I’ll be sad to see these character go but the ending was amazing!
Ever since I read Love in the Friend Zone I’ve been dying to read Jade and Lennon’s story, and Molly? It was everything I hoped for and so much more!
This Grad Night series has been such a pleasure to read, perfectly capturing the essence of first love, graduation, and all those emotions we experience, that overwhelmed us as teenagers. A nostalgic, heart warming journey into how one night, the last night, can change everything.
Lennon is the effortlessly cool rock star, with a heart of gold, flaws that every teenager experiences at some point in their life, and a determination and ambition that could take over the world. And Jade? She’s got this nerdy, quirky, awesomeness that makes me wish I was that cool as a teenager, or you know now. She’s smart, intuitive, brave, kind, and she has this creativity that’s actually pretty inspiring to read.
I love how Molly E Lee explores labels, stereotypes and rumours in Love Between Opposites, how these can be destructive, how they can prevent someone from really being the person they are, how pointless and human it is to make assumptions about people rather than trusting what they’re showing you.
It’s a raw, emotive exploration of family, how family impacts young adults, how sometimes love can cause tunnel vision, that while trying to ensure the best for those you love, you can become blind to what they want and need, you can become deaf to their protests and attempts to explain what their hopes are for themselves. It’s the kind of book that makes you think, that makes you reevaluate your own actions, but also that can give you the courage to chase your dreams. All wrapped up in a stunning Bildungsroman package that’ll remind you of those chick flick, teen movies you used to watch obsessively. Or was that just me?
If you’re looking for a sweet young adult romance with all the feels, you’re definitely looking in the right place.
Love Beyond Opposites is the 3rd book in Molly’s Grad Night series. Amazingly, it can be read as a standalone book. I say amazingly because all 3 books are written about the same night. From 6 different perspectives! That alone is pretty awesome!
Love Beyond Opposites is Lennon and Jade’s story. They meet as freshmen in high school. Lennon’s dad is Jade’s Mathlete coach and warns him away from this girl he finds oddly beautiful. He’s a player, she’s a mathlete (i.e. Nerd). Despite their differences, they share a friendship that defies the odds. And they share an attraction neither one ever admitted. She loves his music. He’s drawn to her art. And they are both drawn to each other.
Graduation is over and now it’s time to PAAAAARTAAAAYYYY! And that’s where this book kicks off.
Honestly, I’ve known for over a year that Molly is a talented writer, but this series just solidified that for me. There are so many timelines that had to be kept consistent. All the minor characters’ stories had to be touched on and put in the right place in this story. And all of the crazy shenanigans had to happen at the right points, too. This is no easy feat! And she does it so well!
NICUnurse’s Rating: I give this book 4.75 stars. I’m NOT a huge YA fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love Molly’s writing. So I took a leap of faith with the first book and she had me coming back for more… TWO times! However, I loved Lennon and Jade’s story the most. Both of them are strong characters with hidden vulnerabilities that are focused on their futures. They are not afraid to reach for, and work for, their dreams. So if you are a YA fan, or even if you aren’t, give this book a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!