An edgy, angsty, addictive YA/NA crossover series from L. A. Cotton, author of the Chastity Falls series. Sometimes wrong feels so right… When seventeen-year-old Eloise Stone finds herself halfway across the world, moving into her uncle’s pool house, she expects things to be … awkward. She doesn’t expect to come face-to-face with the boy from last summer. The boy that made her feel things … The boy that made her feel things she’d never felt before. But a year is a long time, and Lo isn’t the girl she was then. Besides, they’re family now.
It’s weird.
Maverick Prince acts as if he doesn’t remember her, treating Lo like nothing more than an annoying younger sister, and not in a ‘he cares’ way, just in a ‘he’s an arsehole’ way. One thing’s for sure, he isn’t just dangerous for her sanity–he’s hazardous for her heart.
Lo thought moving to Wicked Bay was the worst of her problems, but as life begins to unravel around her, she’s going to find out it’s only the beginning…
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The Wicked Bay Series is recommended for readers aged 17+ due to mature themes, language and content.
Reading Order
Wicked Beginnings
Wicked Rules
Wicked Lies (can be read as a standalone)
Wicked Games
Wicked Hearts (can be read as a standalone)
Wicked Surprise (an optional novella)
Wicked Promises (coming summer 2019)
Wicked Forever (coming late 2019)
more
Filled with angst, lovable characters, hysterical snark, and broody, forbidden love interests. Lo hits the mark with her fire and fiesty, I loved her!! Maverick is an enigma, and every High School girl’s dream…as it all unfolded, I yearned for more and can’t wait for more of this series!!! I thank the Author for providing a copy to review!!
~~~Erika, Book Haven Book Blog
Leave it to L.A. Cotton to have you needy and on edge. Full of angst, energy, and chemistry. This book needs a warning. Wicked Beginnings is all about the intrigue. It is full of eyebrow raising situations but not enough answers.
I need more. I need it now. I want to know all those deep dark secrets hiding behind those hooded eyes. I am twisted with the need to know everything.
It seems waiting is all I can do. But I will get more info if I have to shake these characters until they tell me everything. I mean it’s only book one after all.
reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood
This is a fantastic read that I couldn’t put down. When Eloise is dragged away across the world by her dad after tragedy strikes the family little does she know what’s in store for her and who they will be staying with. Maverick the boy she met on the beach the year before while on a family holiday is not only back in her life and ignoring but her uncle is his step dad and they are all living together. What a disaster, being the new English girl at school is helping either. The whole family thing is weird and they all act weird. This is a must read story of young love,tragedy and growing up. A must read story I can’t wait to read book two to get more of this story.
Lo moves with her father and they move in with her uncle and his children, although when she gets there she didn’t expect to see the dark chocolate eyes, that she remembers from the last time she holidayed with them, and, had no idea he was her step cousin.
Lo’s not only dealing with moving countries, but, living with cousins that don’t all like each other and at time she thinks hates them. Although Lo feels her heart stopping with Maverick he’s at times cold to her.
The tension between Lo and Maverick is visible to everyone but for some reason Maverick says he can’t be with Lo. Becoming frustrated Lo, gives up and decides that she’s not that girl from last summer and won’t take him trying to control her but not be with her anymore and decides to move on.
Everything comes crashing down at the end of the book, when Lo finally decides to move on and gets betrayed and then she sees something she didn’t expect.
An enthralling read!
Moving halfway across the world…
Meeting the boy that made her feel things she has never felt…
Finding out he’s your step-cousin…
But dangerous for her sanity…
And he’s hazardous for her heart…
I stayed up all night reading this book – that was how phenomenal, enthralling, captivating and addicting this read was and still is. I have been rereading this book every chance I get and let me tell you: it is just as amazing and emotional as the first time I read it.
This is the first book in a really long time that my emotions and experience was heightened – i felt EVERY SINGLE THING the heroine went through. It was punches after punches through the gut and I felt it ALL. SO FREAKING SPECTACULAR!
This is the perfect book for fans of Tijan, Erin Watts and Siobhan Davis.
Full of loss, family, wealth, secrets, betrayal, angst, attraction, sexual tension and emotion.
Perfect for readers of contemporary romances.
I typically do not read young adult books, but I am a fan of L.A. Cotton’s work so thought I would give it a try . . . and just wow! I am so glad that I did.
While the main characters are in highschool, they seemed to have experienced so much in life already that they are much more mature both socially and emotionally.
After losing her mother and brother in an accident, Eloise Stone and her father move from England to the United States to stay with her father’s brother and his family. Hoping to make the best of a move she really doesn’t want, Lo never expects to come face to face with the boy she met last summer. The first boy to ever make her feel things she’d never felt before. Of course, everything has changed, because they are “family” now.
Maverick Prince refuses to treat Eloise as anything other than an annoying younger cousin. He certainly won’t let her know he may have feelings from last summer as well. Besides, life is complicated, and Lo is a distraction he refuses to give in too.
While the move to the states was supposed to be a new start for Lo and her father, it becomes clear that dad had ulterior motives and Lo’s life begins unraveling more and more around her. Between the lies and omissions from her father, feeling like an outsider in a new place, Maverick’s mood changes from being overprotective to oblivious and a boy at school who wants to be much more than friends Lo’s head is spinning and her troubles just won’t let her be.
I was immediately sucked into Lo’s world from page one. All is definitely not what it seems in the Stone-Prince household or Wicked Bay. The characters are complex and well written and the plot is captivating. Lo is a strong, yet angsty (with good reason) lead character. Life just seems to keep throwing punches at her, yet she is never knocked down completely. Maverick Prince is broody and dangerous, as he is much more than a typical high school jock.
The other cousins in the book also add a lot to the story. Summer Stone, being a few years younger than Lo, ends up being a good confidant and friend as well as someone Lo identifies with in the household. Macey Prince is stand-offish (I know there is something more with her we haven’t seen yet) and Kyle Stone is the life of the party with a heart of gold. The entire household is off in ways that you just can’t immediately put your finger on as things look beautiful until you start seeing all of the cracks from the inside out.
While there are typical high school issues, such as dating and dances and popularity issues, this book is so much more. Don’t talk yourself out of an amazing story based on the age of the characters as it was really a non-issue once the complexities of the story got going.
While this book did not end on a cliff hanger and was a complete storyline, I want more. I can’t wait to see more of the beautiful, yet not so perfect community of Wicked Bay. I want more of the Stone-Prince cousins, and I definitely want to watch how things continue to develop between Lo and Maverick. 5 stars!
I found this YA/NA book gripping. (I do wish I knew it was a serial before I starting reading it. I tend to wait for them to be complete as I hate waiting & the cliffhangers!!)
All the characters are engaging, whether they’re nice or horrible. They grip you & reel you in, much like the storyline does!!
Something is going on in the background that has its roots in the past. It feels creepy & worrisome to me but we shall have to wait & see!! I’m waiting, impatiently, for the next book. Lol I highly recommend you join me
Debbie, 1970, UK
I read this book blind; I had no idea what it was about, the genre, the author – 100% blind.
The Stone-Price family is a blended family hers and theirs. Hers are moody and mysterious. Theirs are sweet and friendly. Mix in another side of the Stone Family in the form of an uncle and his daughter from England and watch the fireworks happen.
Poor Eloise “Lo” “London”, all she wants to do is fit in and not be “the new girl with the British accent” but because of her last name and the family she lives with – she is not able to be invisible after all. Her step-cousin Maverick is dark and broody and obvious there are secrets that are being withheld from her.
This story was sad more than it was happy. It was full of angst and drama. It was sweet and romantic and heartbreaking all at the same time. There are lies of omission, lies of deception, loss and first loves. There is so much in this story that I hope we get to see more of Maverick and Lo in future installments of Wicked Bay. Wicked Beginnings is a story that I got into from page 1 and zipped right through.
I would absolutely recommend this to my young cousins.
Every time I read a book by L.A. Cotton I think that they just keep getting better and better. Wicked Beginnings was no exception. This is the story about Eloise (or Lo and she prefers to be called) and Maverick (or Rick) two teens fighting their own demons. Unfortunately this book leaves you hanging. But L.A. Cotton has a way of getting us excited and looking forward to the next book in the series. Lo has been through so much and we slowly get her story throughout this book (though I’d love to hear more of her story.. ie the accident that took her mum and brother from her). The story we don’t yet know, and the one I’m definitely looking forward to learning about, his Maverick’s. He’s dark and brooding, always looking for a fight. But there is more to him than meets the eye and we start to see that as this book comes to a close. There is a twist that I definitely didn’t see coming and I’m not only looking forward to seeing that twist burn but also figuring out why. That’s the big question that you keep wanting to ask…. why… What will happen between Lo and Maverick, their friends, their enemies… but as I’ve learning from previous book we WILL get our HEA and I’m looking forward to that. Can’t wait to delve more into these two and watch them find their happy. Wicked Rules can’t come out soon enough!