All-American Princess

Edgier Dallen. This is Dallen going in a direction she hasn't in a fair amount of time - still HS / YA romance... but this time with edgier language (even... GASP... a few curse words!!!) and situations (including one memorable barely-there bikini and some extensive making out and glancing at certain areas). And she nails it, as usual. What will be remembered about this book though is really the somewhat abrupt ending. It will arguably spark debates of whether she should have gone even more atypical and wrote one 300 ish page book, and thus that she deliberately cut this story in half, or whether the approach here was fine, that she told one complete story here that happens to have a bit of a cliffhanger ending. To be honest, it was a war that waged in my own mind for many hours (while in and out of consciousness with some kind of illness). But you can see from the 5* I gave this book that ultimately I came down on the side of this being one complete story that happens to have a cliffhanger ending, and thus the full 5* rating. Very much recommended - and I very much want the next book now. :D

Chef's kiss - despite the cliffhanger...

Nothing is as it seems at first in this deviation from Maggie Dallen's usually sweet stories. The characters may come across at somewhat stereotypical at first, but as we get to know them better, we also discover some of their deepest, darkest secrets - and all of a sudden, things are a lot less black and white.

Looking forward to book #2 - I DO need to know how this drama plays out! - and I'm actually rooting for a HEA (or at least a HFN) for (almost) everyone.

5/5 secretive, drama-filled stars