watched out for:
face buried in her phone.
me feel more alive than the speeding blue Shelby underneath me.
intense than the music and crowds I surround myself with.
demons from my past.
boyfriend who loves her.
now she has to watch me one more time. In a race for my life, and hers.
seen coming:
balloon.
wishes led me down.
the easy smile.
both on the track and off it.
care that I have a boyfriend who loves me.
now I have to watch him one more time. In a race for his life, and mine.
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
What a book! Maniac is a beautifully written story between Alex, a beast of a guy who is so terribly broken on the inside, and Quinn, a feisty redhead who helps heal him. But since Quinn already has a boyfriend — Alex’s fraternity brother, Erik — there’s a lot of angst between these two before they get to their HEA.
With his cocky, confident facade, Alex does a great job at covering up just how damaged he really is. But this story is so well-written that the reader can see over and over again just how affected he is by the demons of his past. One of my biggest pet peeves is being told, not shown, something is true, and I felt every bit of Alex’s pain, not only when it came to his childhood, but the unrequited love he has for Quinn. And while there were some moments where I wanted to slap Quinn for being so wishy-washy and jerking Alex around, I really did get a sense for just how torn she is over her growing feelings for this guy, who came out of nowhere and completely turned her world upside down.
I give the authors (Nina Auril is a secret co-writing pair) major points for this book being connected to Muse and not making the reader feel as if they were missing parts of the backstory. That book’s couple, Brant and Abby, are friends of Alex’s, and play a big part in his support system. Noah and Harlow round out the supporting characters in this story, and they are both characters that I would have liked to have befriended myself back in college!
My only complaint is that I didn’t love that Quinn was cheating on Erik, however. He’s cheating on her as well, which made it somewhat easier to stomach — especially since he turns out to be such a jerk.
Overall, Maniac was an impressive read and I can’t wait to see what these authors put forth next! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Sunny Shelly Reads 