See No Evil by Jordan Ford

Blurb:
All Christiana wanted was a little flirty fun.
What she got was a one-way ticket to her own personal nightmare.

Her friend is dead…and she knows who did it. Now a key witness in a murder trial, she’s been hidden away in the one place no one will think to look for her: Eton Preparatory School for Boys.

It’s a stupid move. Insane. But she doesn’t have a choice.
Instead of completing her senior year with the popular crowd, she’s being forced to hide in a school with exactly zero XX chromosomes. Even worse, she’s somehow supposed to act like the Neanderthals walking the halls.

But then she meets the guys next door—the smoking-hot ones. And it doesn’t help that one in particular could unravel her in a heartbeat… and potentially blow her cover. How’s she supposed to resist Trey Calloway, the star hockey player who never backs down from a fight…and who never takes no for an answer?

She’s supposed to be focused on staying safe, not on the guy who’s getting under her skin. Her chilling past isn’t going to suddenly disappear.
In fact, it might just be catching up with her.

     (OK, this doesn’t have a link yet b/c it’s not on Amazon yet.  Will update the button after release day)

My Review:
4.5 stars — I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

OMG, this book had so many layers of goodness!!  I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense…which is kind of weird, b/c I actually really enjoy it.  I used to read the Harlequin line, but perhaps it’s that I’m kind of picky and really need to get sucked in to this genre, so I guess I don’t trust just anyone to give me what I want.  Well Ms. Ford has definitely succeeded for me.  It’s not the whole believability aspect…because I think in romantic suspense you often have to suspend some of your disbelief.  It’s more that I want to *want* to suspend my disbelief if that makes sense.  I want to read it like I’d watch a good action movie, and that’s what happened for me in this book.

When I first saw the teaser video for this book, and learned about its premise, all I could think about was the movie She’s the Man, and that made me excited (b/c I’m a fan).  But while it may have a similar setting, the set up for this story is ENTIRELY different, and so has a very different feel.  My heart was taken through the ringer at times with our characters.  They all have some heartbreaking backstories, and the struggle that Chris goes through over what is the right thing to do, and having the strength to stick it out and do that right thing is very well executed.  I will say that I was SUPER surprised with some of the twists to her side of the story!  I did not see them coming, but I felt like they really added.

I occasionally wish we saw a bit more from Trey and his backstory…I’m not sure why, but it kind of came out of left field for me (even though I think I saw it in character profile teasers), and I just…wanted something more for some reason.  I really loved Trey, but sometimes I felt like what we saw of him was mostly surrounding Chris and her storyline…but you know what?  That’s not even true.  So I have no idea why I feel this way.  Hmmm…  Anyways, Trey was an intriguing character for me, b/c he had some very real Alpha tendencies, but he was really sweet and caring and protective too.  I loved that he was drawn in by Chris, even when Chris was a “boy”.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Trey and Chris, though I think I had a hard time getting into the romantic part at the beginning…I was totally sucked in by their friendship chemistry, but it was hard to feel the passion for that first kiss (at least for me).

I LOVED the whole dynamic of the Brotherhood.  I loved their friendship, and what they would do for each other.

I honestly had no idea how the other stories in this series were going to work, but then Ms. Ford just threw me for a freaking loop with that ending!!  I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!  She went in a whole new direction from what my boring mind had predicted, and now I’m clamouring for more!!  I also find it interesting that I still have some questions about certain aspects of Chris and Trey’s story…so I’m curious to see if they come into play in the future.

So yeah, thoroughly enjoyed this one.  Occasionally I wanted a bit more romance, but that’s just because I’m a romance junkie and not because we didn’t get enough.  Sooooo looking forward to the next book and finding out what happens with Kade!!!