Hey folks! I’m migrating my reviews from Banned Bitches that were originally on thisiswickedfierce.com here, so they aren’t in any sort of uniform format or…

Well, basically this is all just a mess.

Apologies and all my wicked fierce love,
Ginny Lurcock

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Seventeen-year-old Darcy Covington never had to worry about money or where her next shopping spree was coming from. Even her dog ate gourmet. Then one day, Darcy’s car is repossessed from the parking lot of her elite private school. As her father’s business hit the skids, Dad didn’t just skip town, he bailed on his family.

Fortunately, Darcy’s uncle owns a thrift shop where she can hide out from the world. There’s also Lucas, the wickedly hot fix-it guy she can’t stop crushing on, even if she’s not sure they’ll ever get out of the friend zone.

But it’s here among the colorful characters of her uncle’s world that Darcy begins to see something more in herself…if she has the courage to follow it.

Ginny’s thoughts: I simply adored the struggles Darcy went through. I know that makes me sound sadistic, but seriously the growth that she went through while struggling with her parents felt very genuine. It was easy to relate to her life falling apart, even for those of us without a super star daddy. And even if you’ve never had a major life change come out of nowhere, I think we’ve all had to learn at some point or another that our parents are not super heroes, and are just human.

It’s probably the most terrifying part of childhood, and I dread that moment with my own daughter.

I loved that part of the book right down to the very tips of my toes, which is why I’m giving the book a pass for being a little weak on the romance aspect.

It’s not that I don’t like Lucas. After all, he’s basically the perfect guy, if a little creepy for always going for high school girls. It was just that if I had to read the phrase “I didn’t know what it was about him” one more time I was going to slap her silly.The romance got better after she learns to deal with him (off screen, which is honestly something that I’m sorry I missed) but you still have to deal with their chronic misunderstanding and Darcy running away. And I get that … to an extent, I just wish it wasn’t taken so far.

Also, I wish there was more of her BFF’s BF (Sal’s boyfriend was probably my favorite character of the book. Do we get a book featuring those two next? Yes? Pretty please?)

All in all I thought this was a solid novel with a positive message for anyone who has to overcome a shitstorm tearing through their life. And the self-help speak that was sprinkled throughout the book felt genuine. I didn’t roll my eyes once and actually considered some of it a valuable lesson.

Okay, I rolled my eyes once or twice, but that was before I realized how perfectly her errant father’s advice wove itself into the story.

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A review copy of this title was provided via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review