4 Unknown Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️/5

So, Wicked Dreams. This was not at all what I was expecting, but I think it has officially unlocked a new sub-genre of books that I like to read. Now, I did like bully romance before, but I’ve never really read high school bully romance, and I low-key kind of love it.

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
Margo Wolfe is a foster kid who has a father in prison and a drug-addicted mother. She is recently taken in by a foster family who lives in the neighbourhood where she grew up with her parents. Since her foster father works at the local high school, they enrolled her in Emery Rose Elite. However, this is not the first time she has been to the school, as she went there when she was 8 years old and fucked up Caleb Asher's life. Margo and Caleb were best friends when they were children, they even at one point got "married" like kids do... Until something devastating happens, she goes into foster care, and all her friends in the town turn against her, including Caleb. Caleb has sworn absolute revenge on her, bullies her, and has this obsession with wanting to hurt her like she hurt him. But soon that obsession turns into needing to own her, make her his and the lines of revenge and lust become murky in a toxic relationship as he cannot seem to keep his hands off her.

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
Now, I had to split my mind in two when it came to this because the first thing that should be noted is Margo is underage in this, but this book IS NOT FOR UNDER 18'S! if that makes you uncomfortable, I wouldn't read it. However, I have watched enough of Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Riverdale and any other series set in HIGH SCHOOL and they are constantly sleeping with each other and having intimate relations. SO putting aside her age I just went with it... I mean they didn't do anything that I would have done as a teenager, so I can't hold that against them.

Like those shows I mentioned, this has the same drama-esque feel. It is angsty, full of teenage drama and boys, and it literally felt like watching an episode of any of them while just inhaling it like popcorn. The writing is captivating and easy to read. It is very easy to get hooked on the story, and it quickly pulls you into their lives.

I think the characterisation of Margo and Caleb was done very well. Margo is very careful. She has been hurt before through her different foster homes, and she knows that her life is just temporary, so she doesn't want to establish roots or get too close to anybody. Because that ends up leaving her hurt and more damaged. She has had to put up quite a lot of walls and protection against her feelings because of her past; and as a result, when coming face to face with it she ends up having panic or anxiety attacks, as she has to deal with all of those repressed emotions coming to the surface.

Caleb is a dick. An Alphahole through-and-through. He's a total "popular boy" who has about 17,000 red flags, but somehow adults can't see this. So you automatically love him because of his bad-boy attitude. It must be his pheromones that just seep through the pages. He is pretty angry, and he's conniving and manipulative. He has learned how to manipulate the system, manipulate those around him, and, most of all, manipulate Margo. He very quickly gets her to bend to his will.

There is a lot of push and pull between him and Margo, and he kind of just forces himself into her life and makes himself a constant until she acquiesces because he's not going to go away. It did seem at times that the plot got a little repetitive—her finding something out and then ending up crying, something happening between her and Caleb, and then she ends up crying— and then the cycle repeats with him climbing through her window... BUT I WAS HERE FOR THE ANGST! I was there for the drama. I was there just to see what these unhinged teenagers would get up to.

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨 and 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Dual POV
▶ Enemies Hate to Love
▶ High School Bully Romance
▶ Who Did This To You?
▶ Cages Her With His Arms
▶ Hand Necklaces
▶ "Beg Me"
▶ Washes Her Hair
▶ Stalking
▶ "Jersey" Heat (when he freaks out at her wearing his jersey)

There are also quite a few twists and turns in this book, and there is just something about the way it’s written that makes me want to read more. There are ALSO SO MANY unanswered questions left open and hanging on purpose to make room for book 2. The book ends on a brutal cliffhanger, so I really cannot wait to see the next book.

Thank you to S. Massery and Valentine PR for my gifted copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.