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A coming-of-age romance inspired by Great Expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n My life was irrevocably changed the moment I stepped foot inside Elena Alderman\u2019s grand front doors. A lifeless tomb on the edge of Chicago\u2019s Southside, the Alderman home sat in one of the city\u2019s oldest and wealthiest neighborhoods, and Elena Alderman was the queen. <\/span><\/p>\n She was also mad. <\/span><\/p>\n Not the kind of madness that\u2019s readily apparent. No, her psychopathy was far more surgical\u2014more\u2026insidious. She was surrounded by beautiful things\u2014most notably her grand piano and her adopted son, Henry.<\/span><\/p>\n I fell in love with both. <\/span><\/p>\n My gift blossomed when my fingers touched her black and white keys. But my life began when I became haunted by the boy. Henry Alderman was a handsome blend of arrogance and seduction, and as we grew up together, I found it more and more impossible to separate him from my thoughts. I envied his life. I imagined how my name\u2014Lily\u2014would look with his. I became his closest friend\u2026and more. I gave him my kiss, locked away his secrets, and loved him even when it was hard to.<\/span><\/p>\n But we were just a game. Elena Alderman made the rules. And when she decided to change them, she broke everything. <\/span><\/p>\n Almost.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n Based on the Dickens classic, Great Expectations<\/i>, Ginger Scott\u2019s latest standalone is a heartbreaking, angsty and intriguing coming-of-age story with a slow burning YA romance that is complicated but beautiful.<\/p>\n Lily\u2019s whole world changed after the death of her parents. She was sent to live with distant relatives who, though treat her well, are lacking in providing love and support. She is quiet, lonely, and a little bit lost, but she finds happiness and inspiration when she attends a job interview with her aunt and is brought into the world of Elena Alderman and her adopted son, Henry. She is instantly intrigued by the music room in the grand home \u2013 specifically, the piano \u2013 but she is drawn most strongly by Henry himself.<\/p>\n When Elena offers Lily music lessons, she jumps at the opportunity, and as she spends time in Henry\u2019s home, she realises that he is just as lonely as she is, and the two become unlikely friends. When Lily\u2019s gift for the piano becomes clear, she receives a scholarship to the prestigious private school that Henry attends, entangling their lives even further.<\/p>\n There is clearly a teen crush between Lily and Henry, but their relationship is a bit of a mess, shifting from friends to friends who flirt, to difficult moments when they rarely interact, and back again, and it\u2019s the devious control-freak Elena who plays with their lives and their hearts. The full extent of her machinations and the reasons behind it all unravel as the story progresses, and in the meantime we get to watch Lily and Henry try to navigate their feelings in the face of such scheming.<\/p>\n \u201cYou aren\u2019t just the sum of Elena\u2019s decisions, Henry. You\u2019re more.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It creates an angsty feel as we watch them try to figure out their emotions in the tumultuous teen years where they are also trying to work out who they are and where they belong, and it\u2019s intriguing and a little bit heartbreaking as it all plays out.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so fucking broken, Lily. You\u2019re better off never knowing me at all.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lily and Henry are great characters, and the story is written entirely from Lily\u2019s POV, which I liked as it brought some mystery as she discovered Henry\u2019s secrets. I admit, I did find parts of the story to be really slow moving, especially the beginning, and it took a while for me to be completely invested, but as things started heating up with Lily and Henry and the plot really started to unfold, I was feeling everything right along with them<\/p>\n This is a really well written story with great character development, the drama is really well handled, and the romance is gorgeous.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019re worth everything.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I enjoyed this one.<\/p>\n 3.5 stars.<\/p>\n An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Excerpt\u00a0from BRED By Ginger Scott \u201cYou know this stuff\u2026\u201d he starts, but I interrupt with an emphatic shake of my head. When his fingers splay out over my back I freeze. I follow the path my book takes back to the place it started in front of me as Henry slides it in place, flipping open to the chapter I\u2019m trying to memorize. Knelt down next to me, he leans closer, resting his right arm next to my left one\u2014we are touching.<\/p>\n I swallow. I\u2019m going to fail. I cannot memorize something like the varied historical degrees of differences between a Protestant hell and a Lutheran one while the master of all hotness is sharing a desktop with me. My arm hairs are literally electric, standing up and reaching to plant themselves in his skin. I\u2019ve\u00a0gone completely primal\u2014my body convinced that I am the gatherer in need of this hunter.<\/p>\n \u201cLook,\u201d he says, leaning in even closer and reaching to flip the pages. I barely register the movement of his thumb under a bold section of words. When his eyes catch mine still stuck on his face, I jump in my seat a little.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry,\u201d I say, clearing my throat. \u201cI\u2019m just overwhelmed. Maybe a little slow, too, from being in here so long.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s partly true, but I\u2019m also just crushing. Crushing\u2014that\u2019s what Nicki calls it. She rolls her eyes every time she catches me doing it too, then labels it with that word. I crush in the dining area. I crush between classes when Henry pokes my arm with his index finger as we pass in the halls. I crush when I watch him sprint across the lawn every day at three in the afternoon, late for rowing. It\u2019s literally become how I know it\u2019s three o\u2019clock! My body just instinctually glides toward my window at exactly 2:59. Pathetic!<\/p>\n At this point, we should just say that I\u2019m crushed rather than crushing. Crushed and utterly destroyed of all pride.<\/p>\n I am gatherer.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat you need to do is make up a rhyme. Something that will help you keep all of the key words in your brain so when it comes time to write them down in order, you\u2019ll have them there.\u201d<\/p>\n I draw in my lips and let the acid climb up my throat.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even understand\u00a0that<\/em>. Ugg, I\u2019m hopeless,\u201d I say, letting my head fall flat against the book. I bounce my forehead there lightly while I eke out a desperate laugh at my own expense.<\/p>\n \u201cYou aren\u2019t hopeless.\u201d I feel the warm breath from his chuckle and smell the mint of his gum, and it\u2019s intoxicating enough without his touch, so when the warm hand slides the hair from my cheek I go full hypnosis. His fingers trace my jaw, and my head lifts from the light pressure of his hold. For a moment, I believe in myself just because of the look in his eyes when our stares meet.\u00a0He\u2019s dead serious\u2014and God, the way he\u2019s looking at me, hair all tousled, smile\u00a0soft and true, cheeks lifted as if they\u2019re glad to see me.<\/p>\n Like a drunk, I lean closer, my lips parting and ready\u2014my mind imagining everything I\u2019m about to feel\u2014Henry\u2019s mouth on mine, the graze of teeth against my lips, us standing as his arms sweep around my back before his hands rush up my spine into my own messy hair.<\/p>\n None of that happens.<\/p>\n I get an inch away from his mouth, my eyelids fluttering with nerves and uncertainty whether they should close or remain open, and Henry turns a few inches to his left, stiffening and backing away just enough to keep me from making this worse\u2014as if I can make this worse somehow<\/em>. The rush of heat that coats me isn\u2019t from passion\u2014it\u2019s from humiliation. My eyes remain open just long enough to see the movement in his neck as he clears his throat. His soft smile is replaced with a hard line, drawn under the pity that slants his eyes.<\/p>\n I think I understand hell a little better now. It helps that I\u2019m in it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just tired. I\u2026\u201d Why I try to speak, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fine.\u201d His voice is laced with discomfort. In one blink I erased everything that was easy between us. All because of my damn fantasies.\\<\/p>\n Fine. That word\u2014so short, so four-lettered. Such a lie. I ruined everything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A sucker for a good romance, Ginger\u2019s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She\u2019s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard\u2026the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at\u00a0http:\/\/www.littlemisswrite.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n When she\u2019s not writing, the odds are high that she\u2019s somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork \u2019em, Devils).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0PINTEREST<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0YOUTUBE<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0GOOGLE<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0GOODREADS<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0WEBSITE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’re celebrating BRED by Ginger Scott! BRED is a coming-of-age romance inspired by Great Expectations you won’t want to miss! Amazon Free in Kindle Unlimited Blurb A coming-of-age romance inspired by Great Expectations. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,52,9,12],"tags":[59,224,48,76],"class_list":["post-42780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angsty","category-drama","category-romance","category-young-adult","tag-arc","tag-ginger-scott","tag-review","tag-standalone"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Bred.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-b80","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Bred-Teaser3.png?resize=488%2C325&ssl=1\")
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\nReview<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\nExcerpt<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nA coming-of-age love story inspired by Great Expectations
\n(Copyright Ginger Scott, 2019)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Bred-Teaser-4.jpg?resize=488%2C325&ssl=1\")
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\nAbout the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Ginger](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ginger-Scott.jpg?resize=350%2C234\")
Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity,\u00a0This Is Falling<\/a>, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before,\u00a0Wild Reckless<\/a>, Wicked Restless, In Your Dreams,\u00a0The Hard Count<\/a>, Hold My Breath,<\/a> A Boy Like You<\/a>, A Girl Like Me<\/a>, Memphis and Cry Baby.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/unnamed.png?zoom=1.125&resize=156%2C156\")
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