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Blog Tour: Wish For You by Marquita Valentine {Review+Giveaway}

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Welcome to my stop on the Wish For You blog tour hosted by AToMR Tours!
Today I am excited to share my review and a giveaway with you all!


Wish For You (Boys of the South #4)
   by: Marquita Valentine

Publication Date: Jan. 19, 2014
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: New Adult
Source: e-ARC provided by AToMR Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 191 pages
Order Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks
My Rating: 3/5 stars

There's only one place in the world Lacey Evans feels normal--the roller derby track. When she laces up her skates and fastens her helmet, she'd powerful and in charge. She knows exactly what to do and say. The rules are clear and penalties are given for those who don't follow them. But in the real world, she's far from powerful and in charge. She never knows exactly what to do or say For years, she counted on one person to be exactly who he said he was--her best friend, Wyatt Tanaka. Only she changed the rules on him, without any warning, and now she's the one being punished.

Marine Veteran, Wyatt Tanaka, came home to a hero's welcome. Only he's hiding a secret that makes him anything but a hero and could potentially destroy his life. He's doing the best he can, trying to cope with the guilt, and the pain of the girl he loves pushing him away by doing all the things he'd sworn not to. With Lacey's new rules, he has nothing and no one to hold onto. Nothing to keep him from feeling dead. Instead, he allows nameless women, bars, drugs, and drinking consume him.

Then one night, he goes too far, gets in too deep, and when the truth comes out…will Lacey push him away or help save him?



Wish For You is the first book I've read in the Boys of the South series as well as by Valentine. I had been curious about this series for awhile now, as I know a lot of other bloggers who really enjoy it. I had no idea this book would be such an emotional rollercoaster, so my emotions were not at all prepared for the absolute heartache I felt for both of the main characters, Wyatt and Lacey.

I'm glad we got dual POV, as I think it helped me understand the characters better, but it also made me quite angry with both of them at times. Especially with Wyatt. Wyatt is a Marine who has returned from Afghanistan bearing the crushing weight of guilt and shame over something he believes to be his fault. He suffers from PTSD and instead of handling it the correct way, he chooses the self-destructive path that will only hurt him much worse. He drinks and uses to numb the pain of what happened, as well as how he lost the girl he is desperately in love with. I admit, I have a real problem with MC's having sex with other people in books. I know that's kind of ridiculous, as they aren't together or in a relationship, but it just bothers me. I tried not to let it bother me here, as I know Wyatt is doing it to numb the pain and that is realistic. I hate to say that he is weak, but he really is here. He is at his lowest and doesn't know of another way to cope and that really made my heart hurt for him as well. He thinks he can make Lacey realize that what they have is more than friendship by dating other people, but all it does his crush her even more.

Oh, Lacey. The last thing she wants is to push Wyatt away, but upon overhearing a conversation she shouldn't have, the seeds of doubt as to whether or not she's good for him are planted and cannot easily be undone. She tells him they can only be friends, which shatters her. He handles it badly, further spiraling down the path of no return. Lacey is a sweet character, who suffers from panic attacks, though we don't find out the cause until much later in the book. And I never saw that one coming. My heart hurt for her, and as irritated as I was with Wyatt, he was one of the few people that could calm her down and I respected him for putting her needs above his own.

These two have a very tumultuous relationship as I said before. They would make a good couple, if they would just start using their words and stop hurting one another! So much could have been avoided had they both not been so vague with one another!

Even though I have not read the previous Boys of the South books, I did enjoy the characters that showed up in this novel: Rae and Beau especially. I am very interested in Beau's book! Both were good friends to Wyatt and Lacey and both of them needed those additional friendships.

I did find myself feeling a bit confused while reading however. Some of the pacing felt a bit off for me, especially towards the last 1/4 of the book, making me wonder if I had missed something and actually had me backtracking to make sure I didn't. Despite that, I felt Valentine did a very good job of evoking my emotions and really making me empathize and feel for her characters.

Lacey and Wyatt both have their share of obstacles to overcome and will have to face the reality that they will lose the other if they continue following the road they are on. Watching them finally realize this truth and that they need the other in their life is definitely a happy moment. Overall, I enjoyed this, but I did get hung up on Wyatt's lifestyle choices, as it just felt wrong to me for him to use women for sex when he only wanted to be with Lacey. I will definitely be on the lookout for Beau's story next!


New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Marquita Valentine, writes sexy heroes that make you swoon and sassy heroines that make you laugh. She’s the author of the bestselling contemporary romance series, Holland Springs, and the new adult romance series, Boys of the South.

Marquita met her husband aka Hot Builder at Sonic when they were in high school. She suggests this location to all of her single friends in search of a good man—and if that doesn't work, they can console themselves with cheesy tatertots. She lives in North Carolina in a very, very small town with Hot Builder and their two children.
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5 comments

  1. I think Wyatt would drive me crazy too but I am still very curious about this one. Glad you enjoyed despite your hang ups. Great review as always Jessica!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Teresa! I am definitely interested in reading more of this series, but sadly this one was just a bit hard to love.

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  2. Thank you for participating and your thoughts on Wish For You. :)

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  3. After reading the post, I'm looking forward to reading this book. I'm also wondering how this plays out. A girl can only get pushed away so much.

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