Winner Take All – Blog Tour and Book Review

Welcome to the Winner Take All blog tour!

Summary:

For Nell Becker, life is a competition she needs to win.

For Jackson Hart, everyone is a pawn in his own game.

They both have everything to lose.

Nell wants to succeed at everything—school, sports, life. And victory is sweeter when it means beating Jackson Hart, the rich, privileged, undisputed king of Cedar Woods Prep Academy. Yet no matter how hard she tries, Jackson is somehow one step ahead. They’re a match made in hell, but opposites do attract.

Drawn to each other by their rivalry, Nell and Jackson fall into a whirlwind romance that consumes everything in their lives. But when a devastating secret exposes their relationship as just another game, how far will Nell go to win?

Visceral and whip-smart, Laurie Devore’s Winner Take All paints an unflinching portrait of obsessive love, toxic competition, and the drive for perfection.

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Continue reading to see my review of Winner Take All

Review:

If you know me at all, you know that I love books with real, flawed characters. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this before, and I’m sure I will say it a million times more, but it’s true. I absolutely love a book that doesn’t pull punches, and is gritty, and raw, and real. Winner Take All is all of those things and so much more.

Nell Becker has always been the best at everything. She kind of has to be, seeing as though she is surrounded by classmates whose families have immense wealth and influence. In order to stand a chance of being a shining star, she has to be the best; there is no other option. So when the school’s most notorious rich boy starts to mess with Nell, she wants nothing to do with it, and assumes that he’s up to no good.

This book had so many plot twists that surprised me to no end. Just when I thought I had Nell and Jackson figured out, they would do something that totally threw me off and sent me in another direction. I love books that can do this and it still feels like that is where the plot is supposed to go, instead of the author just trying to mix things up so that it isn’t predictable. Laurie Devore does this so well that it seems like second nature.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the enemies-to-lovers storyline, but Nell and Jackson have this incredible, undeniable chemistry that makes you wonder how they ever could have hated one another. I’m definitely going to have to give this trope another chance, because I loved it so much in this novel. So if you’ve got any books that you love, give me your recommendations in the comments!

There were so many times that I wanted to yell at Nell to open her eyes and see what was so clearly right in front of her, but I was happy that she experienced things in the way that she did. Nell’s character wouldn’t have been nearly as flawed if she just magically woke up one morning with a clear vision of what she needed to do. So while it was incredibly frustrating at times, it was the best kind of frustration, if that makes any kind of sense.

I loved this book so much. I seriously can’t give Winner Take All enough praise. It deserves ALL OF THE STARS, and for that, I give it a 5/5 star rating. This is going to be on my top reads of 2018 list, I can already tell, because it was that darn good. Laurie Devore has wowed me again after How to Break a Boy, and I can’t wait to read what she has in store next! Do yourself a favor, and read Winner Take All.

Pick up your copy of Winner Take All from these retailers:

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Book Depository

Giveaway:

Click HERE to enter for the chance to win one of three finished copies of Winner Take All!

(Giveaway ends at midnight EST on February 13th!)

About the Author:

Laurie Devore was born and raised in small town South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. She now lives and works in Chicago, where she misses the charms and contradictions of the south every day. In her spare time, she reluctantly runs marathons, watches too much TV, and works a “y’all” into every conversation. How to Break a Boy is her first novel.