COVER REVEAL
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VERY TWISTED THINGS
Author: Ilsa Madden Mills
Series: Briarcrest Academy, Book 3
~ SYNOPSIS ~
A sassy violinist who lives next door. An obsessed rock star who watches her through binoculars. And one night when she bares it all. Life will never be the same in Tinseltown.
Vital Rejects front guy Sebastian Tate never imagined his YouTube music video would go viral, sky-rocketing him to acting success in Hollywood. Okay, maybe he did. After all, he’s a cocky dude who knows he’s hot-as-hell, and it was only a matter of time before his stars aligned.
But life in Tinseltown is never what it seems.
After being cheated on, his only rule to falling in love is simple: Keep Calm and Don’t Do It. Spying on his mysterious new neighbor with binoculars seems innocent enough, but quickly escalates into an erotic game between two very unlikely people.
Twenty-year-old Violet St. Lyons is a world-renowned violinist who's lost her mojo on stage. She hides away in a Hollywood mansion, trying to find her way through her twisted past in order to make her future.
He’s the life of the party with girls chasing him down for his autograph. She’s the introvert with a potty mouth who doesn’t even know who he is.
When they meet, stars collide, sparks fly, and clothes come off. Yet, giving his heart to a girl isn’t Sebastian’s plan; falling for a guy who craves attention isn’t Violet’s.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy—Hollywood style—where sometimes the best things in life are VERY TWISTED THINGS.
~ PROLOGUE ~
“Then he came
along, and like a twisted piece of metal that’s burned beyond recognition, I
emerged from the fire. Different. Changed.” –from the journal of
Violet St. Lyons
This wasn’t happening.
Clad in a pair of red lacy bikini underwear—his favorite—I
sipped on tequila—not my favorite—and glared at Sebastian Tate, sexy rock star
and billboard model. Wearing low-slung jeans and nothing else, he paced around
my chair in tight circles, his tall frame blocking most of my vision, the lion
tattoo on his back heaving as he took deep breaths. Blonde and sporting faint stubble
on his chiseled jawline, he looked like the heartbreaker the tabloids said he
was.
Bad, bad boy.
But, oh, so good.
He sent me a hard look. Pissed.
From my living room in the Hollywood Hills, I gazed out the
window at the Santa Monica Mountains, my eyes everywhere except on the glossy
nude photos he clutched in his hand.
Of me. Of him.
Of us.
He swiveled his ice-blue eyes at me. Earlier today they’d burned
with another kind of fire, but things change fast in Tinseltown. “These will be in the papers. Get ready,” he said,
tossing down the pictures on the table, making me cringe.
I gazed down at them, my eyes lingering over one of us on my
patio, him on his knees with his mouth between my legs as my body arched in
ecstasy. My skin burned at the memory, echoes of the passion we’d shared—and
now everyone in the world would see. My family. The society people in New York.
The board of directors for the orphanage. My stomach heaved at the thought,
bile threatening to rise up.
Another caught my eye, this one a full color close-up of me
crying black mascara tears as I played my violin. Nude. It looked depressing as
hell although in truth it had been love that made me emotional.
“Remind me to pass on the make-up next time. And to not have sex
outdoors. Obviously,” I said, forcing my shoulders to move in a nonchalant
shrug like I didn’t care, but he knew the truth. I was devastated by these.
And so was he.
Because we weren’t supposed to be together.
He said my name in that husky voice of his, the one that made me
crazy, the one that made me want to rip his clothes off. “Violet—”
“Stop,” I said, clenching my fists. Because whatever he had to
say didn’t matter. These pictures ruined us, ensuring that he’d leave me for her,
the beautiful Bubble named Blair. Bubble, bubble, bubble. I wanted to pop her.
Why did I always come last with him?
I stood and faced him, tossing back the last of my shot. “First
off, I wish we’d never met.” I held my hand up. “No. Wait. I don’t wish that
because then I wouldn’t know Spider or Mila. I—I wish I’d never fallen in love with you. Loving means
losing. Always. And I was stupid to forget it. I may have to sell this house
and move to another freaking country to get away from you, but I’ll do it. I’ve
done it before.” I sucked in a breath. “I’ll be fine without you.”
Lie. I would likely end up drunk on Mexican tequila, nursing
what was left of my heart.
He closed his eyes, a dazed expression on his face as if my
words crushed him.
“We were doomed from the very start,” I reminded him. “You want
to be a star, and all I want is you.”
He stopped his pacing, a muscle jerking in his cheek as he
leaned down until his nose was level with mine. “Then this is goodbye, Violet?
You’re giving up on us already?”
Did I hear a break in his voice? Impossible.
“If I don’t say goodbye first, then someone else will.” Truth.
He’d never be mine, simply because he didn’t belong with me. I
was a washed-up freak who had nothing but a mansion and a Maserati; he belonged
on the silver screen with a pretty starlet on his arm.
We were over. Kaput.
I smiled, a bitter thing, and sashayed past him, enjoying the
hiss of breath when I let my hand drift over his crotch. “This moment is
begging for a soundtrack, don’t you think?” I said, coming to stop by the
stereo system and cranking up Kurt Kobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Holding my hands up in the horns rocking out signal, I bobbed my head to the
beat while he watched, anger flickering across his face. I danced and twirled
around, closing my eyes, the music vibrating through my body, my fingers
itching for my violin.
Bam!
My eyes flew open. He’d strode over to me and clicked the stereo
off, chest still heaving.
He shoved his hands in my hair and dragged my face to his, and I
groaned at the fire that blazed in my body. I felt the warm heat of his skin
and pressed closer and inhaled. He smelled like bourbon and sex—a rock star’s
diet—and I panted, cursing myself at the same time.
How would I ever get over him?
He pressed his thumbs across my mouth. Gentle. But his voice was
cold. “You can’t wait to high-tail it back to Manhattan to your lawyer
boyfriend, can you?”
“I plead the fifth,” I said, staring at his full lips. I licked
my own. “But you can kiss me goodbye if you want. I don’t mind.”
We stared at each other until he exhaled heavily and put his
back to me, his muscles as taut as the guitar strings he played. He verged on
breaking.
Yeah, well, welcome to my world.
Yet at the same time, I reached my hand out to him. Stupid hand.
But of course, he didn’t see it.
“So long, V,” he said soft as a whisper, staring at the ground
as if I was
breaking his heart, when all along it was the other
way around. He took a step from me, then another, then another, until finally,
he was nothing but a speck.
I clutched my chest and wanted to fall to the ground and rail on
it. Alone. Again.
But tough girls like me didn’t cry over black-hearted boys.
Although in his defense, I owed him a thank you for saving me.
To show you, I’d have to start at the beginning, the day I lost
everything.
© Ilsa Madden-Mills, NYT and USA Today
bestselling author
--Unedited and may change before publication
~ BRIARCREST ACADEMY SERIES ~
Very Bad Things
Briarcrest Academy #1
~ SYNOPSIS ~
Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any nineteen-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect…
Leaving behind her million dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she becomes a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex.
Then she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.
When it comes to girls, twenty-five-year old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about…until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.
As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy…where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.
Read my 5-star review ➜ here
Very Wicked Beginnings
Briarcrest Academy #1.5
Prequel novella to Very Wicked Things
~ SYNOPSIS ~
Girls say I’m a walking, talking sex god. Guys call me Hollywood because my life is golden.
It’s not.
But, ESPN did rank me as a four star recruit, calling me one of the best defensive players since Briarcrest Academy opened its esteemed doors. So yeah, with football and a stellar GPA, my future seemed good.
Then Dovey Beckham shows up in her short skirts and ballet shoes. Driving me insane. Making me want to beg for her attention.
But that wouldn’t happen, because Cuba Hudson didn’t beg for anything.
She walked around BA like she owned the place, and most days she looked right through me…the one girl I couldn’t have.
So, of course, I made it my mission to claim her, to put her notch on my bedpost.
Because no girl can resist the Heartbreaker of BA.
But I never planned on destroying her.
I never planned on wrecking the one thing that could save me.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy, where wicked love begins…and ends.
Read my 5-star review ➜ here
Very Wicked Things
Briarcrest Academy #2
~ SYNOPSIS ~
Ballerina Dovey Beckham is a scholarship student at Briarcrest Academy, determined to prove she’s more than just a girl with the wrong pedigree. She does whatever it takes to succeed in her endgame, even if it means surrendering her body but never her heart.
Until the day she meets him, and he rips apart all her well-laid plans. Suddenly, the girl everyone thought unbreakable might just shatter.
Cuba “Hollywood” Hudson is rich, spoiled, and a star football player. With his fast cars and superficial girlfriends, he lives the high-life, hiding his secrets from the world.
Until the day he meets her, and she offers him something he’s never tasted…love.
But once in a lifetime kind of love doesn’t come easy…especially when dirty money, past sins, and old flames threaten the very fabric of their lives.
Welcome to Briarcrest Academy, where sometimes, only the wicked survive.
~ ILSA MADDEN MILLS ~
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills writes about strong heroines and sexy alpha males that sometimes you just want to slap.
She spends her days with two small kids, one neurotic cat, and one husband. She collects magnets and rarely cooks except to bake her own pretzels.
When she's not crafting a story, you can find her drinking too much Diet Coke, jamming out to Pink, or checking on her carefully maintained chocolate stash.
She loves to hear from readers and fellow authors.
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