Let me start by saying that when you receive an ARC from Ella Fields, you drop everything to read it. In the middle of another book? Doesn't matter, you can read that later! Kids want to eat? Order a pizza! Wake up at 4:30 in the morning on a Saturday? Just get up and finish Ella's book!
Ella Fields is a master at creating angsty high school/college romance. That's a given. This time though? She has outdone herself by taking that genre to a whole new level. Evil Love is the story of Fern and Jude, neighbors and classmates at an elite school in a secluded island town. Fern has been obsessed with Jude but he doesn't even know that she exists...until he does. One chance encounter changes everything between them and opens Fern's eyes to a whole new side of Jude and to a world that she never knew existed.
From the beginning, I loved Fern. She is such a different heroine and I loved her quirkiness and her obsession. Jude, on the other hand...I liked him but then I hated him...I felt sorry for him, I wanted to strangle him, but then I loved him. Jude's character really does make you understand Fern's conflicting feelings for him and you struggle right along with her. He is one of those characters that seem irredeemable, but somehow the author pulls you in to his charms and makes you forgive his evil ways.
This book had plenty of twists and turns and went into a direction that I wasn't quite expecting, but oh, how I enjoyed the journey. We also begin to see the story of Fern and Jude's best friends evolve, and since Evil Love is book #1 in the Nightingale series, I only hope that book #2 will be their story. An amazing 5+ star beginning to this series and I can't wait for more!
