Frosh: First Blush (Frosh, #1) by Mónica B. Wagner
Series: Frosh #1
Published by The Studio/ Paper Lantern Lit on October 20th 2015
Genres: Contemporary
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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During welcome week at Hillson University, the FROSH will hit the fan.
Type-A aspiring journalist Ellie plans to take freshman year by storm. But hell-bent on breaking a huge on-campus scandal, she risks becoming one herself—and getting the mysterious, heart-melting QB in serious trouble.
Grant, star quarterback and charismatic chick-magnet, is hiding a life-altering secret. The last thing he needs is an overeager (absolutely adorable) journalist asking questions. He’s got a reputation to protect.
High-society legacy student Devon is ready to catch the football hottie of her dreams. If the tabloids feature her with the “it” boy on her arm, her tainted past will be buried—or so she thinks.
Charlie, pre-med, is done being the sweet and funny geek that girls like Devon ignore. But if he tries to impress her with a new edgy, spontaneous attitude, will his heart end up in the emergency room?
FROSH intertwines the stories of Ellie, Grant, Devon, and Charlie in Mónica B. Wagner’s sexy NA debut series, about falling in love and falling apart.

New adult has been my thing lately but I especially love new adult that takes place at college.  Obviously, when I saw Frosh, I had to add it to my TBR.  While I did have my issues with it, Frosh is definitely a fun read to start off a series I can see myself continuing.

Daniela (Ellie) is taking her freshman year by storm.  She’s determined to get the editorial assistant position at the Hillson Daily Nexus.  She’s focused and passionate and she knows that she’s the best candidate for the job.  She just has to prove it to everyone else and she has exactly one week and one assignment to do that.  It just so happens to be that her assignment is one rather distracting football player.  Grant is the quarterback of Hillson’s football team and it appears his passion is football, just like Ellie’s is journalism.  As a freshman, he knows he needs to stay focused on the game and make himself known at Hillson.  Ellie complicates that.

I wasn’t sure what to think of Ellie at first.  She seemed a little uptight and very focused on getting the position she wanted at the HDN.  I quickly warmed up to her though.  She was fun and bubbly and it was easy to see that she was just very passionate about journalism.  Sometimes she came across as a little rude towards other passions (such as football) but she did try and relate them to her own passion to help her understand people a little better.  I liked that she could see that football was to Grant what journalism was to her (or so she thought).  She wasn’t just a snob about anyone who wasn’t in to journalism and that worked in her favor for me.  As for Grant, he’s cocky but he definitely seems to have earned that cockiness.  He’s smart and funny and good at what he does.  It doesn’t hurt that he has a body of a Greek god.  And while he may be great at football, he’s not sure it’s what he wants to do with his life.  He’s a little lost and he’s not sure where his future is going.  When Ellie enters the picture he finally sees something he really wants and he’s willing to go after her.

Then there’s the other half of the story.  Devon is on a mission to catch a guy.  One guy in particular: Grant.  She’s determined to get her man so that she can bury the mistakes of her past.  Devon is a self proclaimed bitch and I could see it from the start.  She’d been hurt in the past and it made her completely close off.  She wanted no girl friends and she only had eyes for one guy.  Too bad that wasn’t the guy who had eyes for her.  Charlie was a geek.  He didn’t think he had anything in common with Devon but once he got to know her he quickly found out that wasn’t the case.  Devon is smart underneath the airhead facade.  She doesn’t want anything to do with Charlie and Charlie’s not normally the type to chase after a girl who seems way out of his league but he doesn’t want to give up on her.

Charlie was a total cutie and at first I thought he could do a lot better than Devon.  She was just so mean!  I understood that she had been hurt in the past and that she had secrets but she just seemed so cold.  She was very single-minded in her mission to get Grant and I felt like Charlie was going to get hurt because of that.  I didn’t love her ever but I did warm up to her and I liked the side of herself that she showed around Charlie.  She was a smart girl and she should have showed it more often.  Together they made an odd pair but I liked it.

And let me tell you there are some steamy scenes in this book.  Both couples really had some chemistry and I loved that.   Neither part of either couple really had the upper hand.  Grant was popular but Ellie was extremely smart.  Charlie was extremely smart and Devon was driven.  They balanced each other out really well.  It was definitely a couple cases of opposites attracting and I loved to see that.

Overall, Frosh: First Blush is a good start to this series.  I look forward to reading more about the students of Hillson University.  New adult fans should definitely check this one out.

What others are saying about Frosh: First Blush:

On a Book Bender’s review: “If you love New Adult, you will want to pick this book up.”

Fiktshun’s review: “This is one of those stories that will make you shake your head at some of the characters’ actions and decisions, want to throttle a few of them, root for the ones you adore and hope they get a happy ending.”