Wanted by Kelly Elliott

We begin with Ellie, who has been told all her life by her mother that no one will ever love her or want her, therefore she grows up believing that no guy will ever want her. Ellie focuses her attention on her grades in order to get into the University of Texas, where her brother attends and plays football, in order to get away from her emotionally abusive mother. A few days before her high school graduation Ellie finds her boyfriend having sex with another girl, she becomes an emotional mess after fighting with him. She calls her big brother, Jeff, who arrives with his roommate, Drew 'Gunner' Matthews to rescue her. One look at the roommate and she is mesmerized (But then who wouldn't be!!):

"This guy standing in front of me was breathtaking...... I couldn't tear my eyes away from him...."

But the attraction is not just from Ellie's side, Gunner and Ellie had never met before this encounter but as soon as he saw her, he was mesmerized as well. Jeff decides to take Ellie to the house he shares with Gunner, and allow her to rest without having to deal with her mother's bickering and verbal abuse. Ellie realizes that she has these intense feelings for Gunner, feelings that she has never had for any other guy before, but also knows that she has just been hurt by a guy and her mother's words keep playing in her head. She is adamant to not fall for him and to keep her distance emotionally; she does not want to end up being hurt once again. Jeff ends up having to leave Gunner in charge of taking care of Ellie, which Gunner does not mind one bit. He wants to spend as much time as he can with Ellie and get to know her better.

"In just the short amount of time I'd been around her today i wanted to know so much more about her. What were her favorite flowers, her favorite restaurant, band, and movie? Holy fuck, what the hell was going on with me?

Gunner is scared of the feelings he has for Ellie, he has never felt this way over any girl before, but he also knows all that Ellie has suffered because of her mother and that he needs to be gentle with her, so he begins to try and be her friend and win her over. Finally Ellie decides to give in and to take their relationship to the next level. WOW! The things that Gunner does for Ellie to show her just how much he likes her and to make her fall for him just melt my heart. He is like the PERFECT boyfriend, seriously guys should take tips from this guy and apply it to their own relationships, as Jeff said:

"Holy shit dude... you get a part time job with fucking Hallmark that you didn't tell me about! You almost had me in tears."

 Along with Ellie and Gunner's relationship we also see how Ari (Ellie's best friend) and Jeff both seem to have deep feelings for one another, yet for some unknown reason Jeff keeps pushing Ari away and doing things to hurt her on purpose. Ari has been in love with Jeff since she was very young, but is starting to lose hope that anything could be possible between her and Jeff, especially with all the things he does. The rest of the story follows this back and forth battle between Jeff and Ari, as well as Gunner continuing to try and prove to Ellie that she truly is loved and "Wanted", which he succeeds in. There are certain obstacles that present themselves in Ellie and Gunner's way preventing them from truly being happy, obstacles that for a while tear them apart. Eventually all is resolved and Gunner and Ellie have their happily ever after:

 "I have never in my life....ever felt so completely loved and....wanted"

At the same time that Gunner and Ellie get their happily ever after Ari and Jeff both decide to finally give into their feelings, Jeff finally admits to Ari how he truly feels for her and they decide to take their relationship to the next level, but will they be able to have a happy ending as well? Well you are going to have to go read the next book in this series, "Saved" to find out!

One of my thoughts after reading this book was: "Damn, I wish I had my own Gunner!!" hahaha, if only.. he is just so...amazing! This book had so many sweet and private moments between Ellie and Gunner, he treated her like a princess and tried his hardest to prove to her that everything she grew up hearing from her mother is not true and she truly is loved for. Kelly is such a wonderful author, being able to portray so many emotions and make me actually feel them with the characters. I connected with all of the characters and fell in love with them. The ending to this book made me teary-eyed, I will admit...it was just such a wonderful way to end this story. The ending also got me obsessed with Hunter Hayes song "Wanted" because now I connected it to how Gunner felt for Ellie. I loved this book so much I just HAD to purchase a hard copy of it to have on my bookshelf.