That was until she found out Nick only dated her because he was dared to.
Four years later, the dislikeness between the two has not dimmed from each other. They still pick on each other and say cruel things to one another because of what happened when they were 13 years old.
During that time, Hayden has become very competitive in snowboarding and is one of the best female snowboarders in her class. She even won a competition and got lessons from a famous female boarder.
The only problem is that Hayden is afraid of heights. She won't do any jumps when snowboarding - just small tricks that are impressive for the low distance she goes off the ground. The famous female boarder likes very big jumps, and now Hayden has to find a way to keep her secret still a secret.
But once Nick said that she would not win against the guy that won his class, they declared war and have made a competition between the two of them to see who would win.
The prize being the loser has to buy the other one tickets to the dance/concert on Valentine's Day. It seems that everyone in their town has heard of this bet and the guys have sided with Nick to win, while the girls have sided with Hayden to win.
There is no way Hayden can back out of this bet with the whole town vouching for the ultimate win, but she can't do the jump. Everytime she tries, she gets too scared and ends up quitting. How can she win this bet and show Nick that she really is a great boarder if she can't make a jump? Read The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols to find out!
My Thoughts/Reflections
I got this book from a library because my all time goal is to read all of Jennifer Echols novels she has published. I really enjoyed this book as well! Very cute and funny, but also serious and mature in some aspects.
I think I really liked this novel because I was able to relate to it - well a little bit. I work inside at a ski resort during the winter and have heard a lot of my friends talking about boarding and skiing, so it was familiar in a way that I could relate to the competition between Hayden and Nick.
And I can definitely relate to Hayden's fear of heights because of a broken leg many years ago since I won't even touch a snowboard or skis, knowing I'll probably break my own leg!
Hayden is very confident for a 17 year old, saying she isn't going to go to college but is instead going to be a professional boarder. Unfortunately, she needs to be able to do high jumps and she's terrified of them, so I'm glad Nick came along and challenged her to their bet.
Otherwise I don't think she could have become a professional boarder by the time she wanted to be one!
There were some points where I thought it was immature - especially the miscommunication between the two main characters. But then I thought back to high school years and realized that Echols got that exactly right because high schoolers like to jump to conclusions without thinking through everything.
Heck, adults do that as well! But the things Hayden and Nick assumed were very obvious, so it was more high schoolish than adult mistakes.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I think that other readers who are into sports and competitions along with battle of the sexes and exes will really like this novel!
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