Shot Through the Heart by Niki Burnham

At Eastwood High, love is a battlefield.
Two guys, two girls, two thousand dollars, and one epic water gun battle.
Senior year? It's all about Senior Assassin, a yearly water gun tournament where the last team standing receives a cool two grand. Connor wants nothing more than to split that prize with his best friend, Josh. When their mission is put in jeopardy by Molly--thanks to her crush on Connor--Josh comes up with a plan to thwart her, one that involves his sister, Peyton... 
Peyton's deepest desire is to score entry to MIT. She's working her tail off to achieve her goal, but when she's dragged into Connor and Josh's water gun tournament, their antics threaten to leave her high and dry. As Peyton's forced to choose between chemistry class and chemistry with Connor, will the super student and the super athlete discover they have more in common than they imagined?
One thing's for certain: When Connor, Peyton, Josh, and Molly load their weapons, someone's bound to get shot through the heart.(synopsis from Goodreads)

Shot Through the Heart is a YA romance by Niki Burnham the RITA-Award winning author of Royally Crushed and Scary Beautiful.  Burnham delivers a wonderful, fun and romantic comedy. This is a delightful feel good story.

The story involves high school seniors and juniors at Eastwood High. Told from several points of view, we get a sneak peek into the lives of these characters; their feelings, goals and fears.  The main plot of the story is this year’s game of Senior Assassin. It’s an annual event with one team winning two thousand dollars.  Senior and sports jock Conner, want to win in the worst way. He is a thousand dollars shy of buying his own wheels. He and his best friend Josh have been planning how to execute this for years.  Their plan is put in jeopardy when Molly, a girl who is crushing on Conner gets involved. She’s a nice girl and Conner doesn’t want to hurt her feelings.  He tries to think of ways to let her down easy, and Josh suggests that Conner pretend he is dating his younger sister, Peyton.  While the story is predictable, the tale that unfolds is sweet. The unexpected romance that develops between Conner and Peyton feels genuine and their teenage emotions plucked at my heart strings.

Filled with sweet gooey-goodness, Shot Through the Heart, also delivers some great messages. Burnham touches on such lessons as, reaching for your goals, being true to yourself and integrity. The characters are all lovable and the story line is fast paced.  The chapters are broken up by character and I liked getting to know them, and laughed a loud at some of their antics.

I recommend Shot Through the Heart to fans of romance and humor. This short story is currently available in paper and eBook formats. I will definitely read more by this author. 

I want to thank the author for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

                                                                

I gave this 3.5 coffee cups out of 5.

                                Kimba   

Author's website: Niki Burnham

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