Tag: Contemporary Romance (Page 72 of 96)

BOOK REVIEW: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

May 19, 2015 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be trulycrazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

Praise for Time Between Us
"A beautifully written, unique love story."
-Melissa Marr, New York Times best-selling author of The Wicked Lovely series

"A compelling story of love, fate, and consequences with plenty of sigh-worthy moments, this novel is the perfect choice for readers who want a romance that leaves them with something to think about when it's over."
-Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"A warm, time-bending romance [that] will have readers rooting for the couple that keeps daring fate."
-Publishers Weekly

"The story will hold readers with its twists and turns, present and future; its love, sadness, and anger; and especially, its surprising secrets."
-Booklist

"Romantic and passionate, Stone's debut novel is swoon-worthy...will resonate with readers who enjoy their romance mixed with adventure."
-School Library Journal

"Time Between Us is the very best kind of love story --heart-pounding, intense, and unputdownable!"
-Elizabeth Scott, author of Bloom and Perfect You

**ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.

Sometimes a book just calls to you. Sometimes it consumes your every waking thought until you can finally pick it up. Sometimes…..when you get an opportunity to read a book before anyone else you realize just how lucky you are, because you just knew from the moment you saw it that it was going to be special, perfect, just what you’ve been dying to read. That’s exactly how I felt about this book-From the moment I saw this book, I knew I had to have it. There was just something about the blurb that spoke to me on a visceral level, and I knew that if I got it from the publisher, I’d love it. Not often do I like my ARCs…but from the moment I opened this book, it owned my soul.

This is a story about a girl with OCD. A girl who, for all intents and purposes, hasn’t told anyone about her condition. The dark thoughts that plague her mind daily make it difficult to function in every day activities that others take for granted. She struggles to maintain the facade of being a ‘normal’ girl around her popular friends who expect only the best from her, and she can’t find peace at night, so she has to take sleeping medications. Her nature is to latch onto something and grip it tight, to search and investigate until all outlets are exhausted and she has enough information to satisfy her hunger for any information concerning what she became obsessed with in the first place.

Then one day she meets a new friend, Caroline, and what she shows her will change her life. But at the head of Poet’s Corner (The place Caroline showed her) is a boy who doesn’t like her much, but she can’t seem to figure out why. She’s told she isn’t allowed to join the secret club, that she isn’t welcome. But Samantha knows in her heart that this club is just what she needs-she knows that it’s just the outlet her OCD and inner turmoils need and that it could possibly change the way she thinks every day-it might be the thing that helps her focus her thoughts and dilute the obsession she feels at every waking moment. So, she sets out to prove herself not only to the group, but to the boy who has shunned her without a backward glance. Why does he look at her like he can’t stand to be near her…and why does it bother her so much?

This book touched me so deeply. It isn’t simply that Samantha has OCD and struggles internally, it’s how she struggles. It’s the way it crushes her spirit again and again, yet she continues to fight and claw and strive to be the person she wants to be. She broke down so many times, yet she let no one see how broken she was. I loved that. I loved how strong her character was and how she never pitied herself…well, not a ton, anyway.

But what I loved most?? I’ll just come out and say it: AJ. I loved loved loved AJ. He was sweet, kind, thoughtful, and he induced so many butterflies that I was choking on them. I think there’s something to be said for a subtle, YA romance. Every look, every touch, every moment means something…it’s not fleeting and the romance doesn’t rely on sex or physical contact. We get to build a deep, meaningful relationship through words and crucial experiences. And when they finally do touch, kiss, or get physical?? It’s explosive.

Without being able to use quotes I feel a tad naked, but I think I said everything that needed to be said without them. I loved reading this story so much, and I was so so sad when it started to come to an end. AJ and Samantha were two amazing characters that I became viscerally attached to and I never wanted their story to end. It was beautiful, heartfelt, and I never once felt the writing was forced when it came to her OCD. It was as natural as breathing and the author’s words flowed so seamlessly that it became difficult to put the book down and separate myself from this amazing story. I am so appreciative I got this ARC, but I cannot wait to read the final work-I am pre-ordering the hardback as soon as I finish this review. I will definitely be looking at other works from this author and I will be re-reading this story over and over again. Every Last Word.

**I will be adding quotes once the book is released**

*****************************************************************

MY FIRST NETGALLEY APPROVAL FROM DISNEY!!!

And wouldn’t ya know it, I really wanted this one XD

BOOK REVIEW – Play On (Lewis Creek #1) by Michelle Smith

May 18, 2015 / Anna

Play On (Lewis Creek #1)
by Michelle Smith
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
In the small town of Lewis Creek, baseball is everything. Especially for all-star pitcher Austin Braxton, who has a one-way ticket out of town with his scholarship to a top university. All that stands between him and a new start is one final season. But when Austin starts flunking Chemistry, his picture-perfect future is in jeopardy. A failing grade means zero playing time, and zero playing time means no scholarship.

Enter Marisa Marlowe, the new girl in town who gets a job at his momma's flower shop. Not only is Marisa some home-schooled super-genius; she's also a baseball fanatic and more than willing to help Austin study. As the two grow closer, there's something about Marisa that makes Austin want more than just baseball and out of Lewis Creek -- he wants a future with her. But Marisa has a past that still haunts her, one that she ran all the way to South Carolina to escape.

As Austin starts to peel back the layers of Marisa’s pain, it forces him to look beyond the façade of himself and everyone he thought he knew in his town. What he sees instead is that in a small town like Lewis Creek, maybe baseball isn’t everything—maybe it is just the thing that ties them all together.

First of all, are you suffering from the awful Monday sucks syndrome? Let’s take a look at the symptoms :
✘ You’re morphed into a grumpy Grinch, and you scowl way too often
✘ You either don’t answer right away when asked for doing something or you’re doing it muttering to yourself that people are killjoy

If that’s the case, I’ve got what you need : indeed this book, while not free of flaws, is for me the perfect medicine to kick this syndrome’s ass.

➊ Austin’s head is full of shit. Full of cheese. Full of insta-attraction. But damn, the guy is all kinds of adorable and calls himself on his crap : that’s something, isn’t it? Don’t get fooled by his superstar player status : indeed he is a dork – a cute not that confident dork, and his voice was so refreshing and believable that I didn’t even care about the insta-attraction. I was too busy laughing and smiling, I guess, because damn, the guy can think the cutest stuff and yet be straight-on ridiculous sometimes! Well, now, that’s a teenager in love for you. It remains that his inner monologues made me laugh out loud more often than not, and above that, he was loyal and cared so much about Marisa, his friends and his mother that I couldn’t help but fall in love along the way.

“Her handshake slows. “Can I have my hand back now?”
Shaking my head, I let go immediately. Smooth. Really smooth. (…)
She moves past me and laughs a little, but it sounds like one of those nervous I-think-I-just-met-a-serial-killer laughs.”

➋ Yes, Austin is completely smitten, but you know, he has a life too. Baseball. A lot of baseball. I really liked following his games ~~even if I’m not sure that I understood everything, being a baseball noob and all~~, because it was fucking realistic. I mean, how many books do we read where characters brag about being crazy about their sport and yet we never get to see them play? Yes, Austin is in love – like, the first kind of crazy love – but it doesn’t prevent him for caring about his friends (can I say that I adore this bunch of guys?), his mother, his passion. Thank you. No love erases everything else kind of crap here.

“I have no idea why, but my tongue feels like it’s glued to the roof of my mouth when I’m in the same room as this girl.
And when I do open my mouth, something stupid usually tumbles out.
“Do you eat food?”
Like that.”

➌ While predictable, the story stays free of my biggest peeves, that is to say : slut-shaming and useless drama. Now, I’m not saying that it doesn’t deal with hard subjects, because it does. In fact it deals with my absolute worst kind of issue : depression. Because of personal reasons, I have a (really) hard time staying calm and not getting mad when I read about characters like Marisa who suffer from depression over no particular reason. Therefore to me it’s saying something that I found it well-handled here and that it didn’t bother me (too much). Yes Marisa knows depressive episodes. No she can’t explain why. Yes it’s realistic, because I knew that – not personally, but from someone I care about a lot. Yet she tries, and tries, and tries again – she isn’t always depressed, far from it, and to me it was believable and relatable. But do you know what I absolutely loved? The fact that Austin didn’t think that he could deal with Marisa’s problems alone, and asked for help. One might say this is cowardice, but in my opinion it’s bravery. In many young adults books, we see teenagers dealing with huge problems without never asking for help and it bothers me, because that’s not the kind of message I want to spread to the young out there. Hear me out : I can’t deny that unfortunately some teenagers aren’t given the possibility to be helped but I think, I hope that it’s not the majority. When we feel overwhelmed, we have to ask for help before drowning. There’s no such thing as pride when lives are at stake.

➍ The story is predictable, but it’s male POV guys! I mean, how rare is it? HOW FUCKING REFRESHING?

I’m probably forgetting a lot of things here, but hey, sometimes you just have to keep it short. Don’t expect originality, but if you can bear some cheesy scenes and the insta-attraction going on, I’d say that you’re in for a few hours of smiles, laughs, and swooning. Sometimes it’s exactly what we need, isn’t it? And hey, Austin says himself, “[he’s] kind of the master of cheese in this relationship”. I love him anyway.

BOOK REVIEW: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

May 11, 2015 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.

So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.

She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.

Oh my dear, dear Kasie West…Where have you been all my life?? Well, in all fairness, it’s my fault I’ve never picked up a masterpiece that is a KW novel. My friend, Anna, has been more than clear about how I would love this author, if only for her adorable, yes, absolutely adorable male leads. And, ya know, she was right-as usual. Damn know it all Alien. Anyway, I digress. My whole point is that when I was down and tired and couldn’t hardly read this weekend, what did I do? I listened to someone’s advice and picked up a fun book that was supposed to be light, funny, and altogether an easy read. I’ve never been so glad I did.

He laughs a little. “You live above a porcelain-doll store; your best friend lives in a cemetery. You’ve pretty much grown up surrounded by creepy things. Is there anything you’re afraid of?”
You.

I have been in a perpetual bad mood for the last two weeks-I won’t lie about that. It’s been horrible. I haven’t cared about much and yes, I come off as (generally) pretty normal/happy most of the time. I’ve even found some amazing books to read. But, what happens when an already bad mood turns just plain sour the minute Thursday strikes? Why, you pick up a fluffy book. All the booze and/or medicine in the world couldn’t salvage my mood, but guess what did? This book cured a two week streak of surliness and altogether inexcusable snark on my part. This book did what no person could do, no matter how hard they tried, and that’s how I know I waited until the perfect time to start obsessing over this woman’s books.

A lot of people don’t get my humor. My mom calls it dry humor. I think that means “not funny,” but it also means I’m the only one who ever knows it’s a joke. Maybe if I laugh afterward, like my mom does when she’s helping customers, more people would humor me, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

It’s more than that, though. I don’t do cheesy. I loathe easy peasy story-lines, unless it’s my dear Lauren Layne. And I don’t really venture from my dystopian or fantasies very often-but for this author? I think I’m going to start making an exception. From page one I was giggling, smiling ear-to-ear, and felt immediately lighter. The snarkiness of our main character was parallel to some of my all time favorite snark-masters and Xander was…oh my, what was Xander? Xander was the equivalent to every good person in the world I feel like I would date.

After he climbs in as well, he starts the engine and then gives me a long look. “What’s wrong, babe?” Xander grabs my hand and puts it on his knee.
“Is that the pet name we’re going with? Babe?”
He backs out of the parking stall and starts driving. “You don’t like it?”
“It’s okay. It makes me think of the pig, though.”
“Are you putting in a request, then?”
“I’ve always been partial to sweetie, mostly because I’m not sweet so it makes me laugh.”

I don’t know. He just…there was just something so special about him. He may have been rich and a tad spoiled, but it never once showed in his demeanor and he never let it effect who he was as a person (namely, he didn’t act like a pompous, spoiled brat). Sure, he might have worn driving gloves (BAHAHA okay, that was unnecessary of me to say, but come on, Xander-driving gloves?? LMAO) and he may not own anything shoddier than a high-brow polo, expensive jeans, and loafers, but he was a total boy-next-door type, and his sweetness never once effected me as it does with other books. I like dark, tortured guys the most, lately, but I also have always had a soft spot for the good ones. Those boys that we should all aspire to date, if they existed beyond these pages. And yeah, my heart is super easy to break into (and break, when it comes to book boys) but lately the boys in these stories have had to work really hard for my fangirl affection….But with Xander? It was effortless.

He pockets his phone. “Caymen.”
“Xander.”
“Does this mean I won the game?”
“I didn’t realize we were playing a game.”
He picks up the doll and backs away with his lower-lip-biting smile. “I think you did.”

Even now as I am finishing up this review my heart is soaring and I have the biggest smile on my face as I recall my favorite quotes and moments from this story. It wasn’t without it’s flaws, much like any other book, but the flaws were hardly a blip on my radar. But, hey, that’s the way I am. I truly believe that, if a book made you extremely happy and you weren’t without warm and blissful feelings throughout, it deserves every star in the world. But that’s only if the flaws don’t outweigh the good-in that case, yeah, it probably stunted your enjoyment a tad. But, even with some of the miscommunications and rude preconceived notions, my smile never slipped once (Okay, lie, there was definitely some angst that made me frowny face-but only because I love my dear Xander so much!!!).

So, you know, I loved this. The rich, beckoning boy and the not-so-rich girl meeting and finding a spark they’ve never felt before, mixed with funny shenanigans to find each other’s destiny, this story was perfection. From the way Xander looked at Caymen all the way to how much he was willing to do to make her a part of his life-I couldn’t put this one down. Pre-sipped drinks and bakery made blueberry muffins never sounded so wonderful, thanks to Xander, and I know I’ll be re-reading this many times over if only to read about Xander’s hard earned smiles and Caymen curiosities. Anna, I owe you one, ya ol’ dark pup. 😛

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BOOK REVIEW – Halfway Perfect by Julie Cross and Mark Perini

May 11, 2015 / Anna

Halfway Perfect by Julie Cross, Mark Perini
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Bestselling author Julie Cross teams up with Ford model Mark Perini to pen a poignant and gritty YA novel about love and the dark side of modeling and the fashion industry.

Eve's time as a fashion model nearly destroyed her-now she's determined to build a career behind the camera lens. But landing a coveted photography internship brings her face to face with her dark past-and her ex.

While Eve is snapping pictures, up-and-coming male model Alex is launching his career-which, for him, involves maintaining a fake relationship with his (secretly) underage co-star, Elana.

But Alex is falling for Eve, and Eve won't let herself get hurt again. If Alex can pull off a fake love with Elana, can he convince Eve to risk a secret affair with him?

What Julie Cross and Mark Perini offer us is a gritty and wide-eyes worthy incursion into the modeling world, and for that fact alone, Halfway Perfect is worth reading in my opinion.

Truth be told, I never thought that the modeling world was that great. Guess what? It seems that I was right. A book about what hides behind glitter and glamour written in collaboration with a former model? I’ll take that. Of course I googled the guy – because hey, if I struggle to remember the names of actors from movies I watch, you can guess that I don’t know the names of models. The only ones I see are from perfume ads (what the deal with swimming-pools anyway?) Yeah, I’m such a snob. Just sue me already.

The truth is, this book made me rage. I was furious to see how models had to comply with the requirements of … Of what, exactly, tell me? Of what is considered as hot? Since when a fourteen years-old teenager too skinny and without breast is considered as a sex-symbol? Said WHO? What is wrong with our society? Seriously, what is wrong with us? To me this book brings a good kind of rage. A kind of rage which makes us think about what standards our society runs and above that, about everything we don’t want to see because “that’s not our problem”. ← The favorite sentence of humans, if any.

However, we don’t see only the darkest sides of the modeling world, but also the good parts, and it was refreshing because it sounded real.

Frankly, it was difficult to connect with the characters at first, yet I slowly grew attached to them. Take Alex, for example. I’m pretty sure that I followed Eve’s evolution in my opinion of him. Indeed there is no-insta-love here but characters who try to know each other’s and who don’t fall in love quickly. So, as Eve, I changed my mind about Alex. From judgmental toward him to interested to … Well, the moment when I found him downright adorable and sexy, Eve shared for sure my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, he’s flawed. Oh, yes, he is, and I couldn’t fathom how he could believe this piece of shit of an agent he has and not completely disregard what tabloids say about Eve. But you know what? I’m okay with that, because it’s realistic to me : real people don’t always believe the truth and need time to gather their thoughts. Real people are frustrating and need time to evolve. So did Alex and Eve.

Moreover, I’m not gonna lie, I was waiting for Eve to fucking realize that her relationship with Wes (her former agent) wasn’t healthy at the time and in that particular case I found that Julie Cross did a good job at picturing how we can be blind when it comes to our relationships sometimes. The fact is, Eve was 14-16 at the time and NO, she didn’t realize that Wes was taking advantage of her and acting like a huge controlling and violent asshole – and years after, at 18, she still has this false opinion about what was wrong in their relationship. In my opinion it was realistic because unfortunately I do believe that the end of a messed-up relationship doesn’t stop the crap right away if nothing is resolved and if nobody talks about it. Don’t get me wrong, I was APPALED to see how she still isn’t able to figure out how jerk and creepy he is/was, but even if I wanted to shake her, I could understand why she acted and thought that way, because nobody never supported her, nobody never told her that Wes’s behavior wasn’t acceptable but downright CREEPY and pedophile. ~~I want him to die in a slow death~~. But it didn’t prevent me from being angry, so angry at her, because while I could understand her reluctance to tell her story, the fact that the young Elena could fall into Wes’s trap was so infuriating that I couldn’t help but feel mad anyway, even if WES was the only one to blame for sure. What a bunch of contradictory feelings, right?

And then, when shit goes down for Eve, IT WAS SO FRUSTRATING. I cried out of RAGE because it was so unfair. I felt the walls closing around her as it was me and felt claustrophobic. Even though I’m not sure if the way everything is resolved in the end is believable, at this point, I don’t fucking care, because I’d have taken ANY way to stop Wes and to make him pay for his actions.

Or, more accurately, about how French people are pictured. Yes, sexual majority is settled at 15 in France, that’s true. Now, there is a difference between what’s legal and what’s considered as acceptable. Would Wes have been in trouble for sleeping with Eve when she was 15? Actually, yes, because he had authority over her, being her agent, and in that case the sexual majority is settled at 18. In Elena’s case, that’s a little different, that’s true, but frankly, even if it’s legal, I don’t know anybody who would think that it’s okay for a powerful guy of 27 to date a 15 years-old teenager. We’re different from our laws, guys, and I’m sick of hearing people judge French as if reading our laws was enough to know how we think. Same thing about the legal age to drink : I had already a problem with that fact in Anna and the French Kiss actually. In France, it’s FORBIDDEN to buy alcohol in a club or a bar (or in a shop, for that matter) under 18, okay? So, yeah, we can drink in family or in a party if somebody else (understand older) buys alcohol, that’s true. Of course NOBODY does that in the US, RIGHT? Let’s be a little frank one second here. Finally, I don’t understand what’s the deal with the topless thing. Twice characters said that as Elena was French, she would be okay to pose topless, because “she’s probably walked around topless since birth”, being French and all.

YOU DON’T SAY?! Yeah, right. Just come to France, guys, we’re all wandering around topless waiting for you to stare. Oh, wait – that’s wrong. We’re not. Come back in your plane. Perhaps you think that I’m overreacting, and maybe you’re right. What can I say? I’m sick of reading about French pictured as reckless parents who let their kids walking around almost naked and drinking wine, because 1)that’s wrong, and 2)that’s fucking hypocrite in my opinion.

To sum up, I ended liking this book despite its flaws, and yes, I recommend it. Just know that it’s not free of stereotypes and that the characters can be downright annoying at times.

BOOK REVIEW – The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

May 9, 2015 / Anna

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

I have a question for you : how am I supposed to rate a book whose flaws are so obvious I just know many of my friends will be bothered but which let me with such a huge smile glued on my face? If several characters irked me something fierce but which made me so happy I just … didn’t care for the most part?

JUST FUCKING TELL ME. In the meantime, welcome to my messed-up brain, guys. I apologize in advance is this review is more filled with ramblings than anything else. Just know that I tried. Pinky swear.

I’m not gonna lie, I read this book in one sitting and the only thing I can say is it is highly addictive as usual with Kasie West. Indeed it seems that her books share this ability to compel me in this teenage world and even if it’s generally not the kind of humor which makes me laugh out loud, it remains that I’m swimming in a general giddiness just so refreshing that I can’t help but want to read each and every one of the books she’ll write in the future.

As for the plot, it lacks originality for sure, and I found The Distance between Us more daring in many ways. What do we have here? The clueless popular girl who’s living for peers validation and doesn’t care that much about others – but cares deeply about what they think in the meantime – and who suddenly realizes that she’s quite a bitch without meaning to. After being dumped at the Prom parking lot by Bradley, her college boyfriend (asshole), she decides to lie and to ask a random guy to be her… Fill-in boyfriend, because she’s too afraid of what her friends will think about her being single (not to mention that several of them didn’t believe that she had a boyfriend in the first place, so… You see the whole picture). Of course, of course, lies always backfire on you… And Gia will learn it the hard way. While I’m a sucker for fake relationships, and absolutely adored their interactions (I’ll come back to that), I can’t deny that Kasie West doesn’t offer us something original here, but that’s quite the opposite actually. It didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book, but you need to start it knowing this, otherwise you would be disappointed.

Moreover, this book deals with several teenage – and adult – issues as the consequences of our lies and the difficulties to trust someone, not to mention the importance of friendship and well – the thin line between wanting to genuinely please our friends and hiding our true feelings because we’re afraid of not being validated by them. While I appreciated to read about these subjects and to follow Gia’s evolution, in my opinion these issues aren’t fully handled and the book keeps its smacks of superficiality unfortunately.

First of all, let me say that I liked Gia for the most part. Yes she’s awful in the beginning (but damn, how I laughed when she met her Fill-in boyfriend!) and does sound really shallow : as I said earlier, she seems interested in what others think and this only, and I’m sure some readers will hate her. I didn’t. Never. Why? First because I love reading about flawed characters when they aren’t annoying (she’s not) and then because the development of her character was really good and well-handled in my opinion.

As for Fill-in Bradley, whose real name is a secret therefore I won’t write it here, it’s pretty simple actually : I adore him. Indeed not only he’s cute and all kinds of adorable, but he’s not perfect either and every one of his personality traits made me like him more. First he’s kind of a nerd – but not the computer kind. Don’t get me wrong, I love videogames and my BF either, but we can be a nerd or shy or well, cute and adorable in his case without being glued to a screen, and I was glad to see Kasie West acknowledging this fact, because authors often put their character in big boxes and the geek guy is always some hacker or something. It’s getting old in my opinion. Just sayin’. Moreover, Fill-in Bradley has trusts issues (and for reasons) and for me it added to his believability as he doesn’t change his way of thinking for Gia right away.

Her romance was gradual, pretty light actually, smile-inducing and believable. I ship them hard. Oh, and, definitely, no meet-cute here, but a controlling and kind of awful girl begging some clueless guy. Of course that was awesome, what do you think?

“He was still lokking at me like I was crazy. I felt crazy. “You want me to pretend to be Captain America?” He pointed toward the street. I was confused at first but then realized that’s what he was calling Bradley, whose built was on the beefy side. “They’ve never met him, so they have no idea what he looks like. beside you’re…” I gestured toward him without finishing the sentence. I tried to think of a different superhero to compare him to but nothing came to mind. I wasn’t well versed in superheroes. Were there some who were on the thinner side? Spiderman? That didn’t seem like a compliment.”

To sum up, their relationship is full of cute and funny moments that I can’t quote here but you know, you can just read the book and find.

Concerning the families, can I just say that while I hated Gia’s I completely swooned over Fill-in Bradley’s? What can I say? Bec, his sister, is that awesome metal girl whose way to deal with angriness pleased me very much (yes, it involves throwing thing and screaming. Good girl) and the growth of her friendship with Gia was one my favorite parts of the story.

“Sit. Start your rant whenever you’re ready. I will be here to egg you on.”

And what can I say about his mother except that she was supportive and deliciously eccentric? Oh, yes : she was hilarious.

“I’m Olivia. I’m sorry for stealing this boy away but I need his gorgeous face. (…)”
“She says that every time she pulls us in here and then she creates things like that.” He pointed to a painting of a half-insect, half zebra face splitting open to reveal a blooming flower. “My face did not inspire that”.
“It really did,” his mum said.”

Now, let’s talk about my biggest peeves : Gia’s friends. Talk about a bunch of jackasses, for real. I’m not even talking about Jules who was the stereotypical bitch but FOR. REAL. Who treats his friends that way? WHO? Indeed I never, ever, got what their deal was and if I can understand that it can be annoying to learn that our friend lied to us, seriously, they were overreacting throughout the whole book and the ending didn’t satisfy me in this particular issue because to me, too many problems remain unresolved. As you can guess, they were way too immature and stereotypical for my taste, and if I had to point something that I’m sure will bother many readers, it would be this. You’ve been warned.

Anyway – I just can’t dismiss that big moron smily face I wear since I finished it. I can’t, and I can’t wait to put my hands on Kasie West’s next book because let’s be frank one second here : I fall in love with every one of her male leads. they’re awesome like that.