In a perfect world, sixteen-year-old Phoebe Martins’ life would be a book. Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary.
But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?
MY THOUGHTS
When I first heard about this book, of course I wanted to read it. It's a contemporary romance for the POV of a booknerd! I thought this book was adorable, though, sadly, it felt like your average contemporary. Just with a few more booknerdiness added.
Phoebe lives for books, and she's perfectly fine with it. But her best friends thinks that Phoebe needs a boyfriend and when it's pointed out to her that her friend Dev might like her, that's all she can think about. Using her books as reference, she tries to win Dev's heart.
I thought this book was pretty cute. I overall enjoyed the book and I was flipping the pages in hope that the two would get together. Of course there were a lot of bookish things in the book! The idea of Phoebe using books as dating advice is interesting and I liked the other bookish things as well (such as the bookish event Phoebe went to). The book also has excerpts from Phoebe's favorite books, which was interesting as well. The pacing in the book, though, was a bit slow. I felt like this book concurred a long period of time within the book and it took awhile for things to speed up. It didn't really pick up until the end, and I actually liked many parts in the last few portions of the book.
I liked Phoebe. She was sweet, shy, and relatable. I had a few issues with her as a character at times though because she felt like an impossible booknerd. She was able to remember complete paragraphs from books! And I'm not referring to the excerpts featured in the book, I mean there are times where she would start thinking about a kissing scene in her favorite book and then relate it word-for-word to us. Seriously. I love to read and I can barely even remember the names of the main characters, let alone entire paragraphs! As for other characters, they were nice too. Though her best friend upset me at times. She was always bugging Phoebe to pick up her book and date guys. I myself would hate it if someone did that to me, even if they're my best friend, because I don't want to date, I'm fine being single. I know that she has the best intentions, but I didn't like how she was forcing this onto Phoebe.
As for romance, it was cute. I liked Dev. I enjoyed how Dev and Phoebe started out as friends. I think the best relationships are when there is friendship involved. Dev wasn't your typical love interest, mainly since he was a normal guy. He wasn't the hottest thing that lived, with sparking eyes and a long line of ex-girlfriends. He was normal and I liked that about him. He was also really sweet to Phoebe and understanding of her booknerdiness.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, this book wasn't as awesome as I expected. This is kind of your typical YA contemporary, just with more booknerdiness. It was cute, with a great love interest, but still a bit predictable at times and just your average contemporary. This might be part of a series, and I'm curious if there will be another book following a different couple. If that does happen, I will be interested.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it.
