Welcome to Well Read Book Review. Happy (belated) New Years! For the month of February, with Valentines Day coming up, here are three romance book recommendations.
#1 – “Dungeons and Drama” – Kristy Boyce
Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. A big part of her plan to achieve this is starting off in her school’s spring musical. That is, until she decides to take her mom’s car to a concert and crashes it. As a punishment, Riley is sentenced to working at her dad’s game shop. Riley can’t waste her time working, so she has her coworker, Nathan cover her shifts, and to pay him back, she’ll flirt with him to make his crush jealous. The thing is, she didn’t realize this meant joining Nathan’s D&D game, although, she didn’t realize roleplaying could be so fun. After a while, she starts to realize that flirting with Nathan doesn’t take as much acting as she thought.
4.1 Average Stars on Goodreads – I sacrificed a lot of sleep reading this book. When I read this book, it was over a week of time where I was reading about a book a day, and from what I can remember this was my favorite one. This book was so good, and I’ve honestly recommended it to so many people. I loved Riley’s character, and loved Nathan’s character, and this book accurately represented D&D really well, it was such a good book. 5 stars.
Tags – Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Fake Dating, Enemies to Lovers
Cannot be found in the library (Boyce’s other book, “Dating and Dragons” can be found in the library)
#2 – “She Gets the Girl” – Rachael Lippincott
Alex Blackwood is headstrong, with a bit of chaos mixed in there, and a lot of flirt. She knows everything about getting the girl, keeping her is an entirely different story. Molly Parker, on the other hand, has her whole life planned out, but she can’t plan out her awkwardness. This may not be a problem normally, but it’s difficult when she has a crush on Cora Myers, a crazy popular and social girl. Molly and Alex don’t belong on the same planet, and definitely not the same college campus, but when Alex’s, now ex, girlfriend tells Alex that she needs to learn how to not be a selfish flirt, Alex thinks that maybe if she can help Molly get over her awkwardness with Cora, Alex could get her girlfriend back. The two girls make a five step plan, and as they get further and further into their plan, they start to realize that they may by the ones falling for each other.
4.08 Average Stars on Goodreads – While it’s been a while since I’ve read this book, I don’t think it’s any less deserving of a recommendation. The way both characters are written on such different mediums is amazing. The switch between personalities is very well written. Like stated earlier, it’s been a while since I’ve read this book, and I also remember some parts that weren’t too enjoyable to read, like parts where the two characters are changing major parts about themselves just to “get the girl.” While I love this book, it’s not a book I’d fan over. 4 stars.
Tags – Romance, LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Cannot be found in the library
#3 – “The Summer I Turned Pretty” – Jenny Han
Belly’s life goes by in summers. She believes that everything magical and amazing happens between the months of June and August. She says that winters are only a time to count before it’s time to go back to the beach house. The thing she looks forward to most over the summer, is seeing Conrad and Jeremiah. She’s known the brothers since her very first summer, and they’ve been her brother figures, crushes,and everything in between. This summer is when everything goes wrong. It’s amazing and terrible, and the more things go wrong, the more it ends up being just how it’s supposed to be all along.
3.74 Average Stars on Goodreads – I went into this book thinking it’d just be another stereotypical romance book. I was pleasantly surprised with how good the book was. It was a quick read, only taking me a few days, but it packed a punch. While the romance/love triangle was the main part of almost every chapter, it wasn’t completely insufferable. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is an alright book, but it’s definitely not the best book I’ve read. The author seemed to be trying really hard to relate to teens, and at some parts it became weird and somewhat offensive. At points, there are some odd interactions between Taylor and Belly, and between Susannah and Belly, which made the story somewhat uncomfortable. There are also some interactions between the boys, Conrad, Steve, and Jeremiah that are meant to be jokes, but end up coming off as more sexist or homophobic. A point that points this out is when Belly wants to skinny-dip with a boy, and he declines the offer, and this is written: “I stared at him. Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be convincing me? ‘Are you serious?’ What I really wanted to say was, Are you gay?” (Han, 201). With both things said here, the part about the boy needing to convince her to do something scandalous, and the part about immediately assuming he’s gay, it gets weird when reading it. Overall, 3.5 stars.
Tags – Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Summer, Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Can be found in the library
