March 2015 – Page 2 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Review: The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris

March 22, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: The Fine Art of Pretending #1

According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you’re friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

4 Drink Me Potions

The Fine Art of Pretending feels like a guilty pleasure, equivalent to indulging in chocolate for a day. The storyline is predictable and it’s not hard to figure out major things that would happen with the main characters.

However, it’s the “how” that always makes me want to read faster. And that’s what happened here. Brandon and Aly have been best friends for 3 years, ever since Brandon turned down Aly when she admitted she had a crush on him. Granted, they were really digging the friend zone at the beginning of the book, but it was obvious that Aly may still unconsciously harbor more feelings than that.

I read this book in a heartbeat (or I wanted to, at least). It was definitely entertaining with the amount of drama their fake relationship caused. The only problem I mainly had was Brandon’s ignorance of his own feelings. I felt it took way too long for him to even admit that he could possibly care for Aly as more than a friend. Yes, he was definitely very physically attracted to her (which I initially found disturbing as it would seem he could only like her when she was all dolled up), but he kept denying any feelings. When he finally admitted it to himself, I was all but ready to pump the air with a giant “YES”. Only to fall back and realize he didn’t want to tell her ’cause of course, he just wants to stay friends.

‘Cause all relationships eventually end. Sure, they do. But so do friendships.

But no, Brandon’s very comfortable in dating fast & furious style.

Yep. That really bothered me. It could’ve done better without the tremendous dragging it took for Brandon to finally understand that he wanted a relationship with Aly. And how that happens was also very anti-climatic. After all the buildup of not wanting one at all for so long, it was like a light bulb just went on suddenly and he decided, “yes, I need a relationship with her now. Let me go find her”. That could’ve happened eons ago, in my opinion. This revelation was terribly slow.

Other than that, I found the romance entertaining enough. Their reactions to finding out that they loved each other were hilarious as it was so obvious to everyone but them. I really wished there was more time to see them acting as a couple as that was what kept me reading. It’s a shame it had to end.

Two other minor problems were probably the lack of family interactions and Aly’s intense need to become a Casual. She’s definitely not built for hookups, but I guess there wouldn’t be a story if she wasn’t so darn stubborn on being noticed by guys. Heck, I’m glad Brandon finally understood he loved her for more than just her new makeover.

As for family, there’s so much talk about how important family is to both of them, yet there were rarely any conversations between family members. For example, Aly’s mom was catering the food for the senior class’s camping trip, yet I swear only Brandon was ever shown to have a conversation with her. I assumed Aly’s mom was staying over somewhere at that camp too during the trip’s duration, but I don’t recall Aly having ever talked to her. Weird, right?

Anyway, just minor grievances. In the great scheme of things, it was still a lovely read. A guilty pleasure, as I said before. Predictable, cute and romantic, with tons of drama (that could’ve been resolved a little faster, but whatever).

Overall Recommendation:
The Fine Art of Pretending is one of those cute, romantic books you just wanna curl up with in bed to read all night long. Aly is a fun character, set and determined to be different, but I’m glad she finally grows up and develops into a character that’s confident in who she is no matter if she’s not quite Casual material. Or rather, maybe she just finds she has a bit of both Casual & Commitment traits.

Brandon sounds like a true guy in his POV of the story. It’s nice to see what he’s thinking, although sometimes it seems he just lusts for Aly and not loves her for who she is. He also develops, which I’m glad as he’s dead set against relationships. He’s loveable and protective of Aly and I just want to smack him for making them both miserable. Of course, that’s where the drama lies in so who am I to say that he can’t do that? I just wish he didn’t drag on for so long.

All in all, this is one guilty pleasure to dive into. Predictable, yet there may be a token or two of wise character insight and growth that translates into anyone’s life. A definite read to give a shot for.

Review: How to Love by Katie Cotugno

March 21, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

I just wanted to say that How to Love has left me feeling like a wreck….in the best possible way.

Have you ever loved someone for so long that you feel it in your bones? Where it becomes such a huge part of you that it’s like a part of your chemical makeup, and you can’t remember a time when you didn’t love them? Loving someone also doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll always be happy, but that sometimes they can make you feel miserable too. That’s just how love is, in the realest sense. Love is never meant to be easy or simple. It gets complicated and messy, with the huge highs and the deep lows. Reena and Sawyer’s story has captured that aspect in so many ways and more. It wasn’t built on one giant, perfect moment, but on many little moments that accumulated and totaled into something great.

Thus, How to Love truly was a roller coaster ride for me. I was initially so angry at everyone, mad at Reena, mad at Sawyer, mad at Allie and mad at all their parents. They all did things that made me want to shake them into comprehension. But there were also those moments that touched me, that made me smile at the tenderness of their budding relationship, both in the past and in the present. That’s just how great of a story it was. I could be angry at the characters, but I was captivated by it all the same.

Both Reena and Sawyer were by far from perfect. And that is what’s so amazing about this story. If only Reena had expressed her feelings for Sawyer from since they were young, maybe it would’ve turned out differently. If Sawyer wasn’t so messed up at the time they were dating, maybe he would’ve done things differently. And although they could’ve done so many different things, their imperfections still knit together a story of falling in love, not once, but twice.

The only reason I couldn’t rate it a 5 stars was because I so, so, so wanted it to continue on. I wasn’t ready to leave them there. I wanted to know more, see what else was on the horizon for them. But I guess this leaves it up to the imagination, and if I were to imagine what would happen for Reena and Sawyer now, I’d like to think that they could get over any hurdle together after all that they’ve been through, that their love was stronger than all else and they’d finally come home.

‘Cause after all, maybe they really are like homing pigeons. And maybe they are each other’s home. Where they belong.

Overall Recommendation:
How to Love is one of those novels that has left me breathless, excited and sad that it’s come to a conclusion all at the same time. A complicated and messy love story of two people who thought they screwed up so badly, only to find that they still had it in themselves to love each other so strongly. This book makes you want to believe in a love like that, makes you want to find a love like that for yourself. I can honestly say that this book is not overhyped at all. It’s every bit as good as everyone says. Please, do yourself a favour and dive into this story.

Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

March 21, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn’t know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she’s spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.

To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can’t solve Charlie’s biggest problem: she’s falling for Braden. Hard. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

3 Drink Me Potions

On the Fence was a whimsical, on-the-spot choice for reading. And boy, I was not disappointed.

Charlie was unlike many girl protagonists in YA literature these days. She could hold her own with most boys her age and older. She did have practically 4 older brothers after all. I loved her spunk and her easy interactions with them. She wasn’t shy, but maybe felt a little out of place when interacting with other girls. In a way, I think I connected so well with Charlie is because I can kind of understand her ease with dealing with boys and occasional uncertainties when placed among all the pretty and glamorous girls who go on and on about makeup. She was real to me, and if she was real, I’d think we’d make great friends.

The romance was predictable. It wasn’t hard to see there was something brewing with her almost-brother Braden. The only problem for me was that I didn’t feel as much chemistry between them as I had initially hoped for. They had their vulnerable moments with each other, aka at the fence at night, but it still felt a little off to me. Like there was still something missing in their relationship. It picked up the pace a little by the end, what with another guy taking interest in the “girlier” version of Charlie.

I enjoyed the fact that this book never took a side to whether it was better to be a girl who knew all the girly things they should know, or to have a girl who could play sports and run with the best of the boys. Maybe because it’s true that there is no right side to it, and there is such thing as a nice balance between liking clothes and makeup while still enjoying getting down and dirty with the guys. I think Charlie managed that by the end of it.

To say I loved the book is a bit of an overstatement, but it was enjoyable. Maybe if I had felt some more chemistry, I would up my rating. All in all, not a bad start with Kasie West. I’m looking forward to checking out more of her books.

Overall Recommendation:
Maybe with a little too high of an expectation, On the Fence was a sweet story of a girl trying to find her place in a family full of boys. The romance and plotline was rather predictable but the way West wrote it made it enjoyable still to follow along. With a good impression, I would recommend this book and possibly checking out more titles by this author.