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Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

May 7, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

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.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

The synopsis makes this story sound like it’s some light, fluff piece, but it’s so much more than that. The Fill-In Boyfriend follows Gia Montgomery, a girl whose life seems as normal as it gets. Popular, president of student council, has some close girlfriends and a family that hasn’t been torn apart by divorce. Everything looks perfect on the outside. That all started to change with the fill-in boyfriend (aka FIB) who is rather insightful.

Breaking from Perfection
With the arrival of the lies starting at prom, Gia’s life starts to unravel into imperfection. I love how it explores the family dysfunction in a way that’s different from other stories. Sure, her parents and brother get along fine with each other, but maybe, that’s the problem. When things don’t get resolved in order to maintain peace and have the appearance of perfection, you start to hide emotions deep inside and only work with surface emotions in every relationship. Who knew that not getting punished enough for something could cause just as many problems in a family? It also prevented Gia from being able to talk to her parents when her life was falling apart. Too emotional, right? And that would require admitting that something in her life wasn’t working just perfectly.

Outgrowing friendships
There was just so much emotion in Gia’s story. With a frenemy that was out to get her, it was awesome to have someone to hate. Sometimes, I find stories like to give redemption to those that may initially seem awful. Not this one. I absolutely can’t stand her friend who is so hell-bent on destroying Gia’s close friendships. And all for a reason that is rather lame. Although the story concludes without the neatly wrapped up ending, I was a little sad that there wasn’t as much closure with her friends. There was hope, but I guess the message is that sometimes, you outgrow even lifelong friends who may become different people as the years go by.

Finding out who you are
Besides family and friends, this story touches so much on Gia’s journey into opening up to people and finding out who she wanted to be. I love character development and this story focused so much on this gradual change that was working its way through her. By the end of it, she had grown so much that it literally brought tears to my eyes. My favourite advice was something the fill-in boyfriend’s mother had told Gia when her world started to fall apart. She was asking about how to truly gain life lessons and find herself when nothing terrible has happened to her. This is the wisest thing I’ve heard yet to answer such a question.

“We rarely find depth by looking inside of ourselves for it. Depth is found in what we can learn from the people and things around us. Everyone, everything, has a story. When you learn those stories, you learn experiences that fill you up, that expand your understanding. You add layers to your soul.”

Love, of course
Speaking of tears, The Fill-In Boyfriend definitely had a lot of romantic chemistry going on there. He brought so much insight into Gia’s life, that even though they were only going to spend just two nights together, it was hard to get him out of her life and mind. I’m so glad that there was this simmering attraction between them that was so tangible, I almost felt like I could reach out and touch it. It wasn’t only the attraction that was enjoyable, but also their witty banter that was hilarious to read. The path to romance doesn’t always have to have constant staring and romantic lines, but it may very well lie in a deep-rooted friendship. The ups and downs to their relationship was beautifully written. Falling for someone for real while pretending to only be each others’ dates definitely complicates things.

Although Kasie West’s On the Fence wasn’t as huge of a favourite with me, The Fill-In Boyfriend has quickly shown me that this author has so much to offer in YA literature. This is a beautiful story of finding who you are in the imperfections while falling for the very person who challenges all those cracks in your life and learning to let go of emotions. A definite must-read.

Overall Recommendation:
The Fill-In Boyfriend is so much more than its synopsis limits it to be. It’s a remarkably well-written story about finding love in the unexpected, seeing the beauty in life’s imperfections and staying strong when your world starts to crumble from the lies in your past catching up to you. This is Gia’s journey in finding herself, and all I can say is that it’s heart-warming and almost brought me to tears as it is so relateable in so many ways. I highly recommend this book to anyone to read. It’s way more than just fluff.

adult

Review: Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham

April 16, 2015May 25, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Centuries ago, by a scaffold in Manhattan, rose petals drifted gently to the ground……like snow on a wintry Massachusetts night. Melody Tarleton is driving home for Christmas when a man–clad in Revolutionary War-era costume–appears out of nowhere, right in the path of her car. Shaken, she takes in the injured stranger, listening with concern to Jake Mallory’s fantastic claim that he’s a Patriot soldier, sentenced to death by British authorities. The last thing he remembers is the tug of the noose.

Safe at her parents’ house, Melody concocts a story to explain the handsome holiday guest with the courtly manners, strange clothes and nasty bump on the head. Mark, her close friend who wishes he were more, is skeptical and her family is fascinated–though not half so fascinated as Melody herself. Jake is passionate, charming and utterly unlike anyone she’s ever met. Can he really be who he claims? And can a man from the distant past be the future she truly longs for?

With the aid of enchanted petals, ancient potions and the peculiar magic of the season, Melody and Jake embark on an unimaginable Christmas adventure–and discover a love that transcends time.

3 Drink Me Potions

Obviously, magic has a huge hand in this story, although the setting is based in the “real” world. But who doesn’t love a certain unexplainable event in a contemporary romance?

Uh, well I wouldn’t, if the situation had been handled better. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jake. He’s so…intrigued by everything that has transpired since his time in the Revolutionary War. Yet these things like electronics, a washroom INDOORS, and the idea of more wars occurring since his War never fazed him. He took in stride. He’s by far one of the more enjoyable things that happened to this book.

The only other thing I loved was the rest of Melody’s family. From her brother Keith, who also took Jake’s arrival into this world in stride, to her eccentric parents, they made one particularly hilarious group to read about. I mean, come on, Keith thought the best way to teach Jake about all the things that has happened in the past 3 centuries was through movies based on all the different wars in that time period?

And her mother was eccentric to the core, with a fusion Wiccan/Catholic belief system. I guess you can say she’s open-minded? Which is good, given that Jake should be dead and 300+ years old. I swear, she never even batted an eyelash at the fact that he was in modern time. And her father? He was brilliant, but wanted to be some crazy inventor.

I will say, Home in Time for Christmas had its heartfelt moments. Jake was trying to get back to his time to be with his adopted sister, while feeling something for Melody. But obviously, that would be a rather strange situation if he didn’t just head back, right?

The ending was wrapped up too nicely, although the extra epilogue set years later was a nice touch. I’m not sure how I felt about it, although I guess things turned out okay for everyone. Just, how does that not change the course of history? Aren’t all those time travelling stories based on the ONE theme that any minor change could alter the current reality as the characters knew it? ‘Cause, boy, was there a change in history from Jake’s movements.

Plus, might I add, that once Melody’s family realized how to send Jake back, they kept botching it up?! Like, people kept moving back and forth in time to the point it was getting ridiculous. Good thing they happen to have like 4 different chances to do so before the time portal or whatever closed. Honestly, some of this “magical” stuff was a little too far-fetched for me to stomach.

All in all, it wasn’t terrible to read. Like I said, the characters were all rather amusing to read about. The plot could really use some major tweaking, but I was satisfactorily distracted with it enough for one afternoon when I would’ve rather done anything but work. So maybe that wasn’t too high of a compliment, but it was a decent story.

Overall Recommendation:
Far from realistic albeit set in a realistic world, this was my first Heather Graham book. Characters were delightfully eccentric and amusing to satisfy a boring afternoon of nothing else to do. The plot held too many further questions to ponder about, like say, changing history from having Jake come to the present day. But those could be looked aside, right? I guess that would depend on you…and perhaps the mood of the moment in which the story is being read.

Review: Magnolia by Kristi Cook

March 30, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are southern royalty. Neighbors since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when a baby boy and girl were born to the families at the same time, the perfect opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.

Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen, for goodness’ sake, not to mention that one little problem: They hate each other! Jemma can’t stand Ryder’s nauseating golden-boy persona, and Ryder would like nothing better than to pretend stubborn Jemma doesn’t exist.

But when a violent storm ravages Magnolia Branch, it unearths Jemma’s and Ryder’s true feelings for each other as the two discover that the line between love and hate may be thin enough to risk crossing over.

4 Drink Me Potions

Magnolia was an impulse read. And I’m definitely glad that I did.

From the looks of it, it could just be some simple story of two people who grew up not wanting to be together at all. Honestly? That statement would be just touching the surface.

Jemma wasn’t a bad protagonist, but she wasn’t outstanding in any way. However, her loyalty to family and her quick wit in dealing with a storm was admirable. Ryder was also someone I couldn’t quite decide on at first. Maybe it was because Jemma held such a bias towards him and it was hard to judge his character through her lenses.

I absolutely loved the feeling of the old South that touched this book so heavily. I’ve never been down there but I would like to imagine that it would feel something like the way this book made me feel. As the author was a native to the area, I can only assume that it would be quite accurate. The setting made it an even more enjoyable experience as not a lot of books in YA literature picks such a rural location, and does it justice.

The attraction and romance was made more delicious with the huge storm that trapped Ryder and Jemma together for the first time in ages. Just think about it. The two of them huddled in some storm cellar, which by the way isn’t all that large, enclosed in darkness as loud winds and roaring rain comes down from above. Sounds kind of cozy, like the two of them are in their own world where they are each others’ haven. There was even one amazingly steamy scene that was totally swoon-worthy…if you’re into that.

Anyway, Magnolia has proved to me that beautiful stories could be made from the tiniest of moments. Action and heavily packed plots don’t have to be necessary components that make up a tale of two people falling for each other.

And by the way, that ending was kind of genius. Just saying. For a flipped inside out Romeo-Juliet-esque type of story, that was one smart move to make. Kind of makes me wish there was a second book to see how the two fare once they hit college.

Overall Recommendation:
Set in the beautiful Old South, Magnolia is a surprising story from a not as well known author in YA literature. Steeped with a simmering attraction underlying the two protagonists’ animosity towards each other, it was a fun journey to see how a storm and a little together-time allowed them to see that the boundaries between love and hate may be quite thin. Both are rather strong emotions, after all, right? A definite recommendation. It was hard to put down, and sleep was worth the sacrifice to finish.