The Replacement Crush
"..to the book blogging community, this book is for you. I'm in awe of your passionate love of books and the time and dedication you give to reading and reviewing. Thank you for your ongoing support for authors and for all your reviews: the go-go boots, the granny shoes, and all in between."
Lisa Brown Roberts, Acknowledgments, The Replacement Crush.
I am one of those weird geeks who read acknowledgments. I love this one. And let me tell you: This book is an ode to the book reviewers.
Vivian is a blogger and all round book lover. I totally fell in love with her reviews and I could identify with the booky-side of the story. I mean, who of us book bloggers wouldn't be able to?
But there is much more to the character building than clever bookish bits, people like me would adore.
I feel like I gotten to know Vivian, and her friends - she feels like a solid and real character. All of it, with the stupid teenage mistakes as a garnish.
Dallas, is the uberhot McNerd, many of us will pine over. Again, while he is just what I would like in a BBF, he has his own idiosyncrasies that are at times irritating and yet endearing.
I love the relationships that change and develop between the group. I adore Toff- will there be a book about him?! (PLEASE?)
My only little thing: I was not a fan of Jake. I don't mean him as a character, but rather how he turned out. I'm not sure why, but while Roberts was super forgiving with each and every character- there was not coming back for Jake. Don't get me wrong, I don't need him to be a nice guy or anything like that. I just somehow didn't like that he is the only character that's black and white.
And while we are at it, I feel a bit uneasy about the resolve of the beach scene. It's not in my opinion not finished, I feel that Vivian needs to talk to an adult. The fact that the boys gave her the choice is admirable, but I feel that's letting people off the hook easy. Look this is a tiny thing in the book, for me though, it felt rather huge and that's why I bring it up here.
I really felt protective over Viv, which is probably the best acknowledgment of how well the world building was done.
This is mostly character driven for me. I adore the characters in this book. The plot is quite slow, there is a super slow burn romance, some interesting friend interventions, a bit of angst, self doubt and not to forget teenage stupidity. And I loved every minute of it. It just worked. The entire thing. All the hype at the right times, the heartbreak and the big gesture. It was just right.
This is cute & fluffy with a fun dose of nerd and a good dash of more heavy subjects.
Well written, funny and just well, fabulous.
So are you like me one of the people Roberts spoke of? Then, if you love YA - read this.
Coming back to Roberts acknowledgment: Dear Mrs. Roberts, authors like you are the reason I do have a passion for books. Thank you for writing them, and even more so for writing such awesome ones!