Title: Her Book Boyfriend
Author: K.R. Grace
Genre: Mature YA Romantic Comedy
Release Date: August 25, 2017
Cover Designer: Okay Creations, LLC
Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
She believes the secret to love is in the tropes of her favorite romance novels. He’s the best friend prepared to prove her wrong.
Then comes the bet.
If she can’t land a boyfriend for prom by recreating the ten popular tropes in her favorite romance author’s books, she has to go to the prom with her.
The glitch?
They’ve been close their entire lives. He’s the rock god and school legend, while she’s the brainy sidekick who does all his dirty breakups. Thus, finding a guy who doesn’t think they’re already an item is going to be a lot harder than she thinks.
Will she land the book boyfriend of her dreams? Or will she be forced to go to prom with her best friend.
The truth is in the pages.
“Are we going to talk about whatever is really bothering you or do I have to stare at you like this for the rest of the day? We both know I can.”
He could. When we were seven, we’d had a staring contest. First one to look away had to eat a refrigerator concoction. I got distracted within fifteen seconds…he’d followed me around for the rest of the day, staring at me just to prove a point. And the refrigerator concoction…I still got cold chills when I thought about it. Yuck!
“There’s nothing to talk about. I had an idea. You think it’s stupid. I’m still doing it. End of story.”
“I didn’t say it was stupid. I said it was unnecessary.”
Appetite lost, I shoved the remainder of my sandwich into my lunch bag. “You know what, I don’t expect you to ever understand why I would need to resort to a book for dating advice.”
I occupied myself with searching for my iPad in the bottomless pit that was my backpack.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he demanded.
I shoved my hair out of my face as I looked him dead in the eye. “It means you, oh great one, don’t know what it’s like to be rejected. All you have to do is wink and girls throw themselves at you.”
“That’s not true.”
“I just broke up with a girl for you because you were already too preoccupied with the new girl you were dry humping in the parking lot, for crying out loud!” I’d hit “drama queen” mode: arms flailing, voice at falsetto levels, spit flying, and face flaming red.
He blinked once before taking in a deep breath. “I don’t want to see you get hurt, Mace.”
“I can’t go through life only known as someone’s friend or someone’s daughter. I need to be someone’s world. It might be a foreign concept to you, but I crave it.”
“But a romance novel, Mace? Those things are nothing but unrealistic fantasies.”
I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see the truth in his. He didn’t think I could pull it off. Was I really that undesirable?
He took in a deep breath and let it out. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll let you prove me wrong, but if I’m right, you have to be my date to prom.”
“What?” My eyes flung open. “Why do you want to go to prom with me?”
“Because, like you said, prom isn’t supposed to be spent with someone you don’t know.”
“I figured you had an orgy extravaganza in the works for prom night.” I snorted.
He pulled the green pick from his pocket and began twirling it across his knuckles. “Nah, too wild for me. I don’t want to go down in high school history as the guy who banged a girl on prom night. Too cliché.”
Let’s see. New YA author. And I’m picky. I worship at the feet of a few and I aspire to publish my YA crossover to NA series, eventually. But that’s a different post altogether. Anyways, I just LOVED watching Mace and Cam FINALLY figure out that they were made for each other. *swoon*
Cam and Mace are the typical childhood to lovers trope but what makes this one so special is that we get see it through their friends and family, too. I love the fact that Mace is the most clueless heroine that I’ve read to date. Totally! I mean, she is so book smart but when it comes to boys, she is a hot mess. Her words, not mine. Most of the time while I was reading, I was laughing. There are only a few angsts moments and they are brief. Mostly it’s Mace, not understanding where Cam is coming from in terms of their relationship.
Cam is a dream. A dream, I say. And he ranks right up there is Tuttle from Monica Murphy’s Just Friends series. Which I worship. Cam is the boy that everyone wants or wants to be but he lost his heart so many years ago. I won’t go into the whole manho scenario but I got the feeling that most of that was just made up for Mace’s sake. I loved how he finally manned up about the whole situation with the other girls. It was so sweet when he finally admitted his feelings.
I realized that I might have spoiled the book but you truly must read it to get the full effect. Her list (shown above) are the chapters in the books and I love how much of a book nerd that she is. She is so wrapped up in her favorite author’s world that it has somehow messed with her mind in terms of how boys see her, especially Cam. The typical high school hijinks abound in the book and since I work at a high school, it is completely true and believable. And laughable since I’ve been out of school since 1985. I had tears at times with my laughter.
Overall, you MUST read this book. YA or not. Ms. Grace writes like she is overhearing a bunch of teenagers talking and nails it. The story flows and I kept on swooning over Cam so many times. His sister, Winter, is a joy, too. Plus, Clay, Mace’s brother is a trip. Again, it’s like Ms. Grace tapped her inner teenager. Plus, I can’t wait to see who she picks to write about next in the series. If I had one little complaint is that I wanted an epilogue but maybe, just maybe we will get that in the next book. I’m greedy that way!
As a child, K.R. Grace had an overactive imagination. When it was obvious she wasn’t going to change anytime soon, her mom shoved a pen and paper in her hand and said, “Write it down.” So, at the age of eight, her first story was born, and the writing hasn’t stopped since. When she’s not running with wolves, sleeping with bears, or flying with falcons, she can be found checking out local bands or watching movies about things that go “boo” in the night. She lives in East Tennessee with a dog that is afraid of his own shadow and a cat that was a mob leader in a former life.
It sounds like my kind of book, and your review confirmed it. I’m getting this story right now!