Reviews with content warning for Car accident - She Gets the Girl

Second only to the "fake dating" trope is the "love lessons" trope! In this fun, readable romance, an outgoing flirt decides to prove to her ex that she's a good person by giving love lessons to a socially awkward geek who's pining for a mutual friend. Of course, these classic opposites may find they have more common with each other than with the people they're desperate to impress. A cute romance with lots of fun setpieces.

Stray Observations:

While this easily could have been about high school kids or adults, I'm glad they set it in the underrepresented college milieu.

I'm not normally a fan of "rotating POV" romances, but this one works well because both characters have development and their voices sound really different, which I imagine is a result of each author taking one of them.

The authors are wives in real life, which is cute.

Content Warnings

theespressoedition's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I went into this book really wanting to adore it. I loved Five Feet Apart and really disliked All This Time, so I didn't know where this one would stand, especially since I had seen dozens of rave reviews about it on bookstagram. Unfortunately, it was very middle-ground for me.

The characters were a little bit of sorta-grumpy/sunshine but neither were particularly likable. I realize that I don't fully relate to YA anymore since I'm a good decade older than the characters in the book, but even still, I had hoped I would find something that made me "bond" with one of them. I think that's what most people hope for when reading: to feel seen. But these girls? They were just... really annoying, honestly.

I really liked the plot, but the execution was strange to me. One girl helps another girl to woo her crush but they inevitably fall for each other instead. I mean, that's cute, right? Normally it would be, but I have to go back to how unlikeable the characters are...

...You don't really want to root for either of them in this scenario. Alex is a selfish flirt who is so set on using Molly for her own gain: to make her current girlfriend treat her better. The fact that she's such an intense flirt made her unappealing from the get-go. No one wants to root for a f*ckgirl.

Molly is so obsessed with her crush that she treats her mom like absolute crap (which gets resolved in the most frustratingly early 2000's Disney way of the mom apologizing when really it was the kid who was a jerk) and ignores everything else in her life for a chance to win Cora over. Bleh. I didn't want her to even get the girl but instead, make up with her mom in a mature way! Yeah, her mom has issues too, but communication could've resolved a lot of that and if she was boasting about them being "best friends" at the beginning of the story, it was strange to not have them act like it at all.

I don't know... the more I think about it, the more the story gives me the ick. I just wish I liked it more.

Content Warnings

blackcatkai's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

CW: alcohol use, alcoholism, casual ableism, racism, emotional manipulation, toxic (parental & romantic) relationships

THIS IS THE CUTEST THING IVE READ THIS YEAR SO FAR. I cried, I laughed a LOT, it is heart-rending, adorable, fun, & so sweet. it deals with a couple heavy topics in ways that feel real & were handled well, in my opinion. I'd love a little bit of an afterword/epilogue with maybe a small time jump to where everyone's at a little bit in the future at the end of the book, but it's OK that we didn't get that. I understand, but still!

Content Warnings