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A review by sarahadams
New Uses for Old Boyfriends by Beth Kendrick
3.0
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I had a few issues with it. It's lighthearted and doesn't take much active thought to follow, which is nice if you're looking for an easy read.
When Lila first gets to town, you think she's going to be going after Ben for the majority of the book, and it's refreshing when that doesn't happen. It was nice to see Ben follow his heart back to his ex-girlfriend, even if it wasn't ideal for Lila.
I had a hard time with Lila and Malcolm's relationship. I felt like it went from 0-60 incredibly quickly. Sure, there was mention of him being attractive, but I felt like there weren't feelings there until, all of a sudden, there were. I was also left wondering why Ben was so weird about Lila dating Malcolm; that detail was never cleared up, so we were left hanging.
I loved that Lila pulled herself up by her bootstraps, but it seemed a little far-fetched to me that she would open up not one, but two businesses by herself without any prior business experience. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop after Daphne expressed concern about them being able to run a business without any prior experience, and it never really did, at least in terms of business. Of course there was a major obstacle, but I felt like, realistically, there would have been more problems. I also took issue with Lila's second business. There's no mention of her knowing anything about jewelry or jewelry appraisal previously in the book, so it didn't make sense to me that she would open her own store to buy jewelry.
I did like that the book focused more on Lila's relationship with Daphne, even if I found Daphne to be incredibly annoying and frustrating at times. I also ended up finding Ben's girlfriend to be very annoying. I can't imagine a real person asking for someone's dog the same day they met. Even though Lila wasn't attached to the dog, I felt like it was incredibly rude for Ben and Allison to just ask if they could have the dog. I would have felt better about it if Lila had offered for them to take the dog. I felt like Allison came across as naive and airy.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. It wasn't all I wanted it to be, and it felt like the plot was a little jumpy at times, but it was a quick read and was easy to get through.
I had a hard time with Lila and Malcolm's relationship. I felt like it went from 0-60 incredibly quickly. Sure, there was mention of him being attractive, but I felt like there weren't feelings there until, all of a sudden, there were. I was also left wondering why Ben was so weird about Lila dating Malcolm; that detail was never cleared up, so we were left hanging.
I loved that Lila pulled herself up by her bootstraps, but it seemed a little far-fetched to me that she would open up not one, but two businesses by herself without any prior business experience. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop after Daphne expressed concern about them being able to run a business without any prior experience, and it never really did, at least in terms of business. Of course there was a major obstacle, but I felt like, realistically, there would have been more problems. I also took issue with Lila's second business. There's no mention of her knowing anything about jewelry or jewelry appraisal previously in the book, so it didn't make sense to me that she would open her own store to buy jewelry.
I did like that the book focused more on Lila's relationship with Daphne, even if I found Daphne to be incredibly annoying and frustrating at times. I also ended up finding Ben's girlfriend to be very annoying. I can't imagine a real person asking for someone's dog the same day they met. Even though Lila wasn't attached to the dog, I felt like it was incredibly rude for Ben and Allison to just ask if they could have the dog. I would have felt better about it if Lila had offered for them to take the dog. I felt like Allison came across as naive and airy.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. It wasn't all I wanted it to be, and it felt like the plot was a little jumpy at times, but it was a quick read and was easy to get through.