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cmadler 's review for:
Rules For Fake Girlfriends
by Raegan Revord
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
When Avery Blackwell receives a postcard from her recently deceased mother, she decides to take a leap, leave New York, and enroll at her mother’s alma mater, the University of Brighton. Traveling to England, she sets out on a scavenger hunt her mother laid out before Avery was born. But on the train from London to Brighton, a girl named Charlie asks Avery to pose as her girlfriend for a couple minutes to try to make an ex jealous. Coincidences compound, minutes turn into months of fake dating and then, maybe, something real, until Avery discovers that Charlie is hiding a secret of her own.
All in all, Rules For Fake Girlfriends had plenty of potential. The idea for the story was good. In fact, there were several good ideas there, which is really where things started to go wrong. Yes, the books needs copy editing to address inconsistent descriptions of characters and genders (one character seems to switch inconsistently between she/her and they/them with no explanation). But more than that, it has issues with structure, pacing, and plot. Is it a romance between Avery and Charlie, is it about Avery learning about her mother and in the process learning lessons about herself, is it about Avery finding a community of friendsthat serves as a found family, is it about Avery reconnecting with her father after the trauma of her mother’s death…it tries to be all of these inequal parts, and in doing so, doesn’t really give fully adequate weight to any of them. There also seem to be some moderately significant things that happen off-page, which we really should have been shown.
With all that said, it was nevertheless a reasonably enjoyable book. For me it was probably about 2-½ stars, which on my scale is certainly enough to consider reading more from the author. Given that it’s a debut novel from a teenage author, I’m inclined to be generous and round it up to 3 stars in places where full-star rankings are required.
**I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
All in all, Rules For Fake Girlfriends had plenty of potential. The idea for the story was good. In fact, there were several good ideas there, which is really where things started to go wrong. Yes, the books needs copy editing to address inconsistent descriptions of characters and genders (one character seems to switch inconsistently between she/her and they/them with no explanation). But more than that, it has issues with structure, pacing, and plot. Is it a romance between Avery and Charlie, is it about Avery learning about her mother and in the process learning lessons about herself, is it about Avery finding a community of friendsthat serves as a found family, is it about Avery reconnecting with her father after the trauma of her mother’s death…it tries to be all of these inequal parts, and in doing so, doesn’t really give fully adequate weight to any of them. There also seem to be some moderately significant things that happen off-page, which we really should have been shown.
With all that said, it was nevertheless a reasonably enjoyable book. For me it was probably about 2-½ stars, which on my scale is certainly enough to consider reading more from the author. Given that it’s a debut novel from a teenage author, I’m inclined to be generous and round it up to 3 stars in places where full-star rankings are required.
**I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.