A review by annavdn
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

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

2.5

This book is full of tropes that people enjoy - "enemies to lovers," fake dating, and sports romance. However, the enemies to lovers is very one sided. The protagonist's dislike for Irene is all due to a prank where Scottie's car was towed after spilling her drink on Irene, which turns out to be an accident. Irene ignores Scottie until the two end up in a car accident that increases Irene's insurance deductible, which plays into how the pair enter a fake relationship.
I must say, it definitely isn't believable that a high school student would pay another $1,000 to fake date her as an effort to make her ex jealous. It was also kind of manipulative of Scottie, to give Irene only two options - fake date her (and out herself to the school) or have Irene quit her cheerleading dreams to work for her parents to pay her insurance deductible. Although Irene consents to this and makes the decision to fake date Scottie, she didn't really have a better option.
. I also didn't really like that the other love interests, Charlotte and Tally, were villainized. People can like each other without their exes or past love interests being portrayed as assholes. I also found the unnecessary Harry Potter references really annoying, one of them being that Scottie is a "gay Ginny Weasley," which also bleeds into another issue, that the author doesn't use the word lesbian or sapphic to describe characters. There's nothing wrong with the terms "lesbian" or "sapphic." Other than that, there are way too many tacky 80s/90s references. Anyway, the book requires the reader to suspend their disbelief a lot to be enjoyable.
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