Wesley James Ruined my Life by Jennifer Honeybourn

ARC, 228 pages
Release Date: June 18, 2017
Published by: Swoon Reads
Read from: July 12-15, 2017
Stad-alone
Source: TxLA 2017
For fans of:  Contemporary, Romance, Sparkly Covers, YA


     Sixteen-year-old Quinn Hardwick’s having a rough summer. Her beloved grandmother has been put into a home, her dad’s gambling addiction has flared back up and now her worst enemy is back in town: Wesley James, former childhood friend—until he ruined her life, that is.
     So when Wesley is hired to work with her at Tudor Tymes, a medieval England themed restaurant, the last thing Quinn’s going to do is forgive and forget. She’s determined to remove him from her life and even the score all at once—by getting him fired.
     But getting rid of Wesley isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. When Quinn finds herself falling for him, she has to decide what she wants more: to get even, or to just get over it.

*MY THOUGHTS*

     As cliché as it sounds, when I saw this cover I KNEW I would love this book. It had the makings for everything I love about fluffy contemporaries: hate to love troupe, some funny times, and of course some swoony times. But unfortunately, it had all these moments but also some other things I wasn't too fond of.
"I remember a lot of things about you. [...] I remember things about you, too. And none of them are good."
pg. 12
Back in the day Quinn and Wesley were best friends. Until he ruined everything with Quinn and her family. Quinn was happy to get rid of him when he finally moved away, but completely unprepared when he turns up again... And at her job no less. She must get rid of him... But how?
"Pirates don't do magic tricks. They rape and pillage.' You're thinking of vikings."
pg. 14
                Ok, so the main thing I wasn't a fan of in this book was Quinn. She annoyed me to NO. END. She was so naïve. The stuff she blamed him for clearly had absolutely nothing to do with him. Like the whole situation was anti-climactic. I'm pretty sure that was the reasoning for the author, but the entire thing seemed so incredibly stupid and tiresome to hold a grudge against someone for something like that for so long. And it was even worse that she was ok with people TELLING HER what she was doing was completely uncalled for. Yes, I get it, she didn't want to blame the true person for their problems, but what right did that give her to do all this to someone else that didn't deserve it? And then add ANOTHER person to the mix? Ugh this is one of those instances where I wanted to jump into the book and slap the MC because it seemed like no one else wanted to.
"Which character are you?' She's a wench.'"
pg. 26
And then there was the ending. That too was anti-climactic. After all that was done, the apologies and original make-ups weren't even in the book! Like I ONLY kept reading this to see just what she did to make it up to him and it was a voicemail that wasn't even written in the book. It kind of made the whole ending a little eye-rolley for me. It missed the mark completely with that wasted scene.
"The only thing that's given me any pleasure lately is my plan. I've spent most of the past week dreaming up ways ho get Wesley's ass canned."
pg. 73
However, I did like the setting. I went to a Medieval Times with my high school band years ago on our band trip. We went for a show too where they rode horses and the tables are high. It's like an arena. Anyways, because I had been there, I was able to clearly imagine what it was like to work at Tudor Tymes. I was further transported there because I also worked at a restaurant for a point in time and everything about the hustle to the register to the smells sticking to you was correct. I was captivated by the setting and found that that small aspect kept me tethered to this book.
"It's just that I've noticed- and please don't get mad at me for saying this- but it seems like he's all you talk about lately."
pg. 83
Lastly, the LOL moments made all the difference. I found myself laughing at the things that happened to Quinn, which I probably shouldn't have, but still lol A lot of the things that happened, she deserved. To be honest, there were times when I wish she had been more embarrassed, but for the most part it was ok.
"Three weeks ago, no one remembered Wesley James even existed, aside from me. And now he's completely infiltrated my life and somehow managed to brainwash my friends."
pg. 116
I'm sorry for the ranting, but there wasn't anyone that I know that had read it yet and I needed to vent. I haven't ranted this hard about a character for a long time, but sometimes, it has to be done. Hopefully I will like Honeybourn's next character much more.
Overall, I give this

Real rating 2.5 but I rounded up! 

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