e-ARC, 352 pagesRelease Date: October 29, 2019Published by: Entangled Teen
Read from: October 27-, 2019Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW:For fans of: Romance, Contemporary,
This spinoff of The Replacement Crush featuring Amy and Toff is sure to melt your heart.
Shy bookworm Amy McIntyre is about to compete for a dream scholarship, and the only way to win is to transform from sidekick to the heroine of her own life. But that level of confidence has never come easy.
The solution? A competition coach. The problem? The best person for the job is the guy she's secretly crushing on…local surfer celebrity Toff Nichols.
He’s a player. He’s a heartthrob. He makes her forget basic things, like how to breathe. How can she feel any confidence around him?
To her surprise, Toff agrees to help. And he’s an excellent teacher. Amy feels braver—maybe even brave enough to admit her feelings for him. When their late night practices become less about coaching and more about making out, Amy’s newfound confidence wavers.
But does Toff really like her or is this just another lesson?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Lately I've been craving sports romances and this one was right up my alley. And with me being an avid reader, this should've been my favorite book I read this year. But although I liked it, it was still just ok overall.
Booknerd Amy McIntyre has always been quiet, finding solace in books. But when a contest comes up where she might be able to meet her favorite author, she knows she needs to do something to make sure she wins. And the only way to do that is to enlist the help of someone who's used to winning. And that person is Toff Nichols. He's used to winning and Amy needs all the help she can get. So she asks him to be her coach. When he says yes, she's shocked and thinks he won't really help. But as things go on, both of them learn some things, about themselves and each other."You getting ready for another brush with the law, Bonnie? I don't know about you, but I had freaky nightmares about gangster raccoons coming at me with knittnig sticks." His grin deepend. "I Googled 'kniffiti.' You can get twenty years to life for that shit." He tilted his cup toward her in a mock salute. "Hard-core, Ames. Hard. Core."8%
"Not reading novels? She'd never get that. Unfortunately, a lot of guys she knew didn't read fiction, which bothered her, but if she made that a deal breaker, she'd never date anyone. She took another deep breath and called upon her bookish strength"9%
As for the characters, I obviously really liked Amy. She seemed like me lol From the constant reading, to the author as an idol, to the real life shipping, yeah it seemed like me. And then there was Toff. I wasn't a huge fan of his. He did so many terrible things to Amy and it brought back some real life insecurities with liking someone a little popular, but being so scared that they won't like you back because you like books. And although it wasn't quite like that, it still made me feel like that.
"You deserve a prince, not a court jester."10%
As for the romance, I really enjoyed it. I mean I didn't like the up and down of it, but for the most part I did. And I REALLY liked the use and showing of protection. I don't mind sex in YA if it's done tastefully and it shows them using protection. This is what's most important, to me anyways.
"Sweet with a side of smartass was proving to be his kryptonite."22%
And the plot was the thing that bothered me. Since it was going back and forth between Toff and Amy's POV, it was only one half of the plot that bothered me. Amy of course had the simple plot of trying to win the contest. But with Toff, I didn't feel like the author gave us enough back story about her. And then it was all he thought about, but it was all over the place. I know it's just something about me, but I still didn't care for how it.
"Amy sighed. Mr. Darcy he was not. Time to snap out of her fantasy."31%
This wasn't my favorite, but I still really enjoyed it. Anything that has readers falling in love is right up my alley. There's nothing like realistic fiction and seeing yourself in one of the characters. And with Amy, though we still had so many things different, we still had some things in common as well. Hopefully Roberts still has some ideas in mind to show some more teens who read falling in love.
Overall, I give this
