Jennifer Echols

This book was utterly predictable and very superficial, but I enjoyed it enough to power through it. I read it without having read the prior book, and I didn't miss anything.

Harper was an interesting character with some dimension to her, but she definitely wasn't as 'unpopular' as she seemed. She started off being this super cool girl who sewed her own dresses etc., so I was a bit disappointed when she got contacts and a bikini and lost some of her originality. However, her drive was admirable.

I felt like she did play into gender roles a little too heavily at points. Kennedy is a total bleeeeep and I have no clue why she dates him. Her whole idea of beauty seems a little off, and Brody being the big football star was very cliche.

I also found myself rolling my eyes at points because I felt like Echols tried overly hard to make this an 'accepting' book by throwing in the token gay couple, but their whole big scenes felt very artificial to me.

The interactions between Harper and Brody were probably the best parts of this book--they were fun and flirty, and I enjoyed the bantering that took place.

I won't be reading the third book since I can basically predict everything that will happen now. Nonetheless, this book was a good way to kill time.… (mais)

BIGGEST FLIRTS ****

Plot:
Tia has a very clear idea of what she wants, and that is no responsibility whatsoever. That she will become the drum captain pretty much by default for her senior year is a major drawback in that plan. But the start of the school year is still a week away, and meanwhile there is Will – new guy, freshly moved to Florida from the Midwest. They hook up, but then Tia realizes that Will would rather become serious. And she doesn’t do serious. But since he also plays the drums, it’s not like they can avoid each other. Not avoiding each other leads to friendship and to a whole lot flirting. When they are actually voted Biggest Flirts for the yearbook, things become awkward indeed.

I really enjoyed Biggest Flirts, especially Tia who is an unusual protagonist for a young adult romance. The story is well-paced and cute. Overall, it’s just really fun.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2022/08/06/biggest-flirts-jennifer-echols/

PERFECT COUPLE ***

Plot:
Yearbook photographer and introvert Harper can't believe it when the voting results for the senior year superlatives come in and she won "Perfect Couple That Never Was" with star quarterback Brody. Who would ever think to pair the two of them together when they couldn't be any more different? But once the thought is out there, Harper can't help but consider Brody. This is only made more awkward by the fact that they are both dating other people. Well, more or less. Harper's boyfriend Kennedy is constantly picking fights with her, and Brody likes to keep things casual. But as the two of them try to figure out what exactly their class had been thinking and how to take the obligatory photo for the yearbook, they discover that people may have been onto something with them.

Perfect Couple was a superquick read (half a day of being out sick from work and I was done), and a very sweet one. I think I might have been a tad more in love with Biggest Flirts, the first novel in the series, but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the hell out of this one.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2022/08/17/perfect-couple-jennifer-echols/

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED **

Content Note: racism

Plot:
Kaye has always been a high achiever, just like her boyfriend Aiden. They are both on the student council (he as president, she as vice-president) and it will be a close call who of the both of them will become valedictorian. In any case, they will apply for Columbia together and their life is pretty much laid out from there. Only that recently Kaye hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Sawyer, bad boy, class clown with a difficult family history and an uncertain future – in short, the complete opposite of Aiden. As circumstances – and friends – keep pushing them together and they become ever more flirtatious, Kaye starts to question the plans for her life.

Most Likely to Succeed, or rather Kaye and Sawyer as a couple, have been teased since book one in the series, so there was some anticipation on how things would play out, and I have to say that it was fine, but it didn’t blow me away, unfortunately.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2022/09/16/most-likely-to-succeed-jennifer-echols/… (mais)