Review: He's With Me by Tamara Summers

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Scholastic (Point)

Spoilers?: No.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 Just in time for summer comes the perfect beach read! Humor and romance abound in this fresh, fun take on summer love.

Lexie has always had a crush on Jake, her brother Colin's best friend. But she knows Jake thinks of her like a sister, and has never made a move. But when beautiful alpha girl Bree McKennis sets her sights on Jake, he has to come up with a plan to turn her down...without incurring the wrath of the most popular girl in school. That's when Colin comes up with the plan: Lexie can pretend to be Jake's girlfriend. But Lexie has never had a real boyfriend, let alone a pretend one! Can she manage to convince Jake that they're meant to be...and avoid getting killed by Bree McKennis?

Review:

This book was… pretty much average to me. I’ve read some of Summers’ other books, and both were perhaps better than this one. Although, I read them both a while ago, so maybe I’m blurry on that.

This book, and others like it, tend to be lighthearted, fluffy, girly, romance-centered, no heavy plot, very fast to read (I read it in less than a day). Somewhat stereotypical. They’re like adult romances, only for little girls. You know, no sex, no grown-up problems, nothing real serious. Which, sometimes is alright, or what you’re looking for. And I used to read them all the time, but I think I prefer the more adult ones now. Which, really, shouldn’t have surprised me.

This book was about Lexie, who is crushing on her twin brothers friend Jake. For some reason, everyone likes him, because he’s so cute and whatever, even though he hangs out with Lexie and her brother, who no one seems to really care for. Anyway, Lexie and Jake end up going to the same camp over the summer, taking Tennis lessons and playing pool volleyball. And then the popular girl from their school starts liking Jake, and a boy at the camp starts liking Lexie.

The book was enjoyable, for the most part. It wasn’t bad. It was just very light, nothing heavy, pretty stereotypical, very predictable. It started with no surprise and ended with no surprise. One thing that bothered me, is that it seemed like it could have ended so much earlier. I've read one-shots online, one chapter long, with this type of storyline that were much shorter. It didn't seem dragged on, there was just more story where there didn't need to be. More of the characters not thinking the other one liked them, or didn't like them enough, when there didn't need to be. 

I didn’t feel too much for the characters, although I could have. The relationships that formed could have been really good, been done really well, but were too light and easy, with not much under the surface. Lexie and Sally could have been really close, and I love twin sibling relationships, and this one wasn't done badly... There just wasn't much there, when there could have been.

I still have a bit of a soft spot for these type of younger chick-flicky books, but will probably read more of the adult ones. So, yea. Just alright, mostly.

Review: Secret Santa by Sabrina James

Rating (Out of 5): 3 

Publisher: Point

Goodreads Synopsis:

A tale of love, romance, confusion, and Christmas perfectly timed for the holiday season.

Noelle, a hopeless romantic, just knows that her gifts have to be from her senior crush! And geeky Froggy thinks the game is the perfect way to get super-popular Celia to fall for him...except she thinks his gifts are from Jake, the school's resident bad boy, and starts to crush on him! Romantic mishaps abound, but all is revealed the night of the Winter Dance, where there's more than one surprise waiting under the mistletoe!

Review: 

 

First of all, this is a girly Christmas story. It's a little immature, childish, and exaggerated. There are way too many exclamation points used, for instance. I read it several years ago, and I enjoyed it. It's full of fluff and not a whole lot of substance other than cute romance. I know this, but I still mostly enjoyed it.

It jumps around to several different points of view. And it's centered around a secret Santa thing their school is doing. (Do schools actually do this kind of thing? I feel like most people wouldn't have the money for it, which sucks, but it would be awesome.)

There's Noelle, who likes Charlie but is Ryan, his younger brother's, secret Santa. She's a very crappy Santa to Ryan, but things work out. There's Lily, Noelle's best friend, who's just recently been cheated on by her then-boyfriend, Jason, and has now decided to take a break from relationships. She gets Connor, and ends up getting what his best friend, Simon, likes. And there's Celia, who's just moved here and ended up hanging around with the popular girls, Amber and Shawna, but who is not very materialistic and doesn't know how to get closer to Noelle and Lily and away from Amber and Shawna. She gets Jake, who she's been crushing on, while Froggy, her nerdy lab partner who is crushing on her, gets her. Shawna gets Dennis because Amber decides they need older boyfriends, but she likes Connor, her actual boyfriend. Amber chooses Charlie, wanting to steal him from his girlfriend. (Does that sound complicated? It wasn't, in the book. Sorry, if it is.)

Those are the main characters, but there are also a few smaller roles thrown in. Like Mindy, the gossip. And David, Froggy's best friend, who goes for what he wants despite the rejections he receives.

Quite a bit happens, plot wise. As in, several of the characters have to do some growing to get what they want. And there are a lot of mess ups and complications with the presents and relationships.

Despite the over-exaggerated way of the book, it was still good. What I was expecting from a short, girly book, really. It was fun. I liked Celia and Froggy most; I liked her predicament with wanting to be away from the popular, mean girls and be friends with the nice girls, and Froggy was adorable. But I like the nerdy types, so I'm partial to him. Lily and Simon I liked second most, after them. I wasn't a big fan of Noelle and Charlie and Ryan, mostly because I didn't like what Noelle was doing. That was just stupid and not okay. Amber I did not, as I was supposed to. Most of the others were mostly just okay, I guess. But I did like the variety of characters that are shown.

I don't know why, but I like these kinds of books. I've read some of James' other books, and liked them about the same as I did this one. Despite the not great, over-exaggerated writing, I do enjoy them, quite a bit. They're just romantic, fluffy, and good.