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Title: Blackmail
Boyfriend
Author: Chris
Cannon
Genre: Young
Adult, Contemporary Romance, Humor
Series or Standalone: Standalone
Rating: ★★★★★
No matter where I go genre wise with my reading,
there is always one place I always come back to. A place that feels like home.
Familiar and safe. And that is the Young Adult genre. Whether it be paranormal,
contemporary, horror. You name it and I’m usually all over it if I can find the
time.
Blackmail Boyfriend was the book that I found in
yet another return to the young adult realm and one that now, having finished
reading it and not just basing my excitement on a synopsis, I’m so glad that I
found.
I’ve never read this author before. And as much as
it pains me to admit, until I came across this story on NetGalley and requested
it, I’d never even heard of the author, so I had no idea what to expect going
in. Other than getting a YA read.
This author pleasantly surprised me. The writing
style was ripe with humor, fast paced and to the point and just plain fun. I
think she captured the teenage brain quite nicely and I found myself engaged
the whole way through.
I would like to be able to say that this book
falls into a niche, like there is one particular plot device that is used here,
(think like Cinderella…poor girl, rich guy, magical happy ending) but that
would be doing the book a disservice. There are a lot of different things going
on here that come together beautifully in the telling of how Bryce and Haley
came to be.
Rich boy, working class girl. Guy who plays the
field and the virgin. Sports star and the girl who volunteers. So many
different things came together here to create a really great young adult, first
love romance.
It all starts with a rumor. Yep, you guessed it.
Haley happens to share the first name of the girl that this rumor happened
with. A girl that also has a boyfriend. So in an effort to combat the rumor and
the resulting judgments that the rest of the teenage populace make, as well as
save Bryce’s butt from getting taken out by said boyfriend of the girl he was
actually with, Haley blackmails him into being her boyfriend.
Negotiations ensue, friends are thrown into the
mix and eventually, as time moves on, real feelings develop and the pace at
which all of this happens was brilliant. It wasn’t like “Oh, I’m gonna
blackmail you today and fall in love for real tomorrow.” It took quite a while
for these two to admit there was more going on and I think that’s what I liked
most. If it drags on too long, I’d get irritated, but this happened at just the
right speed.
Now I would hate myself if I didn’t talk about the
best part of this book. The humor. I
knew there was going to have to be, given the story line, but the levels this
author and characters took it was amazing! I haven’t laughed so much, smiled
like a goober so much in so very long that I almost forgot what it felt like. It
was such a refreshing change from what I’m used to reading and executed
perfectly.
The other characters in the story, the best
friends, normally you would expect them to stick to the background as the real
focus was on Haley and Bryce but that’s not what happened here at all. I found
myself loving them just as much as I did the main characters and well all I can
say about Jane is, I need her in my life so I can get some cupcakes too.
Fantastic addition.
If you’re a fan of young adult, contemporary
romance or just plain humorous, realistic style writing in general, this book
is for you. I only hope that you see the beauty in it that I did and enjoy just
as much, if not more.
Thank you so much Entangled Publishing, the author
and NetGalley for letting me get the chance to read this book. I loved every
second of it. Outstanding!
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