Monday, May 26, 2014

Review: The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16068910-the-art-of-lainey
The Art of Lainey
by Paula Stokes
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Publication Date: May 20th 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780062238429
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary
Source: Edelweiss

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be? (Godoreads)
I was really looking forward to starting The Art of Lainey as it has gotten lots of great reviews lately, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. This book definitely did not disappoint, and was a great book to kick of my summer break!

When Lainey’s boyfriend dumps her in the middle of a crowded cafĂ©, all of future plans that she had made for the summer and her senior year drift away. Determined not to let him go without a fight, Lainey and her best friend Bianca set out to win him back, with the help of a book called The Art of War.

To be honest, I didn’t really think that I was going to like Lainey when I first met her in the novel. She was popular and pretty shallow, and there were times in the novel when I wanted to shake some sense into her. Thankfully she grew throughout the book, and I really started to like the person that she was becoming.  I really adored the relationship between her and her best friend Bianca. Even when Lainey was being insane, Bianca was there for her. She was a really great character and such a great friend as well. Their plan to win the boyfriend back was both brilliant and hilarious.

Micah was definitely the highlight of the story for me. He was such a great character, and he was so perfect for Lainey, even though it took her a while to catch onto this. I loved the ‘dates’ that they went on together, some of the places that Micah took her to were insane! The thing that I love most about Micah was that he was just such a caring and all around good guy and you don’t get to see that very often.

The storyline for the book was a lot of fun, and at times, very relatable. (Who hasn’t acted totally crazy after a breakup?) This book is definitely a quick read as well, when I actually had time to sit and read, I pretty much flew through the pages. The romance in the book is really sweet, and the author took time to build it throughout the novel. No insta-love here and that was a pretty refreshing.

The only thing that I really didn’t care for in the book was the teenage drinking. I’m not a fan of drinking in general, but even less a fan of teens drinking, and especially driving after drinking. This was not the main character, but another one of her friends who I didn’t really care for. I am hoping that this part of the novel was just included so that Lainey would finally open her eyes to see what a bad person this friend was, but then Lainey goes on to do almost the same thing, just without the actual driving.

Overall, I found The Art of Lainey to be a really cute read. It will be a great book to add to your summer reading list! I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by this author in the future!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20705736-infinite-repeat

Don't forget to add Infinite Repeat,
a novella from Micah's POV, to your reading list!
Out August 5th!

Pre-Order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble


1 comment:

  1. I'm really looking forward to this one! I'm saving it for a happy read after one of the 'darker' ones. Your review makes me want to read it even more! :)

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