Book Review: NOT OKAY, CUPID by Heidi R. Kling

Book:  Not Okay, Cupid

Author:  Heidi R. Kling

Publisher:   Entangled: Crush

Genre:  Romance, Teens & YA

Due Out:  January 11, 2016

Blurb via Goodreads:

Her wicked revenge, or his wicked heart...

Hazel McCallister loves her life. Perfect grades. Perfect best friend. Perfect boyfriend. Until her perfect boyfriend cheats on her with her perfect best friend. Now Hazel’s in free fall—until her best friend’s brother, Felix, gives her the perfect idea. Reclaim her power by taking revenge on her cheating ex.

Felix James loves his life. Casual relationships. Loads of surfing. He’s as drama-free as they come. But he can’t stand by when his sister steals her best friend’s boyfriend, and the dude insists it was Hazel’s fault. So Felix vows to help turn Hazel into a girl her ex can’t resist—so then she can break his heart.

With an alliance in place, Hazel’s revenge is all but assured. But with each piece of payback, she feels a stronger attraction to Felix, even though revenge will turn her into a girl Felix could never be with. And soon Hazel has to make an impossible choice: revenge...or Felix, the boy who’s stolen her heart.

My Review:

Fluffy. Frothy. Shallow. Light.

The story is not unusual.  Best friend cheats with the perfect boyfriend.  Cue devastation, tears, frustration and plans for revenge.  But as with every plot there is always a way to set it apart from others.  This one however, goes with the sea of sameness.  In other words, unimpressive.

Hazel and Felix are very different in that she’s a Type A girl while he is known as the La Playa, as in sleeping-around-with-commitment-issues player.  Yet, written with the two different points of view, they are practically the same person.  Sure Hazel is uptight as Felix is loose, but at the core of it all they are the same.  Which is pretty confusing.

There were many references to 80s movies and current pop culture that makes it so NOW, but it still didn’t distract me from the fact that it’s so long drawn out with the same thoughts, insecurities and questions going over and over and over again, sometimes taking up several pages.  Imagine one thought stretching to seven freaking pages! 

Nope…. Not a happy reader.  I had to flip through many “internal struggles” of the main protagonists just so I can still have the mental energy to finish the book.  It was like going through a loop with no end in sight.  The cuteness of the characters ended for me after the first three chapters, it was just downhill after that.

Much as I like reading light romances and Young Adult fiction, this one just doesn’t cut it.  I’m definitely skipping a reread.

Book Review: DEAL BREAKERS by Laura Lee

Book:  Deal Breakers

Author:  Laura Lee

Publisher:  LAN Fiction LLC

Genre:  New Adult, Romance

Blurb via Goodreads:

How were they supposed to know that one night would change everything?

Devyn has life all mapped out. She just needs to accomplish one more thing before graduating college and becoming a full-fledged adult—lose her virginity. And who better to assist her than her best friend, Riley?

Riley is the self-proclaimed king of fling. His college years have been filled with meaningless hookups until the one night that ruined him for all other women. The one night he spends with his best friend, Devyn. Right before he screws it all up.

Balls to the wall, baby!

Now five years later, Riley is determined to atone for his mistakes and prove that he can be the man that Devyn deserves. Little does he know that Devyn’s been keeping a secret from him all these years. A big secret. Now he has to figure out how to win back the only girl he’s ever loved while navigating the pitfalls of her unexpected revelation.

Deal Breakers is filled with lots of laughs, a sexy romance, and an overflowing swear jar.

My Review:

Fast and Easy reading this book was.  Really fast.  In a way it felt like I was on a marathon without volunteering for it.  The writing itself was fine enough.  I did get curious with the love story and I did like the main characters.   But for the most part I felt like it could have been better had it been longer with more depth to it.  It seriously lacked relationship development and the whole book is one big cliché.  I really felt like the writer was rushing through telling the entire story.  A mad dash to the end.

The story is simple and have been done lots of times.  Best friends fall in love, best friends have sex, best friends have an accident and then some.  Devyn is funny in her innocence.  She is beautiful but with a bit of baggage while Riley is just overwhelmingly hot and stupid.... not stupid the intellectual kind but he was emotionally constipated and hard to read.  Oh so typical right?

So they get it on after being best friends for 5 years.  Then the very next day Riley disappears and leaves her on her own.  Another 5 years later Riley decides the time is finally right to get back with his one true love Devyn (say what?!?) only to find out that she is not just unavailable having a new boyfriend and all, but she also has an extra baggage that looks exactly like Riley, dimples and all! Oh the dilemma!

But like I said, this was an easy read for me.  Not too much drama.  No tears.  No heartbreak (for me that is).  No anger (for Riley’s stupidity). Nothing.  Just clean reading, all zoned out and relaxed for a couple of hours.  I say relaxed but be warned, there is very graphic sex here, though not the Fifty shades kind. 

So if you’re looking for a book you can find some excitement in and finish really fast with every single thing being predictable, then pick this up.