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My Review:Title: Don't Kiss the Messenger
Author: Katie Ray
Series: Edgelake High School #1
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: April 10, 2017
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 285
Genres: Young Adult, Sports Romance, Retelling, Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:For most of her teenage life, CeCe Edmonds has been dealing with the stares and the not-so-polite whispers that follow her around Edgelake High. So she has a large scar on her face—Harry Potter had one on his forehead and people still liked him.
CeCe never cared about her looks—until Emmett Brady, transfer student and football darling, becomes her literature critique partner. The only problem? Emmett is blindsided by Bryn DeNeuville, CeCe’s gorgeous and suddenly shy volleyball teammate.
Bryn asks CeCe to help her compose messages that’ll charm Emmett. CeCe isn’t sure there’s anything in his head worth charming but agrees anyway—she’s a sucker for a good romance. Unfortunately, the more messages she sends and the more they run into each other, the more she realizes there’s plenty in his head, from food to literature. Too bad Emmett seems to be falling for the wrong girl...
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book involves one fiercely scarred girl who wants the new guy in town, the new guy who thinks he wants the new girl, and the new girl who really isn’t sure what she wants, and the misunderstanding that brings them all together. This modern Cyrano de Bergerac retelling will make you laugh, swoon, and fall in love.
4 stars — Well…huh. So, this is another mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I found both Cece and Emmett to be a bit unbearable in their pretention and snobbery…and I’m not generally a fan of seeing my MCs in a romance getting together/kissing/etc with other people (and we saw that from both of them). Though, I mean really, it’s a Cyrano de Bergerac retelling, so it’s kinda expected (even though I’ve never read the story, I know the gist). On the other hand, I read this one straight through, staying up until 3am finishing it. And I totally cried at certain points, and I definitely highlighted a lot of beautiful things. It’s like while I didn’t enjoy some parts, it wasn’t enough to completely ruin the good things about this book for me.
So Cece. I was worried I wasn’t going to like her. And while she grew on me, and I definitely got to see more of her than I’d initially anticipated, she’s never going to be a book girl crush for me. She’s seriously pretentious and snobby, and that was a total turn off. I don’t actually mind if people love literature or weird music or are super into intellectual things…to each their own! But that’s what was missing here. She actually thought herself ABOVE others because of her tastes, and I honestly fucking hate that. I think that’s what’s wrong in this world, where we can’t just let people love what they love without making judgements about them because of it. It was hard to watch the way she treated Bryn. I mean, yeah no…she’s no intellect. She’s superficial. But there was a disdain about Bryn’s attempts at writing that just hurt my heart. And while it mostly came from Cece, Emmett wasn’t much better with his search for more depth, etc. *sigh* Can you tell it hit a nerve? Frankly a lot of what Cece and Emmett wrote to each other had me rolling my eyes, because it feels overdone. But that’s them! That’s what they love!
OK enough. So BESIDES ALL THAT, I thought that Cece’s growth in this story was pretty spot on. She had a big ole chip on her shoulder because of her scar, and while she definitely had to deal with a LOT, and my heart ACHED for her at so many points, I did love that she got some wake up calls about how a lot was what she was projecting into the world as well. When she has that conversation with Tuba, it was just perfect.
Emmett was the same balance as Cece. He had some great qualities, and he had qualities that made me roll my eyes. I ached for what he was dealing with in his grief, and I loved seeing him balance the football with the music. It’s kind of hard to watch him be almost purposely oblivious to the dichotomies of written Bryn vs in person Bryn (since they weren’t both Bryn), but that’s the nature of the story.
I really did appreciate that Emmett mostly saw Cece for who she was and wasn’t bothered by the scar from the start. I enjoyed the friendship that they developed, and that they connected over so many things. And while my romantic heart hated how long I had to wait for them to get there, it was a pretty great kiss in the end.
So yeah. Mixed bag, and the things that bugged me really bugged me…but the good outweighed the bad in the end.
I’m glad that you enjoyed this one as much as you did since it was such a mixed bag.