Wasted Words by Staci Hart

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Title: Wasted Words
Author: Staci Hart
Series: The Austen Series #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: May 19, 2016
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 349
Genres: Romance, Retelling, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Retellings Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Some universal truths refuse to be ignored.

Peanut butter and jelly are a match made in heaven. Spaghetti and meatballs are best friends forever. And guys like Tyler Knight don’t go for girls like Cam Emerson.

She knew from the second she met him that he didn’t belong on her bookshelf, the six-foot-six ex-tight end with a face so all-American, it could have sold apple pie. So she shelved him next to the supermodels and rock stars and took her place on her own shelf — the one with the flannel-clad, pasty-faced comic book nerds. Most of her boyfriends have existed between the pages of books, but rather than worrying over her own lacking love life, she puts all her energy into playing Cupid, using her job at the book bar, Wasted Words, as her stomping ground.

Tyler Knight always looks on the bright side. His career-ending injury turned into a job as a sports agent. A horrible breakup led him to Cam, his quirky, smart roommate who is far more beautiful than she realizes. She’s made it perfectly clear she’s not interested in him — not like that at least — but if she ever changes her mind, he won’t hesitate. Because he doesn’t see the lines she’s drawn between them, as much as she insists that they’re there. Deep down he knows that despite their differences, they’re a match well made.

*A romantic comedy inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma.*

My Review:

3.5 stars — I will admit that I have not read any Austen books, including Emma.  But as I was reading this book I realized I did know another Emma retelling really well: Clueless!!  It helped to have that in the back of my mind in some ways, to sort of acknowledge certain aspects of the story that were likely inspired by the original.

I really enjoyed certain aspects of this story, but there were others that I kind of lost interest in.  This is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Hart, and I think we might not be a reader/author match, just in terms of her style of writing.  In general I enjoyed it, but there were little things that didn’t work for me (you know, things that are hard to articulate).

Tyler was a pretty swoony book boy…I mean, until he was a bonehead, but I guess Cam doesn’t get a monopoly on that (more on that later).  I really loved that he was a nice, good guy — almost a beta boy, MY FAVE.  He was sweet, considerate, funny, endearing, earnest…just an easy guy to fall in love with.  I ached for what happened to him in the past, and at least some of that explained his continued friendship with Kyle.  There were things he did/said that made me stand up and cheer, but there were also things that felt…not quite out of character, but a little forced I guess.  In particular the way he behaved in the conflict.  It didn’t feel authentic to me, more like just forcing the plot to go where it must.  But at least it didn’t last forever.

Cam was…Cam had these fabulous moments, but in general was very frustrating to read.  Ironically, perhaps not for the same reason as other readers.  I actually enjoy a good ugly duckling type trope (even though this is more about class/cliques than appearance), so I wasn’t completely bothered by her super low self-esteem.  I appreciated that her backstory explained why she was quite so vehement about her shelves stuff.  I think it was the back and forth that wore me down — it was like one too many times of her being in, and then doubting herself.  It got to be that even I wasn’t understanding her anymore.  I loved that she was this super unique girl, happy to fly her freak flag in general, and passionate about the things she was passionate about.  I didn’t mind her matchmaking in general, but the Martin/Bayleigh stuff was hard for me to take (so much second hand embarrassment).  Honestly, if I hadn’t remembered about Clueless, and was then reminded of Tai and Travis, I probably would have had way less patience.

As for the two of them together?  Outside of all the back and forth angst, I actually thought they were super adorable together!  They made me laugh, their initial steamy scenes were pretty hot (the last one was strangely boring), they were just plain cute.

Lots of fun secondary characters in this one, from all the folks at Wasted Words, to Jack, to Tyler’s family.  They definitely added some colour.

I’ll probably round up in the end, though this one was harder to decide.  I was initially leaning towards rounding down, but writing out this review left me with a better taste in my mouth, so I’ll go with it.