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My Review:Title: How to Win a Breakup
Author: Farah Heron
Published by: Skyscape
Release Date: March 21, 2023
Format: eARC
Pages: 332
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 1, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:
Blurb:An “it” couple’s breakup becomes a sporting event in a deliciously charming novel about the games people play in the name of love.
First, math genius and gamer-nerd Samaya gets dumped by her boyfriend. Then he sabotages her job and hooks up with her frenemy. What could be worse? Clearly, her golden-boy ex is winning the breakup. The only way Samaya can get some rebound cred is to find someone new. Even if she has to fake it.
At a volunteer bake sale, Samaya meets a sweet opportunity. Daniel is a handsome hockey jock and a whiz when it comes to lemon squares and brownies. And he agrees to play along. Quid pro quo. He’ll pretend to be the boyfriend of her dreams if Samaya helps him pass calculus.
This may well be the recipe for the best revenge, but Samaya has no idea how complicated it will get. As they whip up an imitation romance, and a bumbleberry pie, resisting each other’s very real charms proves impossible. Samaya finds herself on an unexpected journey of secrets, self-discovery, and the true meaning of moving on.
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
3.5 stars — I had a hard time choosing whether to round up or down. So basically this was a solid 3.5 stars whichever way I land. *snort*
The thing is I haven’t been reading many YA books lately, and I think I forgot about the drama that comes with, you know, young adults. I don’t think it was over the top or unrealistic in this book, it’s just hard to read sometimes you know? I did appreciate that because Samaya is engrossed in all this drama and allows it to take up so much room in her life, we actually get to see her come to some understandings about how harmful that can be, and she does learn and grow a bit as a result. That was nice to see, and something I think teens need to read about. To see how being wrapped up in their own drama can cause them to lose sight of the things happening in other people’s lives, as well as to gain perspective.
Saying all that, the drama was still a bit hard to take. Hence me waffling on the up or down. Samaya has a lot of tunnel vision, and it takes her a bit to get there. But at least she does make strides. In the end I don’t quite know how I feel about Samaya. I appreciated seeing her grow, but I still felt like she wasn’t the most empathetic person towards the people in her school. I do get that Devin was a total tool, but I’m kind of dismayed that she never really got that he probably missed her friendship. Not saying she should be friends with him, but an understanding would have been nice you know? Same with the way she saw Hana. I felt like there was gray there and she never figured that out.
I was a bit confused about where the plot was going a lot of time. I had one idea of how the story was going to go with her gamer friend and Daniel, and then it all went in weird other ways. I did figure some stuff out before the end, but not everything. It was kind of complicated, almost a bit too much going on in the plot.
The absolute highlight in this book was Daniel. He was total book boyfriend material, and I adored him from moment one, even as I was confused about who he was. I loved how dorky he was, how passionate about the things he loved, how compassionate, how kind. He was an absolute star, and I could have read 10 books about him.
So yeah. A solid YA, probably a bit too much drama for this adult reader, but still enjoyed my time with these two.
ps — a super smart nerd in Canada can love hockey too…just saying.
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