Any Boy But You by Julie Hammerle

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Title: Any Boy But You
Author: Julie Hammerle
Series: North Pole Minnesota #1
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: February 13, 2017
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 201
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Elena Chestnut has been chatting with an anonymous boy late into the night. It’s a very You’ve Got Mail situation, and she has no idea who he is. He can’t be Oliver Prince, hot-and-bashful son of the family running the rival sporting goods store. Their fancy sales strategies are driving Elena’s family out of business. Elena’s mystery boy has teamed up with her in their latest sales strategy, an augmented reality game, to help her win the grand-prize plane tickets. Money’s so tight Elena’s going to miss senior year spring break with her friends if she can’t win this game.

The girl Oliver's fallen head-over-heels for online had better not be Elena Chestnut. She's his angry, vindictive Latin tutor, the daughter of his dad’s business rival, and the one girl he’d never even think of kissing. She’s definitely not his online crush, because that girl is funny, sweet, and perfect.

When Oliver asks to reveal their names at the Valentine’s Day dance, their IRL relationship will either ruin what they have online, or they’ll discover just how thin the line between love and hate really is.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains swearing, snowball fights, and sexual tension that could melt the North Pole. Read at your own risk.

My Review:

3 stars — I am pretty fussy with my enemies to lovers trope stories, and this one was okay, but hit some of my buttons that prevented it from being more than just okay.  Although I did stay up late reading it, so it was compelling!

The problem with this one (for me) is that the hate and meanness lasted longer than I would have liked.  I think at *least* halfway through and I was still getting more snipping at each other, and honestly just appalling behavior.  And Oliver and Elena hadn’t really ramped up their online relationship, so I wasn’t getting enough balance of connection and romance.  I guess I just don’t like to read about people holding grudges, and being mean to each other…I want a little of that to establish the original relationship, and then I want to see that gradual change.

Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed with either MC in this one.  They had good and bad qualities, but I doubt I would have been friends with either one.  Oliver was kinda self-absorbed and obsessed with computers.  We do get a bit of depth with his fear of rejection, and I felt that…but something.  I don’t know.  I just can’t imagine honestly wanting someone else’s business to fail, and it felt like Oliver did.

They were both really caught up in the grudges of their families that had been drilled in from birth.  I guess I can’t understand that and relate.  Elena had isolated herself a lot, and her sass felt a bit more mean-spirited at times (even just with Craig).  I did appreciate that she didn’t dictate to Harper about who she could hang around with — she tried not to let her grudge truly affect anyone else.

By the time we got to see the two of them actually behave nicely towards each other, I was kind of just tired and wanting to see how it was going to end.  I did enjoy the one day where they hung out together — it was actually pretty cute, and I started to feel their chemistry more.  So it wasn’t without redemption.

All the stuff surrounding the grudge, and the stuff with their parents?  I don’t know how I feel about all that.  I almost wish I understood more, and I wish they’d acted like actual responsible parents at some point in the story.

I really enjoyed Harper as a best friend — she was unique, and I appreciated the connections she had with both Elena and Oliver.  And in general the townspeople and fellow students were kind of fun and memorable (and not in a bad way).

So yeah.  Just not my cup of tea.  I have a feeling that for true fans of enemies to lovers, they would enjoy it more.  I’m just a wannabe.  😛