My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“Love is a wonderful thing, my dear, but it leaves you wide open for blackmail.”
----Jasper Fforde, an English author
Chris Cannon, an American author, pens her new book, Blackmail Boyfriend, which is a cute high school love story between a rich guy and a middle class girl, who blackmails the guy to be her fake boyfriend till a certain rumor dies down, but for that the guy needs to face the girl's three elder dominating brothers, and little bit into the mess and fake boyfriend-girlfriend drama, both started to get real feelings for one another.
Synopsis:
Sometimes, blackmail is the only weapon a girl has…
Haley Patterson has had a crush on golden boy Bryce Colton for ages. But when she hears a rumor that he hooked up with her she gives him a choice: be her boyfriend for a month to show other guys that she’s dateable—despite her overprotective and very intimidating brothers—or deal with the angry, cage-fighting boyfriend of the girl he actually did hook up with.
Bryce didn’t know the other Haley even had a boyfriend. He was just trying to get his ex off his back. And now, not only is he being blackmailed, he's being blackmailed by an honor student. His new “girlfriend” has two three-legged dogs, her father mows grass at the country club, and she's…well, difficult. And different.
Can something so fake turn into something real?
Haley lives in the part of town which is not that sophisticated and also she has to work hard to keep up with the family. Bryce is the guy who belongs from the richer part of the town and also with a wealthy family. These two meets at crossroads when one weekend, Bryce hooks up with a girl, who doesn't share her first name because of the fear of her scary and macho boyfriend, so that girl uses Haley's name to protect her identity. Come Monday, Haley realizes that there's a rumor that she hooked up with Bryce over the weekend. Taking advantage of the situation, Haley blackmails Bryce to pretend that he is her boyfriend for a week to make herself look date-able in the eyes of the other guys in school and also to get away from the shadows of her over protecting brothers. Can they ignore the real feelings that started to crept up between them?
The writing style is fine with a catchy narrative style and the author has perfectly captured the voice of a teenage high schooler who is going through lots of drama in both school and home. The prose is articulate with a fast pace.
The characters, especially Haley and Bryce, are drawn with lots of realism by layering them with flaws as well as insecurities. Haley is strong and smart girl yet suffered from her own insecurities, whereas on the other hand, Bryce too started off as a bit of a jerk, but finally got scared about his true feelings for Haley. The supporting cast is also nicely developed, which lightened off the whole plot with their witty demeanor.
The chemistry is cute and sweet, and their love story is like any other first time teenage couple, going on and off constantly. Although the climax was very predictable, yet it was such an entertaining read that kept me engaged pretty much the entire time.
Verdict: If you fancy reading cheesy contemporary YA stories, the go for it, otherwise, skip it.
Courtesy: I received an ARC from the YA Bound Blog Book Tours.
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Author Info:
Chris Cannon lives in Southern Illinois with her husband and her three dogs, Pete the shih tzu who sleeps on her desk while she writes, Molly the ever-shedding yellow lab, and Tyson the sandwich-stealing German Shepherd Beagle. She believes coffee is the Elixir of Life. Most evenings after work, you can find her sucking down caffeine and writing fire-breathing paranormal adventures or snarky romantic comedies.
Connect with Chris on:Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook
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This sounds like an awesome book! Thanks for sharing, I'm looking forward to reading it :)
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