One
of the Guys
Author: Lisa Aldin
Series: -
Pages: 320
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release date: 10th February
2015
Synopsis: (Goodreads)
Tomboy to the core,
Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and
burping contests over manicures. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the
Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a
"lady" while the guys move on without her. Then Toni meets Emma
Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her
friends as a pretend date. Word spreads of Toni s connections with boys, and
she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for
fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life
at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine s Rent-A-Gent Service. But the
business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends--the same guy
who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on
the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old
life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love."
Review:
2 ½ out of 5 stars
When a small prank goes wrong it lands our
MC Toni ‘McRib’ Valentine in an all-girls school, she believes everything is
about to change with her small group of friends – all boys, she tries
everything to keep them together but their dynamic is changing and her friends
are moving on.
Toni was a sweet character but came across
as a little immature, she was seventeen and holding on to her childhood, I felt
the book came across as quite juvenile; the silly prank, believing in a lake
monster and then her ‘business’ of setting up her friends with girls from her
school to make some money and bring them together unfortunately didn’t work for
me. I did enjoy seeing Toni mature throughout the book and learn to accept
change.
I wasn’t sold on Toni’s
Rent-A-Gent service; it was a little far-fetched and as you can imagine didn’t
come without dramas; her plan to connect her best friends with her new life at
school wasn’t the most solid plan but at least a new friend – a girl named Emma
came from it.
The secondary cast - Ollie (Luke),
Cowboy (Justin) and Loch (Micah) were
each interesting, I liked reading about their childhood and their close knit
bond, the friendship aspect was done well. The romance wasn’t at the forefront of the story and was slow
to build and really cute.
Overall, One of the
Guys is written well and is an enjoyable coming of age story, I feel it would
be suited to the younger YA audience.
Thank you to Spencer Hill Press via Netgalley for the
opportunity to read and review One of
the Guys.
