by Emily McKay
When your life feels like a bad movie, rewrite the script.
When Willa Schofer’s father comes home from a business trip with an über-famous new fiancée, Willa’s senior year blows up in paparazzi-fueled flames. Overnight, she has a new house, a new car, and a new soon-to-be stepbrother–the unbelievably hot, unbelievably arrogant, Finn McCain. Thank god he’s constantly pushing her buttons, or she might do something irresponsible. Like fall for the jerk.
Just when Willa’s decided to avoid him for, oh, ever, Finn lands in the center of her senior project team. Seriously–how hard is it to shake a guy? At least her work on the project snagged the attention of the (second) hottest guy in school. He might only be into her because of her famous stepmom, and he’s not quite as exciting as a certain annoying housemate, but at least she’s allowed to crush on the guy.
Because crushing on your annoying stepbrother? So not cool.
I adored Willa. She’s snarky and fun, wants to be a writer, thinks of herself as a “Damien (the guy she’s crushing on) anthropologist” (because she watches him from a distance, not interacting with him out of fear of scaring him off, LOL) and loves The Lizzie Bennett Diaries! What’s not to love? I highlighted so many of her internal dialogues, just because they made me snort laugh:
Oh, wait? Am I supposed to be able to form sentences again? Like, functional conversation and stuff?
(After “Hot Biker Guy” holds her hand, introduces himself, and gazes into her eyes.)
“Mia said you practically fled the restaurant.”
“Huh. ‘Fled’ sounds a little judgy. I prefer the phrase ‘moved with stealth and dignity.'”
(She totally fled.)
His eyes are blue. Oh, I can’t actually see the color of his eyes. It’s too dark for that. But his eyes are definitely blue. Guys like this always have blue eyes. The better to pierce our souls with.
(Preach it, sister!)
Seriously, we’re like kindred spirits.
Ms. McKay uses a first person POV for Willa and third person for Finn, which makes us feel closer to Willa. We’re privy to all of her innermost thoughts and feelings, snark and insecurity and all, whereas Finn still manages to keep a few secrets…though of course we know a few of his secrets as well. Growing up the son of “America’s Sweetheart” isn’t easy, and the poor guy hides so much behind his cool facade that I just wanted to give him a hug half the time.
Okay, maybe slightly more than half–and especially hard at the end. 🙂
Finn and Willa have way more in common than either of them know (including that pesky attraction to each other!)…though hopefully that will change in the next book.
Out in November. (Sigh)
Can’t wait! 🙂
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Emily
McKay is a life-long fan of books, pop-culture and anything geeky. She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and baking cookies. When she’s not kicking-ass and scooping cookie dough, she’s watching videos from Screen Junkies (her favorite Youtube channel) or Pemberly Digital or Classic Alice. Okay, she has a Youtube problem! She’s seeking help. Really. Though, she may also have a slight problem with procrastination.
When the internet is down and there are no chocolate chips in the house, she does write books – everything from Harlequin romance novels to post-apocalyptic YA. Though her interests may appear broad, the common denominators are swoony heroes and snarky humor.