was pretty damn adorable,
Nolan is such a cute dork, and his absolute cluelessness is only forgiven by his zero experience in relationships, Bern is too sweet, he kind of wears his heart on his sleeve and come on Nolan open your eyes!
So I knew where the plot was going but had the best time reading this anyway.
I loved the lack of insta anything, the moments building up to feelings and the appropriate awkwardness and angst that fake dating promises,
I also really loved the family dynamic showed with Nolan's family, I'm unfortunately closer to the age where I say this is the type of family I am going to have I'm onlyshut up than thinking of myself as the teen and wishing this was the kind of family I had either way the Scheffers were beautiful to see in action.
I was anxiously waiting for this book, I really enjoyed Goslees First book whatever, This one was not as much of a winner for me as her prior book, While I enjoyed the humor and quirkiness of the main character I found this book to meander quite a bit, The story had. so many side characters all going different directions but I couldnt connect them all together, I felt like the MCs were not fully fleshed out for me, Enjoyable not fantastic rep: adopted gay mc, bi Jewish li, poc lesbian side character
you can just tell that goslee writes fics, . like, she gets it, you know she gets how fake dating is supposed to work, how pining is supposed to work, . .
ugh this is just kisses fingers like a chef Rating:,Stars
I felt the same way after finishing this book as I did when I finished Goslee's debut, Whatever extremely happy,
Once again, Goslee crafted a fabulous male protagonist, who I fell in instalove with, Nolan was lucky enough to be adopted as a teen by the hilarious and lovable Sheffield family, He loved art, his cat, plants, narwals, his family, and keeping out of the spotlight, but, his sister, Daphne, had other plans for him, When she staged a promposal for him, which went sideways, Nolan came to an agreement with Bern, and they embarked on a fantastic fauxmance,
I am always game for a fauxmanceromance, and this one had all the elements, that make this trope so deliciously delightful, We had the minimakeover, the awkward introduction to friends and family, as well the staged closeness needed to sell it to the general public, But, we also had all those feelings that never fail to surface during any fakedating stories, I must admit, I was excited every time there was any sort of romantic stirring, heightened emotion, or cute banter between Bern and Nolan, because, gosh darn it! I really liked them together.
In addition to the romance, the book featured a fantastic supporting cast, As I previously mentioned, Nolan's family was stupendous! I loved all the competitive gaming, the movie nights, the waffles, and just the genuine love and affection that permeated their home.
I think I suffered from the warmfuzzies every time I was in their presence, and that's a feeling I always want to experience,
I also loved seeing Nolan grow, This fauxmance was great for him, because it pushed him out of his comfort zone and forced him to branch out, As he widened his circle of friends, he learned a lot about himself, and was definitely better for having fakedated Bern,
Overall: This was a hilarious and heartwarming story of friendship, family, and fake dating which kept me in stitches and grinning from ear to ear.
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review,
sitelink BLOG sitelink INSTAGRAM sitelinkTWITTER sitelink BLOGLOVIN sitelinkFRIEND ME ON GOODREADS if you're going to do a very classic trope in a basic and predictable way it has to be VERY well written and this just fell flat and superficial to me idk I can't even! So cute! This is just a feelgood afternoon waiting to happen.
Drama, but nothing ridiculous or even that serious, and lots of comedy with great characters and adorable scenes, Loved everything about it except the repeated references to fake dating tropes, which really pull you out of the story, . . which is exactly what you DON'T want to happen when you're reading feelgood, escapist romcoms, But again, well worth the time and money! HOW NOT TO ASK A BOY TO PROM is a cutesy, laugh out loud, fakedating LGBTQ YA contemporary that somehow both surprised and delighted me and also felt a little.
. lacking.
Googling "how to fake date" since I obviously have no idea how to read date, either brings up a treasure trove of fanfiction that I bookmark for later, but is otherwise super unhelpful.
There are a lot of things at play in Goslee's book and because we're only given vague explanations it skips along as if we're already in the know and therefore doesn't bog us down with a lot of backstory or any flashbacks whatsoever.
We're excused from much of the drama and yet I feel like as a result some of the impact is also lost,
For the record, I am nothing like a hipster at all, I have an appreciation for art that sometimes includes the absurd, but my outfits are born out of incredible laziness, not any sense of style, All my ugliness is a sideeffect of being too tired to care,
That said, this was pretty adorable and I laughed constantly, The narrative is witty even if we have yet another totally clueless protagonist, I feel like had this been padded with an extra hundred pages, fleshed out some of the characters and situations, maybe tidied up some of the ambiguous bits that kind of frustrated me, this would've been an easy four.
Highly enjoyable. As it is, it's pretty damn sweet but not quite everything I wanted, Would definitely read the author again though,
.stars
I received an ARC from the publisher thank you! in exchange for an honest review, The dreaded miscommunication!!! But without it we wouldn't have this book, There was little drama, that could have been avoided by talking!!! Talk, people! It's important!
The usual fake dating trope worked well with mysterious Bern and super naive Nolan.
I found both of them pretty cute,
The story is simple, the characters were fun, the side characters were a big part of the story, as were the families Nolan'smore than Bern's, and the love storyline made me finish the book without putting it down.
Sweet!
I liked it! Things to know about Nolan Grant:
xloves plants
xartist
x“summer baby, has a hardon for narwhals, attached at the hip to Evie Cho, sucks at
drawing faces, wants Purdy to drop dead,” description by Bern
xcant say no to his sister
xlike at all
xwould even fakedate bad boy Bern because his sister made him ask out his crush because she broke with her boyfriend who Nolan didnt ever truly like so but now she needs to fix Nolans lovelifeor lackof.
Nolan Grants life consists of hanging out with best friend, Evie Cho, Secret AwesomeArt Club day, Ground Zero, art, plants, and Narwhal, Theres also daydreaming about GSAs President Si OMara, That is until his sister, Daphne, signs him up for her SAT prep course, gets him to join Art Buddiesand ask out a guy for prom if not shell ask a guy.
So, what is a guy to do when your sister decides you HAVE to have a prom date AND creates a glittery poster, gets you where your crush will be, pushes you inside the room filled with people
Choose the best answer:
a.
say noshe is NOT the boss of you,
b. laugh and back out slowly from said classroom
c, freak out
d, take up badboys, Ira Bernstein, offer he acts like youre asking him
Well, the best answer might be a or b or even c, but not for Nolan Grant, our “handsome lonertype with overstyled hair and a goofy laugh” description by Evie he, of course, chooses the D ha, Im so funny option.
And, honestly It is the best option, And so, let the fakedating commence,
“I like plants, ”
Berncracks up.
He goddamn giggles, burying his face in hands, I have to save his soda from getting shoved off the table, ”
Even Nolan googles fake dating, Which he finds a ton of fics that tell him he will slowly fall in love and has to share a single bed when they visit a hotel because everything else is booked up.
“Theres a flush on the tops of his cheeks that I kind of want to press my thumbs to, Thank god my hands are full, ”
If youve ever read manga youll know that theyll call each other by their last name, and when their first name slips or they want to try how their first name tastes in their tongue theyll usually be a ton of flailing about and blushing galore.
Well, not to spoil it, butthere might be some of that herejust saying,
“To think about how right about now Bern usually drags me into the bathroom, how well touch without really touching, and how my skin always tingles when we dont actually fucking make out.
I curl my fingers into his and lace them together, ”
This book does contain one amazing fakedating romance, but it is an allaround enjoyable read, I love how much Nolan loved his sister even if she did meddle in his life, a lot, And Nolans and his family were so amazing, Im ready to be adopted, too, His dad hosts singalong Teen Beach movie night with singing sheets! How cool is that And they do game marathon days, Like, can it get cooler than that
The fakedating Deliciously ficworthy! And theres more to the story than you might think,
I especially loved the character development with Nolan, This is a guy who was kind of comfortable with how his life was, but when given a chance by his sister he goes along with it.
Grudgingly, but he does it nonetheless, And theres a lot of growing for him to do, I loved that his character felt real, He wasnt this perfect character, instead, hes someone who viewed things in a certain way and finds out that perhaps he was being harsh with others, I promised itll make sense once you read it, I just loved that sometimes we might not realize were doing asshole moves because we see things from our perspective,
“Bern, set up next to me, pushes his foot into mine, He says, “Going soft, Grant” and, crap, maybe I am an asshole”
Note: I read this about a week ago, but every other day I keep thinking back on it and how I just need fanfic on them If that doesnt tell you that is amazing as I am saying it iswell youre going to miss out.
BUT DONT MISS OUT ON IT!
“I could say its because of how the sun onhis face males his eyes look nearly black and his mouth this deep ruby red.
”
Note that all quotes are taken from uncorrected copy and might be subjected to change
For more of my reviews visit me at sitelinkThe Written Voice of Is.