Adorkable

This book started off so adorably and I was hooked from page one! And I don't know if I can gush enough about how much I loved it, how happy I was when I finished! I loved Becks so much, and I love where his name came from, Baldwin Eugene Charles Kent, and that it was leftover from how they were naming all the kids after their uncles but there were four left! But sigh, Becks, he's like the book boyfriend I would have if I was still in high school and not an old high school librarian. But let's talk about Sally here too. You see, I was kind of like Sally. Totally felt like a nerd, had all the same feelings of inadequacy that she had, crushes on guys like Becks, (although none of them were my best friend). Also I didn't really date in high school. I had a blind date or two set up by friends that totally didn't work out. The banter was cute, the romance was sweet, and I even liked Ash, even if he wasn't going to be the guy for Sally. So many times I was with Sally and wanted to just slap her best friend Lillian who wouldn't quite trying to set her up. So much cuteness and sweetness in this book, I finished with a big goofy smile on my face!

Adorkable by Cookie O’ Gorman is a super cute YA book. 0 cussing, minimal physical touching references, lots of nerd references like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Star Trek, and its super cute love story. I absolutely recommend this book not only because my former dance instructor wrote it but because it's super cute, funny, and an easy 1-2 day read.

Becks and Sal(ly) are too cute. They are best friends and have been since they were kids , but now its their senior year of High School and Sal has a plan to change the constant blind dates her best friend Lilian Hooker keeps setting her up on. Becks is a soccer super star, Sal is a mega nerd, and she loves him... but does he love her??? Only time till tell, but it's ticking fast as graduation nears. Also, which college will Becks choose, and will Sal get into her dream college??

I received a copy of this book in a swag bag for a conference. Although I love reading romances, I don't read YA romances. I liked the cover and I love discovering authors new to me. I decided to give this book a chance. I am so glad I did.

The story is about how Sally Spitz asks her best friend, a young man who goes by the nickname Becks (the initials to his full name), to pretend to be her boyfriend in the hopes that it keeps her mother and best friend from trying to set her up on dates. It's kind of a smart plan on the surface. Of course, problems happen when real feelings get involved.

This storyline is not a new one in the romance genre. It is one of my favorites, though, like "marriage of convenience" plots. O'Gorman writes this very well. I didn't see any editing errors. Sally was an original character with typical teenage angst and interesting quirks. Becks is that stereotypical hot high-school jock who is clueless until it really matters.

The ending felt a little flat. I was also surprised that Sally never confessed to Hooker (her female best friend) about this plan.

Overall, this is a well-told and entertaining story.

#CillasBookManiacs

I am still at the beginning of this book and finding it very hard to get through. There are so many grammatical errors between pages 1 and 42, that I have to wonder if English is this authors first language. Does this book have editors? If so, they should be fired. My favorite of wtf happened in this book goes to the line, “Becks’d run for the hills if I said that to him”. Becks would run is proper English, as you wouldn’t use it as a contraction since it’s an auxiliary verb. This doesn’t even include the wrong use of other auxiliary verbs within the story.For example, the interchange of it and if, during the cheerleader chant of “take it off! Take if off!”

The story is also not only predictable but within the first 42 pages of 300, the author already satisfies the readers need of pointing out both friends like each other. Points out that nerdy girls who don’t dare around are seen as lesbians by their friends and family, or are so repulsive that other guys won’t date them unless coerced by the female’s best friend. So, why should anyone be cheering on the popular school jock to fall in love with his clearly undateable, nerdy, everyone thinks I’m a lesbian best friend?

Save your time and money, find a different book.

Sally Spitz is a geek of epic proportions. She loves it all—Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter. You name it. Her best friend since grade school has been Becks, a soccer master. They have seen each other every day, talked every day, and have been inseparable since they met. But lately, things have been changing.

It’s now their senior year of high school. Becks is the school soccer star, the most popular athlete in the school. Girls all want to be near him. Becks doesn’t have a boyfriend, but her other best friend is trying, along with Sally’s mom, to fix her up. But all Spitz wants is Becks. So she comes up with a great idea—she will find someone to play along as her Fake Boyfriend (F.B.F.) for a month, and then she’ll play up her heartbreak, so that the matchmakers will give take a break and leave her alone for a good, long time.

She tries to come up with the perfect guy to play her F.B.F., and she accidentally stumbles into the answer: Becks. They’re already inseparable, so it’s just a matter of acting like more than friends for a little while and then she’s good to go.

But as the days and weeks go by, the time they spend together and the small touches and kisses start to get to Spitz. Lying to her mother and friends makes her feel small, and she worries that her plan is holding Becks back from all the other girls he could be spending time with. And her heart is taking a beating in the process.

When Becks decides to call off her whole F.B.F. plan, she knows that being honest is the best policy. But is her friendship with Becks strong enough to survive everything she’s put it through? And what will she do with her feelings for him, now that she’s let him go to do whatever he wants, with whoever he chooses?

Adorkable, out in paperback for the first time, is a charming and witty ya romantic comedy with heart in all the right places. Author Cookie O’Gorman has created characters who are interesting, an inventive plot , and more than enough going on to keep those pages turning. I highly recommend this one for anyone craving a good, old-fashioned rom com with a nerdy twist.

Galleys for Adorkable were provided by Entangled Teen (Macmillan) through Edelweiss, with many thanks.

I received an EARC of Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman for an honest review and I'm about to get real honest with you guys!

I mean I know it kind of sounds predictable and like you already know what it's going to happen. Just like one of those books that are all the same, they play a couple, fall in love and stay together. Well, yes that is the case but O'Gorman managed to make this an enjoyable story with incredibly cute moments and so easy to read.

It's no surprise I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

There is just one main issue I have with this book. Sally's best friend and mother.

The whole story wouldn't have happened if they weren't trying so hard to get a boyfriend for Sally. I mean it just made me a little mad that they were like "we just don't want you to be alone forever" the girl is 17 so it was kind of dumb and nonsensical that they were so worried about her dating life at that age.

Beside that, the fact that Sally had to prove to Hooker (the best friend) she and Becks (the male best friend/fake boyfriend) are an actual couple made me not like her at all. She was just not the best for Sally to begin with, obviously things changed as her and Becks became more and more like a real couple not just to everyone else but to themselves, still it was a little sour note on the whole story that Sally needed prove that she had someone in her life.

But over all the story is amazing. It's a whole new take on the friends to lovers trope, yes it's cliché, but in the best way. Becks was kind of the perfect boyfriend because he really wanted to be Sally's boyfriend.

Sally didn't really know how to react to Becks' more than stellar acting, so she got confused and couldn't really handle how her real feelings for him threatened to come out and things got a little complicated.

These two belong together for real you guys. They have love each other since they were kids and now they have a chance to show how much.

Adorkable is swoon-worthy,  fast paced, sweet and romantic story about two teenagers who by a twist of faith start a fake relationship with real feelings toward each other and are left to figure out how to show their real feelings to the other if they want to make this relationship real and long lasting.