I thought I would do a combo review since I just finished the third book in Julie Hammerle’s series. All my reviews are a bit short, but these books are cute reads.
Summary from Goodreads:
Elena Chestnut has been chatting with an anonymous boy late into the night. It’s a very You’ve Got Mail situation, and she has no idea who he is. He can’t be Oliver Prince, hot-and-bashful son of the family running the rival sporting goods store. Their fancy sales strategies are driving Elena’s family out of business. Elena’s mystery boy has teamed up with her in their latest sales strategy, an augmented reality game, to help her win the grand-prize plane tickets. Money’s so tight Elena’s going to miss senior year spring break with her friends if she can’t win this game.
The girl Oliver’s fallen head-over-heels for online had better not be Elena Chestnut. She’s his angry, vindictive Latin tutor, the daughter of his dad’s business rival, and the one girl he’d never even think of kissing. She’s definitely not his online crush, because that girl is funny, sweet, and perfect.
When Oliver asks to reveal their names at the Valentine’s Day dance, their IRL relationship will either ruin what they have online, or they’ll discover just how thin the line between love and hate really is.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains swearing, snowball fights, and sexual tension that could melt the North Pole. Read at your own risk.
My thoughts:
This is the second book I’ve read by Julie Hammerle and I enjoyed them both. Any Boy But You is a cute romance. Oliver and Elena are kids of two families that hate each other. The feud goes back a long time and the kids are taught to hate each other. Oliver creates a game and Elena starts playing. They have user names and they start talking to each other online, not knowing who they are talking to. Both of them start falling for each other and then learn their true identities. I really loved Oliver who was a bit socially awkward.
Summary from Goodreads:
It’s not chemistry between Tinka Foster and Sam Anderson that made them agree to fake date. With her parents trying to set her up with an annoying student golf coach, and intentionally single Sam’s family pressuring him to bring a date to his brother’s wedding, they could both use a drama-free summer.
So it’s not his muscular arms and quick wit that makes Tinka suggest they tell everyone they’re both taken. Definitely not. And it’s not butterflies that makes a kiss for appearances during the lake party go on way too long—so long that Sam wishes it were real.
But Tinka keeps people at arm’s length—she’s always been second best, even to her parents. And her relationship-for-show could crush everything when she realizes she’s done with fake, pretend, and second-best.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains bikinis at the lake, a lot of making out in dark theaters, and a meet-cute you’ll read twice.
My thoughts:
Artificial Sweethearts was a cute, quick read. Sam was the sweetest boy and I adored him. There were some moments when Tinka got on my nerves, but I ended up really liking her, too. The movie references were a lot of fun. What I really love about these Entangled Teen books is that they are just so light and mostly happy. It’s great to have these to read in between some of the more serious books.
Summary from Goodreads:
Danny Garland is so out of Holly’s league. And her family is only back in North Pole, Minnesota, long enough to sell Grandma’s house and say “Merry Christmas.” So telling her basketball-star, too-hot-to-be-real long-time crush that she’d like to kiss him under the mistletoe just isn’t going to happen.
And now he’s asked out her cousin, Elda. Elda is a mess at flirting, so when she begs Holly to intervene, she does. Holly helps her flirt with him over text. And then again. And again. Now she’s stuck texting him as her cousin, and Elda is the one going on the date. Holly thought she could settle for just conversation with Danny, but talking with him is some kind of magic. He’s got the perfect comebacks, she makes him laugh, they text until everyone is asleep.
She just can’t ever tell him it’s her he’s really texting.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book has hot texts, gingerbread wars, and a slow-burn romance that could melt a Minnesota winter.
My thoughts:
This was another super cute book in the North Pole, Minnesota series by Julie Hammerle. I love that there are always cameos from other past characters in the series and this one didn’t disappoint me. Dinesh, Craig, Tinka, Sam, and others all had parts. Some more than others. I adored Dinesh in this one.
Holly is a cool artsy girl, but had low self esteem. She is curvy and a bit nerdy and that definitely affected her thinking. Plus she had a bad experience with a guy friend she liked in the past and was afraid to put herself out there again.
Elda is beautiful, but super weird and awkward. She’s the girl all guys drool over, but she’s into dead things and plumbing.
Danny is the cool sporty guy. But after he breaks his leg, he has no idea who he really is. He’s no longer the jock and his girlfriend of six years dumps him.
Holly and Elda’s grandma died and they’re only in North Pole to take care of things at her house. But Holly decides to enter the gingerbread contest she and her grandma always entered when she was young. That is where she first met Danny and fell for him. He was nerdy back then and she was in love.
However, because Holly is too afraid to be hurt, she decides to set Elda up with Danny. Who does that? Holly might be the kindest person ever, even if she frowns a lot. I loved how she was an introvert and awkward in person. Holly wasn’t perfect and I prefer that in a contemporary.
As with all the Entangled Teen romance books, there is a huge lead up to a romance and this was a fun one to get to.
I gave each book 4 stars and received them through Netgalley (Entangled Teen) for review.
Confessions of a YA Reader 