Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Being Friends With Boys


Terra Elan McVoy

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Pages: 368
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult/Chicklit
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble




Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more. 

When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.


The blurb is so completely off from what this book is about its actually kind of funny. It's what the first third of the book is about. Then there's more to it. I liked all of the stuff not mentioned though. It was a light and fluffy book with funny scenes, but there was still enough seriousness for it to be a good book. Good books always have a perfect balance of humor and sincerity and this book has it.


The ending you can see coming just by reading the blurb, but still, it was cute.

I loved Char as a main character. She was real. She was strong without being one of those girls that say whatever's on their mind (that really aren't as common as books make them out to be), but she had a spine. I like how her weight wasn't used just as something to make her "different". It actually played into her struggles in the book and it was very well done.

To be honest, the rest of the characters were nothing special. Trip and Oliver were cliche and as much as I loved Sophie and Fabian, they were typical. I did like how she had a step-mom and step-sisters and they got along. The evil step-sisters thing is way over done.

The only thing I don't understand is the cover. It has nothing to do with the book. Ever. It's an okay cover, not a standout among a lot of the beautiful covers filling the YA shelves. It's nice and simple, but not one that sticks with you.


It was a pretty good book. If you're looking for something to read this one last beach weekend, I would recommend picking it up, as Being Friend With Boys is refreshingly different. It's a great light read that won't take you much time to get through. 



Other Books by Terra Elan McVoy

The Summer of Firsts and LastsPureIn Deep

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