Sunday 3 November 2013

Switched by Cassie Mae

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Humour, Romance
Publication Date: December 2nd 2013
POV: Female - First-person, Present tense.
My Rating: 3 out of 5

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Ever since high school, Kayla has been crazy for gorgeous football player Talon. But before she could muster the courage to tell him, he became a hot item with her beautiful BFF, Reagan. The only person who knows Kayla’s secret is Wesley, Talon’s best bud—and he’s got it bad for Reagan. Now they’re all in college together, hanging out 24/7. For Kayla, seeing the two lovebirds together is absolutely unbearable. So Kayla and Wesley hatch a plot to drive them apart before Talon has a chance to give Reagan the Christmas gift she’s been waiting for.

Soon enough, the once happy couple is fighting. Reagan suddenly can’t get enough of Wesley’s goofy sense of humor, and Talon seems to be paying more attention to Kayla than a guy who’s “only a friend” ever should. But just when everything seems to be falling into place, Kayla and Wesley accidentally spend a night together and discover a hitch in their plan they never considered: that switching partners may not lead to a perfect ending after all.

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This book still had Cassie Mae's writing style, great humour, and cute characters, but the whole concept and the story just did not work for me.

So, to start out, there is a love-square. Reagan and Talon are together, but Reagan's best friend, Kayla, is also in love with Talon. And Talon's best friend, Wesley, is also in love with Reagan. So Kayla and Wesley get together and make a plan to break up Reagan and Talon and steal their best friends' significant others. Horrible people and worst BFFs of all time? Yep.

So not only was this a horrible plan for moral reasons, but its pretty obvious from the beginning that Kayla and Wesley have great chemistry. So I could see from a mile away where this was going to lead, even though I hadn't read the blurb before starting the book.

The best part of this book was definitely Wesley. There is no denying that Cassie Mae is great at creating adorably awkward male characters with great senses of humour. Her books are for people who enjoy realistic stories with real guys. Her books don't have larger than life, too-good-to-be-true love interests. Every scene with Wesley was worth reading, and I enjoyed seeing him and Kayla falling in love. But it just took too damn long!

Even while Kayla was thinking, "Has Wesley always been that cute? Why does he give me butterflies?" she still refers to Talon as her soul mate. It really got tedious after like 20%. Not only was the obvious shouting in their faces, they were pretty much admitting it to their own faces, and still not realizing what it was they were admitting! Gah! I wanted to pull my hair out. And at the end, they both admit that they want each other several times more than they ever wanted Reagan or Talon. Yet they wanted Talon and Reagan enough to fight dirty for them. To come up with their evil plan. Yet they never really fought for each other until now. It didn't really make sense.

Then of course there is the little twist. [I cant really believe that Reagan and Talon planned everything. It was ridiculously far fetched. And they would have to be like the best actors of all time to fool their best friends for months. And Reagan was seriously bawling her eyes out when she "broke up" with Talon. Did she fake that too? Its just too much for me to swallow. Not to mention the fact that it is almost as evil as what Kayla and Wesley did. They only get a little credit for the fact that they had better intentions. But if my friends ever fooled me so completely, plotted and lied and put me through so much pain on the hunch that we would make a good couple, I would have crucified them. Not to mention how stupid and embarrassed I would feel. Seriously, maybe I am just not a good person, but I think if I had gone through that, and even given that I did end up with the guy they were trying to force me on, I don't think I would ever be able to be friends with them again. Setting friends up on a date, maybe lying about it being a group outing, and then all opting out at the last minute, that's one thing. But this level of deception is not something I am ok with. ]

Not to mention the fact that I hated Reagan. She was so annoying! And kind of a bitch. Seriously, what did either of those guys see in her? Although Kayla clearly belonged with Wesley, I could still kind of see her with Talon. He was a nice guy. But Wesley or Talon with Reagan? Not really.

This book is listed as NA, but I am listing it as YA. Even though the characters are all in their first year of college, it reads like a YA, and the immaturity level is pretty extreme. There is nothing graphic either. Lots of making-out, but that's it. I really would have loved this book if it was about Wesley and Kayla in a completely different scenario. And I still really look forward to reading How to Date a Nerd, because I really enjoy her writing style.

“I love my best friend’s boyfriend. But I swear, I saw him first.”
 

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