Alexis Bass grew up in Washington, went to college in Arizona, and spent her early twenties in Seattle. She currently lives in Northern California with Dylan McKay, her gorgeous and rambunctious golden retriever. She loves good fashion and good TV as much as a good book, and is a huge advocate of the three C’s: coffee, chocolate, and cheese. LOVE AND OTHER THEORIES is her first novel.
Love and Other Theories by Alexis Bass
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
I will start this review by saying I enjoyed the story behind Love & Other Theories. After scanning some of the reviews, I am a bit unsure about how my review will be received but I have to say, just because I disliked the characters (and trust me, I did), I wasn’t willing to give the story a lower star rating because I though Bass did a great job in developing the storyline and yes, the characters – because they all definitely changed over the course of this story.
The book digs into the lives of Aubrey and her best friends who just happen to live by a set of rules that in the end are supposed to help them avoid any type of high school heartbreak. While in theory it was a half-way decent plan, they all tended to take things too far in my opinion. Especially when Aubrey finally connects with a boy who is new to their school and due to the code, Aubrey can’t really admit her feelings to anyone.
My initial impression of the four friends (Aubrey, Shelby, Melissa, and Danica) is that they all care about each other but Shelby definitely runs the clique. She initiated the rules behind the Theories and she is the one that everyone defers to throughout the book. Aubrey is the main character and right away I was led to believe that she was putting on a show for everyone. We are introduced to her in Drama class and I found her to be only slightly better than her friends as far as personality. Underneath her popularity she is smart and hides her feelings about a lot of things. I personally wanted her to stand up to Shelby a lot sooner than she did and because she chose to follow the code versus what she really felt, she hurt herself in the end.
Shelby is Aubrey’s best friend and I admit, I liked Aubrey better when Shelby wasn’t around. She was manipulative and even after what she did to Aubrey (sorry – can’t say as I don’t want to give it away) she didn’t even apologize. As a character, that completely falls into line with who she is and what she believed but if she were truly a best friend to Aubrey, she would have recognized how Aubrey felt and not done what she did.
Trust me, I know how vague that sounds and I hate myself for it too but when you read this book you will completely understand that entire paragraph.
Nathan Diggs is the new boy and he gets a pretty nice welcome his first day to school as he ends up cutting class with Aubrey and they quickly get close. It was interesting to see Nathan change from his first day to when they all graduated because in my mind, he became a completely different person. He seemed to be this sweet boy and I was so hopeful for these two.
While a lot of this story covers the parties, the make out sessions, skipping classes, and things of that sort, it does delve into this idea that relationships in high school are not lasting and there is a pessimistic approach to them from these girls. Ultimately it all came about because Shelby got burned by her feelings for a boy and now they are all detached from developing any sort of lasting relationship with a boy because they have this idea that it will never last. Of course, their proof is the fact that they haven’t had any broken hearts since the rules were implemented but considering none of them had had any “real” feelings for the guys they dated, it isn’t surprising to me that now that Nathan is in the picture, things are changing…at least for Aubrey.
I have to admit, the most likable character in this whole book (for me) was Trip. He was Aubrey’s non-boyfriend when she was a junior and when he left for college he didn’t even look back after saying goodbye. Out of nowhere, he comes back to her for some help and he is the one that ends up being there when she needs someone to lean on.
I have to say that I’m not a huge fan of any of the characters in this book and for someone who typically finds a character to support and cheer on; it was hard for me to adjust. With that said, I do think the story told here was interesting and if you are looking for a book that isn’t a soft, fluffy romance, you might enjoy this one.
Thank you to Harper Teen for the review copy.
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