REVIEW: The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris

THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING

By: Rachel Harris

Publication Date: September 30, 2014

According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you’re friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

ABOUT RACHEL

Award-winning and Bestselling author Rachel Harris writes humorous love stories about sassy girls next door and the hot guys that make them swoon. Emotion, vibrant settings, and strong relationships are a staple in each of her books…and kissing. Lots of kissing.

An admitted Diet Mountain Dew addict and homeschool mom, she gets through each day by laughing at herself, hugging her kids, and watching way too much Food Network with her husband. She writes young adult, new adult, and adult romance, and LOVES talking with readers.

Jaime’s Thoughts
The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are only two types of girls at Fairfield Academy… The kind you’re friends with and the kind you hook up with. It just so happens that Alyssa continuously falls into the friend category… just ask her best friend Brandon Taylor.

Aly is determined to jump categories and hook Fairfield’s most notorious player – Justin Carter. He’d be the perfect date to take to homecoming. With just 57 days to turn from tomboy to sexy senior she turns to Brandon to help her by pretending to date her… everything is going according to plan… until it’s not just her pretend relationship in the crapper, but her friendship as well.

I thought this was a really cute read! It was at the top of my list to grab when I got to BEA this year and I’m glad I snagged it! Plus… that cover!!! ADORABLE!

I’m a huge fan of Rachel Harris – I love the characters she creates and the cast in The Fine Art of Pretending are wonderfully done. I felt that both Aly and Brandon were, for the most part, well developed (more on that coming) and I really enjoyed getting to know them!

Friends to more is one of my favorite tropes around and so I had really high expectations for this and I will say that I definitely enjoyed this, even though it probably wouldn’t fall into my absolute favorite for that type of story.

First, there was really only one thing that didn’t work well for me… the story sort of dragged in certain points for me. I felt the first part of the story was a bit slow and filled with a lot of drama that really just slowed the story down for me , but was happy once the pacing picked up a bit towards the middle.

That said, I really felt that Harris absolutely captured the mind of a teen in this one with Aly. She felt authentic throughout and her struggles with the opposite sex were realistic and something I could identify with to some extent.

The theme here… of being true to yourself , is definitely something I think that all of us can identify with and something that is definitely something that teen girls struggle with all the time. While this story isn’t incredibly deep, I thought it was the perfect amount of light hearted contemporary with a bit of a message.

If you’re in the mood for a sweet high school romantic comedy, definitely look no further. The Fine Art of Pretending will provide you with just the right amount of humor and swoon, and characters that you can’t help but cheer for.