Tuesday, July 18, 2017

The Replacement Crush by Lisa Roberts - OPTIONAL

Roberts, Lisa Brown The Replacement Crush, 347 pgs. Entangled Publishing, 2016. $9.99. Language: R (88 swears, 4 "f"); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.  

Vivian is looking forward to school starting, hopefully with a boyfriend.  She just spent the last few weeks of summer with Jake, her long time crush.  She hasn't told anyone about Jake except her best friend, Jaz, who insists that he is using her for a little last minute fun, but Vivian believes they had a connection.  So she prepares carefully for the first day of school to look her best.  Much to her dismay, it's as Jaz said it would be, he completely ignores her and, when cornered, says it was just a bit of kissing and didn't mean anything.  Vivian feels like such a fool.  What she needs is a replacement crush to get her mind off Jake, but isn't interested in getting hurt again so she decides to channel her inner Vulcan and take the "zing" out of finding someone by applying only logic.  Of course, that means excluding the cute, nerdy guy that her mom just hired to help out in the store.   Jaz just shakes her head and tries to remind Vivian that isn't how love works. 

For those readers that like a contemporary romance, this fits the bill. Vivian is kind, has good friends, and loves her romance mixed with a little science fiction.  While there are a few overly dramatic moments, mostly it is a cute story with plenty of swooning, longing looks, and a few surprises.  Also, the characters do take time to get to know one another which I appreciate.  There is nothing explicit on page but they are in high school so there is some innuendo, passionate kissing, talk of sex and an attempted assault.  Near the end the author amps up both the language and the violence which pushes the book to  HS only. 

HS -OPTIONAL. Reviewer: RB

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