[Blog Tour] [Review] Any Boy But You (North Pole, Minnesota, #1) - Julie Hammerle

 

Summary: Elena Chestnut has been chatting with an anonymous boy late into the night. It’s a very You’ve Got Mail situation, and she has no idea who he is. He can’t be Oliver Prince, hot-and-bashful son of the family running the rival sporting goods store. Their fancy sales strategies are driving Elena’s family out of business. Elena’s mystery boy has teamed up with her in their latest sales strategy, an augmented reality game, to help her win the grand-prize plane tickets. Money’s so tight Elena’s going to miss senior year spring break with her friends if she can’t win this game.

The girl Oliver’s fallen head-over-heels for online had better not be Elena Chestnut. She’s his angry, vindictive Latin tutor, the daughter of his dad’s business rival, and the one girl he’d never even think of kissing. She’s definitely not his online crush, because that girl is funny, sweet, and perfect.

When Oliver asks to reveal their names at the Valentine’s Day dance, their IRL relationship will either ruin what they have online, or they’ll discover just how thin the line between love and hate really is.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains swearing, snowball fights, and sexual tension that could melt the North Pole. Read at your own risk. (Pub Date: Feb 13, 2017)

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

What seemed to be a convoluted plot made for a nice romantic comedy.

Elena sees her family business go down the drain when their rivals for generations create a new game that becomes a craze in their small town. When she decides to give the game a try, she meets someone, a new friend. And she has no idea it is Oliver, the very creator of said game. Oliver is just too socially awkward and now he is grounded, without his computer until his Latin grade go up and forced to be tutored by the rivals' heiress, he can only check for bugs from a dummy account, where he unknowingly starts sharing secrets with none other than Elena.

While I knew this used the anonymous letters trope, I hadn't noticed the rival families one as well, and in the beginning I wasn't so sure all this could work—it didn't help it initially made me believe that above all, best friends would compete for the same boy but I was fortunately wrong. I was very wrong about many things for this book.

To be honest, this isn't a full 4-starsbut more of a 3.5. It is still close to average. But there is a different flavor to much of it. For example, Oliver's personality was surprising to me. He is super awkward and even though he was able to create an app game that was the town equivalent of Pokémon Go, his grades at school are basically C's, and he's failing Latin. In other words, far from the brainy cliché I expected. And oh my, is he cute! I wanted to adopt him even when he misbehaved. This was a book that made me believe the character flaws, which is rare in YA's and in romances in general, in my opinion.

The family rivalry bit wasn't as big as I had thought it would be. It is essential to the plot but the author didn't waste my time proving her point. In fact, she didn't waste my time at all. This book had a quick pace that could have made me read in one sitting had I had the time when I started.

In all, I don't think this can be fully enjoyed by those who aren't into romance. Nonetheless, this is a good YA I don't want any fan of YA's or romance missing.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Any Boy But You (North Pole, Minnesota #1)
by Julie Hammerle
Publication Date: February 13, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen Crush

Link to Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33863703-any-boy-but-you

Purchase Links:
Google Play | BAM | Amazon | Indies | B&N| Kobo | TBD | iBooks

Giveaway Information:
One (1) winner will receive a signed copy of The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle (US ONLY)

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Check this Tour Schedule!
http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/tour-schedule-any-boy-but-you-north-pole-minnesota-1-by-julie-hammerle/

About the Author

Julie Hammerle is the author of The Sound of Us, which will be published by Entangled Teen on June 7, 2016. Before settling down to write "for real," she studied opera, taught Latin, and held her real estate license for one hot minute. Currently, she writes about TV on her blog Hammervision, ropes people into conversations about Game of Thrones, and makes excuses to avoid the gym. Her favorite YA-centric TV shows include 90210 (original spice), Felicity, and Freaks and Geeks. Her iPod reads like a 1997 Lilith Fair set list.

She lives in Chicago with her husband, two kids, and a dog. They named the dog Indiana.

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