Cover Image: Her Book Boyfriend

Her Book Boyfriend

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Member Reviews

Thank you, Netgalley, for an advanced e-book copy of this story! All opinions are still my own and are not influenced in any way.

Her Book Boyfriend by K.R. Grace is about an overachiever in school named Macey Greere who realizes she's never dated. To find herself a date to the upcoming prom, she's developed a list of tropes that book characters do to get themselves a boyfriend. If she doesn't get someone by the time prom rolls around, she'll end up going with her best friend, Cam.

This book was initially very slow, but once I got a feel for all the characters, I really enjoyed it. It's a very light, fluffy read. It's much along the lines of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, but unique in its own ways too. It's fun having a main character with a fascination for books. You didn't get to see how much she really loved books, though. She mentioned them maybe three times. You'd think that'd be mentioned more since that's the main idea of creating the list.

Cam was a total sweetheart, and he was probably my favorite character. At first he comes across as just this guy who sleeps around with no qualms and gets his best friend to do his dirty breakups so he doesn't have to deal with them. Basically, he sounds like a total jerk. But the further you get along in the book, the more you end up rooting for him.

I do have issues about how naive Macey is, but I can't get into too much detail because that would spoil the book!

Definitely pick it up if you want a fun, light read.

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I made the mistake of reading some reviews on Goodreads. I've seen criticism of both lead characters, but the good news is that I didn't seem to have the same problems with the book that others had.

Her Book Boyfriend is about a girl named Macey who is a book-loving, studious type of girl. Her best friend, Cam is in a popular teen band and often uses Macey to break up with his latest girl of the week. Macey's never been in love and desperately doesn't want to graduate high school without experiencing a relationship of her own.

Macey makes a list of the plots from her favorite books. Altogether, she ends up with a rather spectacular list of favorite romance tropes. She begins to target boys to test out her plots on. It's often awkward and cringe-worthy, but it pokes a little fun at the romance world while moving Macey closer to her ultimate goal.

As Macey moves through her list, it becomes obvious that something is troubling Cam. At first, it seems like Cam just has some family drama that is weighing him down, but you soon realize that he is not as excited about Macey's list as she is.

Macey's path to romance in rocky and filled with pitfalls. People get hurt and bad decisions are made, but in the end, she succumbs to my favorite trope. And I'll let you read the book and see which one that is.

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This was my first K.R. Grace book and I loved it. The story is very captivating and very well written. The characters are well written en very real. This book is official one of my favorites now.

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Look - this book was one of those feel good Hallmark movie type of books that you just wanna cozy into and not move until the idiot girl realizes she's been in love with the boy right in front of her all this time. This book filled me up with laughter, tears, joy, and a longing for a love story like Cam and Mace's. I loved this story and it's characters. (I think Winter was my fave tbh) and I can't wait to see what K.R Grace has in store for us next!

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First of all every thing about this book calls out to every bookworm out there, the cover, the blurb, the title. The title did it for me right away and reading the blurb definitely solidified for me that I just had to read this!! All my favorite tropes in one book, yes please!!! I'm so glad for getting a copy of this. I loved reading it, it was a super fast read, it made me laugh out loud several of times, several!! I found it so funny and cute, even with some of naive and stupid high school cliches and all, the book was great. I loved Cam a lot even though I thought he was an ass throughout the whole book .

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Macey is a smart, super intelligent, sweet and loyal girl. When she comes across the last year of highschool, decides to get a date to take her to the prom. As she struggles to get a boyfriend, she resorts to a list she set up based on the heroines of her favorite writer. What she did not realize yet is that right next to her is someone who would give anything to be her company.
Cam is the kind of inconsequential guy who has dated almost every girl in school. With his air of rockstar, he only gets a time with the girl at most, and asks poor Macey to end the affair in his place. Cam keeps Macey from his secrets and suffers when he thinks that she deserve better than the affection that her friend has for her, but he does not even think about giving up this friendship, instead he wants to show the girl who is the ideal book boyfriend for her.

The story is very cute, the characters are well built and the plot unfolds easily by swallowing the reader. At first, I was very annoyed with Cam and his whole manwhore, but then I began to realize all the crazy things that he does for Macey to realize what was important to her life.
I just did not favourite it because sometimes the information and events got a bit confusing in passing from one chapter to another and even Cam sent confusing signals to his best friend. The writer also did not define what was really in her mind when she is writing and it made me a little discouraged. Also want a more slowly and detailed end of how the long awaited prom has been.
3/5 stars

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The opening of this book was confusing because it is so poorly written. That set the tone for the rest of the book. It feels like the book was developed by taking every mildly successful YA theme and cramming it in. Macey fails to demonstrate her supposed intelligence over and over again. She has some serious issues with her own sex. There's so much slut shaming, sexual objectification of women and the worse kind representation of the LGBT community. Cam is supposedly so into his best friend, but treats her like crap and has her do his dirty work. None of these characters appealed to me and I had to force myself to keep going to provide this review.

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This was so lovely! First of all every thing about this book calls out to every bookworm out there, the cover, the blurb, the title. The title did it for me right away and reading the blurb definitely solidified for me that I just had to read this!! All my favorite tropes in one book, YAS PLEASE!!!
I'm so glad for getting a copy of this. I loved reading it, it was a super fast read, it made me laugh out loud several of times, several!! I found it so funny and cute, even with some of naive and stupid high school cliches and all, the book was great. I loved Cam a lot even though I thought he was an asshole too throughout the whole book but I also knew that he was a good guy beneath all that crazy. And I mean, the way he always was with Macey, swoon!!! I wanted more Cacey in the end, there wasn't enough of them as a couple and for that reason I cannot wait to read 'The Hollywood Boyfriend'.

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It wasn't as good as I hoped it to be. While the story premise was sound, the plot and characters had let it down severely. Macey is supposed to be smart and nerdy, armed with a list to help her find a date for prom. The bet was not really a great idea to begin with, but the more I read the less it makes sense..It was a disappointment overall for me

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I thought this book was funny with a sort or relatable main character. Even with an odd friendship that I cant imagine I still find the overall idea of the book cute.

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Thank you for allowing me the chance to read this.

He Book Boyfriend was cute. It had its problems (such as the representation of feminism and Wen Li being a Chinese name rather than S. Korean) but it's a story that you really shouldn't take seriously.

It was predictable admittedly. But that doesn't make it bad; just that there will be no unexpected twists.

All in all, it was a cute story and I look forward to reading more from this author.

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copy received for review
This is a young adult read. High school age characters. Macey is a senior in high school and has never been kissed. Her best friend is Cam and he is the school rock hero. He seems to have a different girl every week. She feels like high school is passing her by and she needs to experience a few things before college. Se comes up with a list from a romance author on how to get the perfect guy. What follows is one misadventure after another. Cam is there to clean up each mess. They seemed to be your typical HS kids. Worried about dating, prom and what happens in their world. Probably a little to young for me.

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I had great hope that this would be a romantic comedy. I didn't really find it funny at all. The main character is just ridiculous and socially awkward.

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Thank you so much to Buoni Amici Press via netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of Her book boyfriend by . Her book boyfriend will be released on August 25, 2017

"well, while you get your kicks behind the bleachers and on car hoods, I get my in books. Don't judge"

Mace desperately wants to go to prom with the perfect guy but her standard are too high, fictionally high. So Maces best friend Cam dares her that if she cant find someone that fits her book boyfriend material then she has to go to prom with him. Mace goes theough all of the things she needs in a boyfriend that corespond with her book boys.
Mace has a guide on how to catch a guy, thinking that everything fictional characters like obviously real boys would like too, this was going to be easy how hard could it be to be A damsel in distress, Hard to catch, Not parroting, Hot enough that he has to compete for you, Playing hard to get, Getting a make over, Good romance, arranged dates, and my favorite faking your way to love...
Mace is in over her head but maybe she will get something better then fictional.
Mace is smart and not viewed as very pretty so she is in my mind the "ugly" friend that helps the popular, gorgeous star. Thats how i pictured her, low self estee and hiding in her books. So when forced to get out of her book she was lost.

Her book boyfriend was very similar to mine when i was younger and how i acted about boys in books and in real life and sometimes now to this day i will be so in love with a book that one of the characters is like my boyfriend the way i talk about them.


I really liked the conversations all the characters had, some times in books or movies they try and make teenagers seem more mature than they actually are and I really like that this book kept all the characters their own age and have them say stupid stuff and just real conversation that made this book more enjoyable and more realistic to read. I also really enjoyed the writing style. She had the funconversations but she also gave descriptions about the characters, their interactions and their school experience so neither was over powering which made the flow nicely.

It was a cute, quick read and i really enjoyed this new take on the typical prom/high school experience.

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‘Her Book Boyfriend’ tells the story of Macey who desperately wants to find a boyfriend she can take to prom with her. Unfortunately, that proves more difficult than she thought. But Macey loves reading and so she decides to go through her favorite author’s books and write down 10 steps, she think will most certainly help her find the perfect book boyfriend in time for prom.

I was very intrigued by the synopsis of this book because, let’s be honest here, don’t we all sometimes wish our favorite book boyfriends were real people? That’s why I was very excited for this novel and was really hoping I would end up liking it.

It definitely turned out to be a very cute and romantic story which made me smile a lot. ‘Her Book Boyfriend’ was also a very quick read, and I finished it within a couple of hours. Due to the fact that it was such a short book, I also feel like a couple of things that would usually bother me in young adult romance books, didn’t really bother me at all while reading HBB. One of those things was the fact that the female main character was sometimes a little too naïve. I usually don’t like it when teens that are almost of age, act like twelve-year-olds in certain situations. But like I said, since this book was only about 150 pages long, I could easily ignore things that might’ve usually bothered me and was able to really enjoy the story nevertheless.

There were also a couple of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in my copy of the book but I think that was because I was reading an ARC and I’m sure that will be different in the actual finished copy of this novel which is why I won’t let this influence my rating.

All in all, ‘Her Book Boyfriend’ was a cute and quick read and I really enjoyed it. It’s one of those books that will just make you smile a lot and will make you happy which is why I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

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I didn't really like the main characters and therefore the central romance didn't work for me at all.

*ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review*

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Macey is very smart, she’s the best student at school and is apparently very beautiful too but she doesn’t know it because no one sees her since she’s the best friend of the school’s sex god, Cam.
But prom is around the corner and she really wants a date with someone who cares, who loves her.
Enter the list.
Since she’s so smart, she decides to make a list of tropes to get her perfect boyfriend out of her favorite author romance novels...

I was expecting a sort of Kasie West contemporary or something like Jennifer Echols Superlative series…
But no.
Disappointed doesn’t begin to cover what I felt.
First of all, the list:

"Wendi Cooper’s Guide to Catching a Man
1. Every man loves a damsel in distress
2. A lady worth having is hard to catch
3. If a man wanted a parrot, he’d buy the bird
4. Men love to compete against each other
5. If Men Aren’t Working for You, Try Batting for the Other Team
6. A Makeover is the Way to a Man’s Heart
7. Every Good Romance Starts in the Bedroom
8. Arranged Dating -It’s Still a Thing
9. Date Your Best Friend’s Sibling
10. Fake Your Way to Love"


I mean the sexism in this is astounding.
Macey needs a new favorite author….
Also, there’s nothing I hate more than a character calling themselves smart and everyone calling them smart but that it never shows in how they act. Well this was a textbook case.
Or a character that is called a bookworm but is never reading…

There was so much sexism in this book… Slutshaming and also this kinda thing:

"“So, if a girl said a guy was bothering her, would that bring out your protective instincts?” I blurted as soon as I sat down in my usual seat. “Hello to you, too.” Cam smirked. “Why are guys supposed to have protective instincts?” Teagan blinked, looking up from a piece of a motherboard he was tinkering with. “Because it’s their job to protect women.” I nodded indignantly."


I mean… She’s so smart!

Now onto the LGBT+ representation…
First :
"“I’m not a lesbian. I’m undecided.”
“Same thing.” He waved her off."


I don’t think I need to comment on this…. It speaks for itself.

Then, Macey decides to ask this girl, Neyland out:

"“So, um, Neyland, would you be interested in going out this Friday? Maybe catch a movie or something?”
There, I’d said it. My heart was doing the cha cha in my chest. Then she laughed.
My face flushed hot as embarrassment weighted down in my stomach. “Um, what’s so funny?”
She waved me off as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you, but you’re so straight, you couldn’t be gay if you wanted to.”
Anger replaced embarrassment. “What the hell does that mean?”
“The first day I met you, my straight-dar said you were not one of us.”
“Straight-dar?”
“Yeah, the internal indicator that tells me if someone is straight or gay,” she said between laughs. “I’m sorry. I know I should get control of myself.”
It took her several deep breaths before she regained her composure.
“If you were gay, I’d totally date you, but you’re not.”"


This makes me so angry. Besides the fact that you cannot tell people what their sexuality is, there’s more sexualities than gay or straight……………

And finally, after Macey follows some guy in a basement, he starts commenting on her clothes and then:

"He shrugged and stuffed his hands into the front of his pressed khaki pants. “I’m merely stating the truth. You are definitely a dress and cardigan type. Very simple and classy. I will give props to whoever did your hair, though. The lightened color really makes your eyes sparkle.”
Oh. My anger quickly subsided. It made sense now."


Yep. Thanks to that supersmart brain of hers, she just figured out he was gay. I’m not even gonna start explaining why that’s not ok.

I hated all the characters. I already went over the main one (stupid, sexist, etc..) but now, her best friend, Cam.
I mean Macey keeps telling us what a great friend he is.
And that’s true. Such a good friend who keeps asking her to break up with every girl he hooks up with for him...
I couldn’t stand him.

It was also filled with clichés and I do mean FILLED.
To me, it’s only quality was how short it was………….

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I just couldn't get into the writing style :/ Had to mark it as did not finish. I'm sure this book would be great for others that could actually get into it.

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4 ★★★★ – Short, but Super Sweet

Her Book Boyfriend by K.R. Grace is a light, fun and super sweet YA romance. I was immediately drawn to this book because of the cute cover and the title. Then I read the synopsis and I knew this story would definitely be right up my alley… and it most certainly was!

I didn’t realize how short this would be, but it was absolutely charming. I started Friday night hoping to read just a few chapters before going to sleep. I had planned on stopping before midnight since I was going to Disneyland Saturday… BUT this book obviously had other plans because I could not stop reading. The plot was a bit predictable – the usual friends to lover stories and you just know they’ll eventually end up together. Nevertheless, I found myself swooning and smiling throughout the story. I was having so much fun that I didn’t even realize when I was almost done and I was definitely not ready for it to be over.

Macey and Cam completely stole my heart. Macey is a booknerd, a little quirky, and the ultimate girl best friend a guy can have. She’s smart, caring and VERY patient. Cam is adorable and definitely made my heart melt. He’s the hot boy band player type of guy every girl wants, but really only has eyes for the girl he thinks he doesn’t deserve. Watching Macey and Cam become more than friends was so cute and endearing!! The only thing that irked me is this weird scene towards the end with Macey’s possible book boyfriends. I felt like it was too much and didn’t make much sense or maybe unnecessary…I definitely thought the story could have done without that scene.

I’ve never read anything by K.R. Grace before, but I enjoyed this one so much that I’m excited to check out her other books. The romance is super sweet and adorable. I definitely went to sleep with a dorky smile on my face.

If you’re looking for a quick, fun and enjoyable story with witty and lovable characters, then do pick this up when it comes out!

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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3 “BFFs and Book Tropes” Stars

ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you!

I'm going through a BFF to lovers phase, and as soon as I soon this book on NetGalley (the cover is pretty adorable) and read the blurb, I wanted it.

For me, this was supposed to be the story of how Macey, bookworm and one of the smartest girls in school, started using her romance-book-tropes expertise to find herself a boyfriend, but instead ended up falling for her best friend. Two things to get me salivating: a romance-loving main character and BFFs falling in love.

Those two elements were present, but I didn't love the execution.

I thought it took way too long for Macey and her BFF, Cam to go from friends to more. For 70 or 80% of the book, Macey had shown no signs of romantic feelings for Cam, because she was too busy going through her romance-tropes list, making silly choices or worrying something else entirely. There was too much going on.

I understand the entire point of this story was to focus on book tropes, but I was expecting a more critical approach or at least something more refreshing. I didn't like how a lot of things were handled here.

First, I didn't approve of how the author tried to insert diversity, but didn't do a good enough job staying clear of poor, cheesy characterisations and, at times, got a little too close to offensive. Wen Li's character was probably the worst one.

I also wasn't a fan of how Macey called out the girls Cam dated and dumped, or how all the guys she dated ended up being horrible. What? None of them could be nice? It felt like a way to ensure the only decent romantic interest was Cam, and he wasn't all of that, either, but Macey didn't have a problem with it.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike Cam. He was okay. I felt for him when his family problems came to light. I thought he was adorable when he interacted with his sister. And I loved how he cared and respected Macey, but he had his problems, and since Macey seemed to find a problem with every other guy she dated, it would've been a little more believable if she had been able to see Cam's problems, too.

Since the romance kicked in so late, we got to see a lot of the frienship between Cam and Macey, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. They were fun together and they gave off that vibe only long time friends could, which means the author did a good job building their friendship.

Their dynamic as friends and the fact that this was a quick read was probably why I'm giving this a positive rating. The lack of romance and the representation issues are why I'm not rating it higher.

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