Cover Image: Her Book Boyfriend

Her Book Boyfriend

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Not a very memorably YA contemporary. I didn't find Cam very likable, and actually, I didn't find most of the characters very likable (especially the guys Macey dates.) Things I wish were in this book: more character development of main and secondary characters, more believable romance, and more emotion.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35898879-her-book-boyfriend

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I enjoyed this book this was the first book that I have read by K.R Grace and I will be reading more of her work in the future because of how much I enjoyed this one. I enjoyed the premise of this story and the relationship

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This was a short novel, more like a novelette. That being said, I still really enjoyed this book! It was entertaining, charming, and all around fun! I related so well to the main character, I would've loved this even more if I had read it as a teen. This was easy to finish in just a few days but could've even been read in one. It's a great book if you're trying to get out of a reading slump. The story line was so sweet. I hope there will be a book 2!

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I was given this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Macey and Cam share a bond that goes beyond normal friendship.
They know each other inside out, they have the deepest connection and are one another's safe place.

Macey is a top student who lives and breathes for reading, she is lively and outspoken, a modern-day girl who will not take no for an answer. Cam is a bad boy wannabe with a heart of gold when it comes to people he cares about, he has no time for excuses and compromises.

When Macey sets out on a mission to find her book boyfriend following the tropes in her favourite author's books, she is not expecting to find the love of her life in the person that she has known forever.


These are the premises upon which Her Book Boyfriend is developed; it reads like a light-hearted romcom that one would put on when feeling down. Every character is presented with details that bring them to the page immediately, they are types that you have met but you cannot despise. The way in which they are introduced is schematic, it sort of feels like when you are playing The Sims and upon meeting someone new you are presented with some facts about them.

The whole book plays with tropes, as one would already expect from reading the plot. The situations the characters are put in tend to be brought to the extreme for comical effect and they touch upon silliness in more cases than not. The cherry on top was (spoiler) Macey deciding she wants to become a lesbian. Or as she put it “battle for the other team”. Straight girls really are messy, huh?

Overall, it is a fun read. It somehow feels like a product of the 2000s for the kind of comedy it has.
There were some great scenes between Macey and Cam, one of which was especially dear to me. Obviously, Macey does everything wrong when faced with the path she has decided to follow. Thanks to the writing, she does not become unsuffarbale like other main characters would have. However, her narration proves problematic at times, in particular in the representation of other women (who are often casually slut shamed) and of POC, the most outstanding example being her Korean friend. Macey isn't actively problematic but her thinking has some wrong to it, it feels like casual "jokes" that one would recognise from 2000s television.

I would give this book a 2.5/5, as it goes by fast and it is a fun read that makes the reader feel engaged and laugh, it is overall an enjoyable read and I would read a sequel.

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This was a cute story, I definitely liked Mercey. And how she was a book lover. I liked the trope taking tips from the novels she read and trying to find a prom date, however I honestly thought this was going to be a friends to lovers novel. That her and her best friend would eventually realize their love for eachother and wise up, unfornaltey that didn't happen until the end. Which I wish it happened sooner that way we saw their relationship.

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Great title and cover, but despite the clear friendship and connection between the two main characters, the book had too many stereotypes and unbelievable moments for me to root for them. Expected more from this book.

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Macey feels like she is the only person in the history of...pretty much ever...to make it through high school without having a boyfriend. She makes it her mission to get a boyfriend before prom and if she doesn't she is stuck going with her best friend, rockstar wannabe Cam.

Cam hooks up with girls left and right, but then makes Macey "let them down gently" because he doesn't actually want to date any of them.

Taking a page (hah. see what i did there?) out of her favorite romance novels, Macey decides to use the plot devices that worked out so well for the heroines in said books in hopes of winning the bet.

This book, billed as New Adult (but I would call it YA since the characters are in high school), was a cute fluffy read without all of the trappings of what I've come to expect from new adult lit (sex every three pages, lots of language). It was totally trope-y but that's honestly kind of what I expect from a book like this. It was cute. I'd add it to the YA section at my library.

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Macey is a naive high schooler who wants to find a date to prom. She reads way to much and decides to use 10 steps from her favorite romance novels in order to get a boy for prom.

This is a short, sweet, and uniquely funny book. The premise is cute and while Macey is beyond naive towards the true love it is so short it doesn't matter.

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Brilliant high-school story with lovely characters who are relatable to every teen. My 14 year old daughter is going to love this, and I think will be up late into the night reading it in one sitting!

Central to the story is the loveable self-proclaimed geek, Macey Greere, who loves nothing better than losing herself in some romantic fiction and believes by following a simple formula from the books she can bag herself the perfect "Book Boyfriend" in time for prom. Full disclosure - I am 37 and still think the boys in books are better than the boys in real life! In fact I had this very conversation with my daughter a few days ago!

Then we have her life-time best friend, Camden Davis, typical Jock with the attitude to girls to match, and as Masey puts it "more swagger than Mick Jagger"

I loved that this story was so believable, and the everyday problems and teen-angst are written in a really honest way - the hang ups and "self-perceptions" of all the characters could be any teen in any high school today, worries about family, college, how other people see them, juggling work, hobbies & school work as well as maintaining friendships.

I can't wait for book 2, and to hear my teen daughters reaction to this book!

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This was one of those really sweet and nice books that make you feel good. The moment I finished the book, I went and told my daughter that she has to read it as well. Cam and Mace are really cute together and I absolutely loved the humor and the wit that made the book entertaining and simply fun to read.

When Mace tries to find a boyfriend by using her romance novels as a guide, well, let's just say that not every concept that works in a novel works in real life. Or does it?
Perhaps her scheme isn't as crazy as it looks - or perhaps it is? No matter what, I love to see her end up with the perfect guy despite all her wonderful plans and schemes and strategies!

This was the first book by KR Grace that I've read but definitely not the last!

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I was really interested in reading HER BOOK BOYFRIEND because I love the friends-to-lovers trope and because the cover is so cute. I also certainly identified with Macey's love for her fictional heroes. In the end, however, I was a little disappointed by the story. I didn't like the Macey's-not-like-other-girls bits or the general meanness she directs toward those other girls. I was also put off by the LGBT+ representation in this novel (both in LGBT+ characters and in the discussions of the main character's own sexual identity). Other readers may enjoy this sweet romance between best-friends-turned-more, but there were too many larger issues that turned this one off.

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I disliked how the boy treated the girls he hooked up with, not remembering their names like they weren't worth his time, but I hated the fact that the heroine of the story enabled his behavior even more. That he would end up being the love interest is unfathomable, and that she felt herself to be above the girls he used so callously is beyond me. What should have been a cute YA contemporary romance was really just slut shaming and unhealthy relationships. I'm sorry this book wasn't a good fit for me - I did not review it on social media or my blog, because I don't want to do the author a disservice since I got the review copy for free.

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2126857765

*Thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

“Her Book Boyfriend” is a story about Macey and how she tries to get a boyfriend using ten popular romance novel tropes, so she can find the perfect boyfriend to go to the prom with her. She makes a bet with her best-friend, Cam, that if she doesn’t find the perfect boy, she’ll go to prom with him.

I loved the idea behind this book and couldn’t wait to read it. However, I was sorely disappointed. It was impossible for me to like Macey or Cam. Cam makes Macey break up with his “girlfriends” all the time. I couldn’t like a character who can’t take responsibility for his actions. Also, while Macey is doing the dumping she looks down on the girls she’s dumping for Cam and makes fun of them, which to me was downright rude.

At one point Macey says to not judge a book by its cover, yet it’s pretty much all she does. I couldn’t connect with Macey and Cam and found they had no chemistry whatsoever. Also, why make a bet when they could have just agreed that if her tactic didn’t work, they’d go to prom together? It didn’t make sense to me.

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This one was great it was about Macey who really needed to find a boyfriend to take to the prom and well that proved way harder than she thought it would. I really loved this one from the start and it didn't take long at all to get through. I was done before I even realized it. I really liked what the author did with Macey she was cute and this one was so cute and a fairly simple read. If you are looking for something light to fill your day check this one out. It was a very light romantic book that I couldn't put down and neither will you!

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I received this e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’m so disappointed. I had high hopes for Her Book Boyfriend. Best friends to lovers trope? Nerd chick falls for Mister Popular? How could I say no? But as the book progressed I started noticing some themes that really irked me and ended up blowing the whole book off for me. So let’s see some of the problems:

Misogyny. I could stop right here ’cause this is a deal breaker for me. The main character had so much internalized misogyny. She would go on and on about how pathetic all those girls were for getting their hopes up and throwing themselves at Cam, completely abolishing him of any blame (he used them and then dumped them?!?!?!) and instead she would blame the girls wholy. Yep, it sucked. Also some slut shaming was in the air which is a big NO from me.
LGBTQA+. Listen. Really, truly listen. If you want to include queer people in your book, you either do it right, or you don’t do it at all. There is no in between because you end up offending the minority. One of the things Mace has in her list is “play for the other team“. This alone is offensive. How? Being gay is not a damn switch. You don’t turn it off and on. You either like people of the same sex or you don’t. You don’t wake up one day tired of not having a boyfriend and say “that’s alright, I’ll get myself a girlfriend even though I’m neither lesbian nor bisexual”. You see the point?
Mace was plain annoying. She had that whole, I’m a nerd but I’m also extremely hot and all the boys like me even though I have no idea they do vibe which to me personally, is super annoying.
Anyway, if you’re able to disregard all that, Her Book Boyfriend is a very light, fast paced novel, perfect for reading at one sitting. Also the romance is super cute (best friends to lovers trope you know you want it).

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Reviewed for Netgalley - SPOILERS
I didn’t love this book and that is partly my fault. I read a blurb about it which left me thinking that it was a story about a girl who sets off to find herself a boyfriend based on the boys she loves in the books she reads. I was expecting lots of references to or excerpts from these books and examples of her “book boyfriends” verses the boys she is pursuing during her quest. I was very wrong. Unfortunately, what Macey actually does is use examples set forth in books by her favorite author to figure out how a girl can snag a guy with each method being more shallow and pathetic than the previous one. We readers never see any of the author’s words or meet any of the fictional author’s boys. Instead, we witness Macey make one stupid mistake after another. The way she goes about trying to land a guy is so ridiculous that I just couldn’t buy that a potential valedictorian would actually think her plan had any shot at succeeding.

The boys that Macey pursues while attempting to carry out said plan are so one-dimensional and clichéd that there is never any chance she will end up with one of them. There’s the in-the-closet guy who insults her fashion choices, the seeming sweetheart who just wants instant access to what’s inside her pants, and the overachieving nerd having a pre-college admission freak out. Perhaps the reason these boys are so undeveloped and forgettable is because it is clear from chapter one who Macie is going to end up with.

Her best friend Cam, who instantly goes from a total Man Whore to a lovesick puppy the minute he realizes his lifelong bestie is serious about finding a guy. And just like every other guy in this book, Cam is completely underdeveloped. He tells Macey not to be like him and not to get sucked into his “crap hole” (quite the way with words this future rockstar has) but never explains why he behaves the way he does or why his life is a crap hole. He’s spent time getting photographic evidence that his father is also a male whore with a whole other family on the side, so why on earth would he want to follow in slutty daddy’s footsteps? I don’t know because it is never explained. Of the two MCs, Cam is the more interesting one and, sadly, he too ends up being one-dimensional and ultimately disappointing.

Other things that were too unbelievable to swallow:

Cam is the class tramp, but has never actually slept with a girl and we’re supposed to believe that none of the girls who have “been with” him haven’t told others about this lack of getting any? Um, yeah, no. Not the way high school girls gossip.

Every guy who was a total jerk to Macey suddenly shows up and wants to take Macey to prom…even though most have not been mentioned since their chapter of “The Plan” concluded. So, a total wallflower gets five invitations to prom in one day?

Someone as whiny and bratty as Macey actually manages to have that many friends.

Cam and his band – they’re in high school remember - get offered a contract to open for the “hottest band in several decades.” They go from playing at their own prom to opening for the biggest band around? Didn’t realize this book was in the fantasy genre.

Overall, what could have been a cute read was just a mess. From the awful characters to the plot holes to the many grammatical errors, I was so frustrated that I struggled to read it the whole way through. I definitely don’t recommend this one.

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If you ignore the glaringly problematic output that this book centres around (you don’t need to have a partner in high school to make your experience worth it!), it is actually a really nice, fluffy read and I finished it in next to no time. There were, however, a few slurs thrown in the direction of female characters that I could have done without though.

The premise of Her Book Boyfriend was very similar to I Believe In A Thing Called Love (Maurene Goo) but I actually preferred this one a lot more; Macey doesn't stage life threatening scenes to try create romantic bonding moments for a start! I really liked the Cam, the main male protagonist, didn't fit the stereotypical ‘guy-who-loves-his-best-friend’ mould in that he didn't screw up his friendship, give mixed signals and was actually a lot more in tune with his emotions than your usual love interest. Macey is emotionally blind though. Nobody can be that dumb in real life, surely, especially when you take into account that she is allegedly a massive romance genre fan.

It is a new adult book but I honestly forgot that the characters where meant to be in high school (we don't do school years in Britain like they do in America but the characters are seniors and I figure that is around 18 years old!) because they didn't really read like they were that age. Also, not much of the plot actually takes place in school - well that is a lie, but not school in the way that you might be used to reading about in a romance book. There isn't any x-rated scenes but reference is made to drug use and underage drinking so take from that what you will.

All in all, I did enjoy this book and it was just really cute. The only thing that really grated on me is the names of the male characters; Camden, Clay, Colton, Kenton, Benton etc; are these really everyday names in America (?!?!) because I thought that they are ridiculous and got a silly amount of amusement from them!

P. S: this is probably the cutest cover that I can remember seeing on a contemporary novel in 2017. I absolutely adore it!

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*I received a free copy bu NetGalley*
4.5 stars

Her Book Boyfriend is a very sweet, light YA with a bookworm as the main character. Now, I have to say I'm a sucker for all books with a book lover character.
The best thing? She tries to use tactics from those books. The final result? Embarassing but hilarious situations.
That said, this book reminds me immensely of Bookishly Ever After which was also great.

Looking for a short, airy read? This is your book.

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Mackey Greere gets all her dating advice from reading her favourite romance books. After getting to her senior year without a boyfriend she makes a list of tips and vows to work her way through them to find love. Her best friend Cam try's to dissuade her and bets that if she fails he will take her to prom. I enjoyed this book there was only one outcome but it was pleasant getting there.

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I would have a million beautiful things to say about this book but there is a mistake though. In many sites where you can buy it and on Netgalley, the genre where the book is placed is the New Adult genre, and even if not entirely wrong, the most accurate genre for this book is Young Adult, because there are any hot scenes and the characters are still, though it is the last year for them, in high school. It can be better to say that it is a middle ground between the Na and the YA. At the end of the book itself, in the list of books written by the author, the genre indicated for this is YA.

I adored this book from the first page, or better, from the gorgeous cover. I totally fit in with the protagonist character, totally forgetting the disappointment I had with The witch's kiss, which you know I did not like at all. It has a simple and engaging writing. The characters look so alive. It's a pleasant reading that would be perfect for summer, but it's okay to read it anytime.

This is their last year in school and the problem that Macey faces is that she doesn't have a boy for the prom. She does not want to go with Cam, her best friend and singer in a band, because she wants to go with a guy she is in love with. But she has another love, the one for reading, especially romance, so she decides to create a list, re-reading those books, all of the same author, finding the right points to find the perfect guy.

But she fails with most of them because everyone at school believes that she and Cam are together when he has a different girl every day. None of the guys Macey chooses wants to engage with her, but she does not spring, ending up getting a bad, and false, reputation at school. She then asks Cam to schedule a blind date, but everything screw up, because the guy she is supposed to meet with is Cam, and when he says he loves her she thinks it's just a tease because of her continuous failures.

They don't talk for a long time, but then everything adjusts for the best and they end up going at the party as a couple.

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