I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would! I've always liked the "brother's best friend" trope, and this was light and easy to read.

This book honestly felt like two different stories. The boyfriend bracket, which is what the book is named after, primarily makes an appearance in the beginning of the book and then is only mentioned when they walk past it a couple times in the rest of the book, The second half of the book is mostly the MC trying to hide her relationship with her brother's best friend from her brother--this relationship did not even come from the bracket, so I'm really not sure what the purpose of that was in the first place. The lack of cohesiveness in the storyline made it quite a disappointment to pick up.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

I'm gonna be honest I skimmed majority of this book. It was beyond cheesy. Nothing special about it. If I was still a pre-teen I probably would have loved the "forbidden" crush on the brother's best friend troupe but now as a functioning adult---Ain't nobody got time for that! However, I do want to give a shoutout to the friendship between Stella and Franklin. I would have enjoyed it more if it was just focused on them and their precious friendship. Otherwise, not many redeeming qualities.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The title has very little to do with the plot of The Boyfriend Bracket, which was very disappointing. I loved the premise of the hijinks that might ensue when a girl set up an actual bracket to date boys and find Mr. Right. But really the bracket takes all of 5 minutes, and then the girl gets the boy she's been longing for, but only in secret.
The writing is uneven. The characters are wishy-washy and the older brother is so obnoxiously sexist that I couldn't force myself to read past 70%

This was such a delightfully sweet, super cute, and absolutely charming book. I smiled and swooned so much reading this and had such a great time.

The Boyfriend Bracket by Kate Evangelista is a wonderfully written story about love, family, friendship, and being brave enough to do what truly makes you happy. It’s fast-paced, hilarious, and entertaining. I thought the writing was really good — light and fluffy, but also genuinely heartwarming. The plot was well-written, engaging, and really fun. Being Filipina, I also loved the cultural references and could totally relate. Oh and be prepared to get hungry…cause I certainly did. Definitely craved some delicious home-cooked adobo and sinigang.

The characters were witty and lovable. Also, I just have to mention that it was incredibly refreshing to read a story with a strong, talented, and sassy Filipina MC. I truly admired Stella’s determination and passion. Will frustrated me a few times, but he did win me over. Not going to spoil anything, but I was definitely charmed by Will. Franklin was an awesome best friend and my absolute favorite. Cam was the annoyingly overprotective brother, but his intentions were good and as much as I would like to say I didn’t like him, I can’t fault him for trying to be the best big brother to Stella. And Nana… loveeeed her to pieces.

The romance, while a bit slow burn in the beginning and a little cheesy at times, was adorably cute and just swoontastic! There were many moments that gave me butterflies and even if the brother’s best friend trope has been done plenty of times, it’s still one of my favorite and this one did not disappoint. The romantic gestures, no matter how big or small, made me smile and melted my heart. Will and Stella just fit so well together and I totally shipped them!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, lighthearted and beautifully affecting. The unique and fun storyline, adorable characters, endearing relationships, and the heart-melting moments had me wanting more. And the ending… so pleasantly satisfying and left my heart full and bursting with so much happy. If you’re looking for a sweet and entertaining YA contemporary romance, then I recommend you check this out or add it on your TBR.

I recevied an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher, Xpresso Book Tours and Kate Evangelista via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can find this review and many others on my blog - https://sincerelykarenjo.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/blog-tour-the-boyfriend-bracket-by-kate-evangelista/

Love the touch of Filipino-American culture. It's totally like what I see in every Filipino-American family vlog on YouTube. It feels very homey for some reasons. :)

Cute, charming, and sweetly romantic!

The Boyfriend Bracket is an engaging, heartwarming tale that takes us into the life of Stella, a young, Filipino senior who is determined that with the help of her best friend Franklin this is the year she will get over her longtime crush on her brother's best friend, Will and find herself the perfect boyfriend.

The writing is witty and light. The characters are diverse, supportive, loyal, and endearing. And the plot told from differing perspectives is a unique, uplifting, coming-of-age tale about overprotective brothers, teenage struggles, dreams, goals, Filipino culture and traditions, first love, and the power of friendship.

Overall, The Boyfriend Bracket is an entertaining, easy, enjoyable read and even though I would have liked the romance to be a little more gradual, the amusing characters, heartfelt moments, and happy-ever-after ending still left me completely satisfied.

Kate Evangelista's new book, The Boyfriend Bracket, isn't at all like the title and description implies--and I'm okay with that. I chose this book thinking it would be about a girl who creates a boyfriend bracket in order to choose her first boyfriend now that her overprotective brother is off at college. And that's partly true, at least for the first quarter of the book. Then you find out that Stella has been in love with Will, her brother's best friend, her entire adolescence, but now that he's away at college she can focus on getting over him. Only he comes home for the weekends and is paying extra attention to Stella's love life. Soon Will and Stella are together and they spend the rest of the book hiding it from everyone, which was cute to watch. My favorite part ended up being Stella's passion for fashion design. I love when YA books take the time to show depth for the characters and Stella and her best friend definitely have a passion for their future career. I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that I think it was not represented correctly. I still enjoyed Stella and Will and found them to be an adorable couple.

I am a super fan of brother’s best friend trope and probably my favorite trope in YA. You know, when the younger sister has a crush on her brother’s best friend but the brother has a number one rule that she is off-limits to his friends so, the hero fights his feelings out of respect for his best friend. The rest is history and the ending has always been the same.

Okay! that sounds like a negative way to start this review but I promise I didn’t meant it to be that way.

I found the relationship between Cam and Stella very usual but sweet. They may not see eye-to-eye most of the time but I felt how much they care for each other. I completely understand why Cam thought that there’s a need for him to protect his sister from every other guys but being the oldest and only remaining man in the family, Cam felt a deeper sense of responsibility to take care not just his sister but also his mother.

Considering that, familial bond became one of the strong points of the story. Coming from a typical Filipino family who always find time for special occasions to gather and celebrate, Stella made sure that she visits Will’s Nana every Friday; Sundays are always for her family.

The friendship between both Stella/Franklin and Cam/Will was one of my most favorite highlight in the story. Stella and Franklin has been best friends since grade school. Ever since they met in sewing class and shared the same dreams, they have become inseparable. Their relationship was funny, ideal and like any other friendship, imperfect. They might argue or not talk to each other but at the end of the day, they are always going to be best friends.

And let me just tell how you will going to love to have a Korean best friend like Franklin. He’s vivacious, loyal and the most sensible character you will ever going to read in the story. Because there’s a lot of reference about fashion and Project Runway, I’m sure you’ll all the more love the relationship between him and Stella.

That same goes with Cam and Will. I totally get why Cam thought Will betrayed him. He treated him like his own brother. However, Will broke not only their bro code but also the trust and promise that there’s nothing romantically going to happen between him and Stella. After all, how awkward would it be for Cam to have his best friend and sister together right? But news flash, it’s real and anyone who experienced the same setup could attest to that.

Though I initially felt that the Boyfriend Bracket has something to do for Stella to get Will’s attention, I wish there’s more actual scenes and conversations with the guys (yes! I knew the names but only because, Stella and Franklin mentioned them) who were in the bracket that could reveal her dating experience or how it turned out, no one from any of them has worked out for her.

Instead, the Boyfriend Bracket became just an ordinary backdrop to the story, which ended up completely forgotten. After all, the title of the book and what went with it—8 boys. 16 dates. 1 perfect boyfriend—was what I expected. There’s also an undercurrent about the issue of bullying done by jealous, annoying mean girls that was merely discussed in the story.

Nonetheless, even how predictable it was, I actually had so much fun and “kilig” reading this besides the romance between Stella and Will or how they support and encourage each other’s dreams—Stella, being a fashion designer and Will being a comic book writer.

The Boyfriend Bracket is a breezy, entertaining read that certainly live up to the hype of a classic romance trope. It is also a story about family, first love and friendship.

***Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillian Children’s Publishing Group – Swoon Reads, Xpresso Book Tours and Kate Evangelista for providing me an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

**3.5 Stars**

Stella has been in crush with her older brother Cam's friend Will for years, but knows he will never think of her as anything but an annoyance. But now that both boys are away at school, Stella is embracing her freedom from her overbearing brother and jumping into the dating pool. Her bestie Franklin fully supports this idea and comes up with a system of rating her dates and how to determine who moves on. Now with a plan and plenty of options, Stella is ready to take on her mission of finding "the One"- aka her senior year boyfriend. But Will has other plans...

I absolutely love the older brother's best friend romance trope (ok, I love anything that can kinda sorta be considered a forbidden love situation, and this certainly fits in there!) so I was interested in reading The Boyfriend Bracket when I discovered it. Let's be honest here, the ending is not a surprise, I knew right from the start who Stella was going to be with, the surprising part was the journey that it took to get there. There was some humor, some heart, personal reflection, a little bit of overreacting, a big dollop of angst and an overall happy ending. Kate's words made the perfect balance to keep me engaging and speeding through the pages.

Let's just talk a minute about the two hobbies turned career choices for the two main character. Will has been creating a webcomic for years about a super cool and kickass witch hunter and Stella creates all her own clothes from ideas she comes up with. I love how both are so dedicated regardless of their age and are willing to sacrifice and work hard to make their dreams come to life. Neither is really a traditional career but they have the passion to succeed and their families support to help back them and I thought it was really inspiring to see...Also, I really needed images of the outfits and dresses that Stella made because I pictures them in my head but I really wanted to experience it as well. And I wish that the comic had been included, at least a little snippet, because it was super hard to picture and such a huge part of the book. But that is just me and I am a super visual person and I am pretty sure my imagination did not do justice to the creations.

This was a very character driven book, where not a lot of action happened but we got to know the people very well. I love dual narrated romances and this fit the bill since it was through Will and Stella's perspectives. Both character had personal demons to conquer before they could fully be invested in the relationship but I absolutely loved them together. I can understand Stella's hostility towards Cam at the start of the book because his attitude and commands made me want to smack him (repeatedly) and the fact he expected Stella to jump at his ridiculous orders was insane. Franklin and his personality and flamboyant outfits stole the book for me, I loved his outlook and loyalty- everyone needs a friend like him.

Overall this was a cute, very fast read- something you can easily sit down and read in one sitting. Kate makes realistic approachable characters with flaws and issues just like anyone has. This was a perfect read for any lover of contemporary romance, age teen all the way on up.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance complimentary copy of this book. Come visit me at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

If the titular "boyfriend bracket" doesn't end up playing as prevalently in the story as the title suggests, perhaps the book should not be titled as such.

Best friends and neighbors, Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken since a fight, during which they said things they can’t take back. Emory, who is in public school, focuses on theater and her boyfriend Luke. Hannah, the daughter of the principal of her Christian school, begins questioning her faith and gets dangerously involved with an adult mentor. Then Hannah sees Luke crash his car outside her house, and she saves his life, motivating him to turn to her to make sense of his near-death experience. This forces the girls to reenter each other’s lives, moving them toward a reconciliation. The book explores the topics of friendship and religious beliefs in a thoughtful way that teens will enjoy.

Overall, I liked the book. It is a perfect summer contemporary and for those in the single club, it is so adorable. It will make you wish you had a brother with a best friend. The writing was easy to get into and it allowed the book to fly by quite quickly. The plot was definitely swoon-worthy and lived up to that aspect but I wish there was little more content. The book was too short for character development but I did enjoy reading about the character's lives. Overall the book wasn't too bad. Definitely, the perfect book if you want to read something quickly or you want to beat that reading slump. Thank you so much to Xpresso Book Tours for providing me with a copy of the book.

(full review will be available on my blog on 06 July 2018)

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving an advanced reader's copy of The Boyfriend Bracket by Kate Evangelista. All opinions are my own and as honest as they can be.*

I don't think this was the type of book for me. The writing style was so undeveloped and incoherent, nothing made sense and it felt like a real mess. I didn't feel empathy for any of the characters, let alone relate to them. I thought the plot wasn't the best in a contemporary novel, I just believe it could have been way much better and some plot points were just forgotten. The only questions that kept coming up in my mind were 1´) Why am I still reading this book? 2) Where is the editor? I want to have a nice chat with them. Overall, I just think this wasn't for me.

Unfortunately not for me. I just couldn't get into this book and didn't like the use of the overprotective brother. I can see how others have enjoyed it but it wasn't the book for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC. Unfortunately it wasn’t the book for me.

I found it to be a tad too immature for my taste. It often felt like a soap opera, overly dramatic, and too fast paced. I know that Stella and Will have known each other for many years, but we never got any flashback scenes, so it felt like their declarations of love came too soon and weren’t built on a strong foundation.

I was not a fan of Stella. She was very shallow and only wanted a boyfriend so she could parade him around her peers. I liked Franklin because he was a great, supportive friend to Stella. Will wasn’t a bad character. He just felt too typical, like I’ve seen his type of character many times before.

I only read about ½ of this book before I had to put it down. I’m apart of the Xpresso Read’s Boyfriend Bracket blog tour. Because this wasn’t the book for me, I’ve opted out of posting a review during the tour. Instead of the review, I will be posting a general promo post. I’m sure there are others out there who will enjoy this book.

This book was fun - I know younger high school students would enjoy. The only thing that was strange was the title - the bracket was not important to the story at all.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

After years of having her brother scare off any potential boyfriends, Stella was finally free of his romantic meddling, and was ready to officially embark on her love life. After a very transformative summer, many young men were showing interest in Stella. In order to determine, who will fill the role of "boyfriend", Stella and her best friend, Franklin, come up with the boyfriend bracket, which seemed to be working well until her brother discovered she was dating, and resumed his meddling.

I thought the premise of this book was great, but the bracket falls apart about a third of the way through the book, when Will, her longtime crush and her brother's best friend, starts spending more time with Stella. I have to admit, I was ok with this, because I loved watching Will and Stella navigate their feelings for each other.

Stella was a great heroine. She had ambition and drive, and her passion for fashion was contagious. She also had spectacular taste in best friends, because Franklin was the best. He was supportive, but honest, and his affection for Stella was so obvious. He was also super witty, and added a lot to every page he inhabited.

Will. *heart eyes* It was easy to understand why Stella adored this man. He was so kind, sweet, smart, talented, and generous. I was glad he made a few mistakes, otherwise he would have been too good to be true. He also had this stupendous Nana, who I have nothing but love for.

There were a few things that seemed a little rushed, especially the ending. I would have liked to know a little bit more about where things went, though, Evangelista did fill us in on the major things, which were all good.

Overall: A fun and fluffy brother's-best-friend romance, which was sweet, swoony, and satisfying.

Apparently I’ve been on a contemporary YA binge lately. They’ve been my go-to reads for my lunch break, when I just need something cute and not-so-heavy like fantasy can get. Don’t get me wrong: I love a strong female (or male!) lead who is ready to overthrow the system or ruler or whatever the case may be. I live for that. But in the middle of my workday, give me so teenage troubles of love and high school and dances.
Enter The Boyfriend Bracket. It was the perfect (and quick) read for me. To be honest, I was a little thrown off by the book at first because, based on the cover and the plot description, I expected there to be a greater focus on the bracket (hey, it’s in the title. I can’t be fully blamed for my assumptions on this one!), but I quickly discovered I was wrong. That being said, I didn’t hate the new direction of the book at all!
This book revolves around one of my favorite tropes: the overprotective brother. Typically it’s something I see more in the New Adult books lately (in fact, I’m struggling to name another YA book in this trope right now), but I’m sold at the plot of the girl crushing on her brother’s best friend – and crushing hard. Because what could go wrong…right?
The Boyfriend Bracket met most of my expectations for what I look for in a contemporary YA romance: there was a relationship to root for, there was an awesome best friend, and as previously mentioned, there was the overprotective brother. However, I could have done with a few more “swoon” worthy moments. Make my heart hurt! Make me teeth ache at the sugary sweetness. Give me more! Instead, I felt like the relationship went from zero to sixty very quickly, and I missed the big payoff of a slow-burn buildup.
If you’re looking for a quick, fast-paced YA contemporary, The Boyfriend Bracket is a cute read to pick up. If you’re looking for a little more punch, this one might be better saved for another day and another reading mood.