I liked this book, but it needs some major polishing. It reads like an author debut and I was really surprised to see how many other published works the author has. Still, the characters are so fun, and I love the idea of setting up a tournament style bracket to figure out which boy is most worthy of being Stella's date to the senior dances.

The rough spots come with the transitions between scenes, and how abrupt some of them are. This book reads more like watching a PowerPoint presentation, or maybe a YouTube playlist of clips of various scenes. One clip ends and abruptly you're launched into the next clip, rather than the smooth continuous flow of a full movie. Sometimes it feels like the author wrote a bunch of scenes, and then went back and sort of shuffled them into an order that sort of made sense to tell a story. Which is fine, don't get me wrong, but the next step would be to then go through and do some edits to put in smooth transitions and edit the scenes themselves so they flow together more. It also switches POV between Stella and Will really abruptly in a way that totally threw me off kilter and out of the story. I feel like the editing on this one just didn't get taken through all the steps it should have, and it reads a lot like a first or second draft, rather than a fully polished and edited book. Had this gone through some more thorough editing and rewrites, it would have definitely been a 4 star read for me. However, there's enough promise there to keep my rating at a solid 3 stars, and I look forward to reading more from Kate Evangelista once she's got a little more experience under her belt.

Will and Franklin are by far and away my favorite characters. I went back and forth with Stella, sometimes liking her and sometimes thinking she needs to get over herself. Will's Nana is also really great, and someday I am going to be a cool grandma like Nana is - it's my life's goal! Stella's brother Cam was also really one dimensional for me. I wish there would have been more of a focus on the boyfriend bracket (especially since that's the title of the book…?) but it was kind of tossed to the side pretty quickly and only brought back as a plot device.

The Boyfriend Bracket is super predictable and tropey - you've got your overprotective big brother, the little sister with a crush on her big bro's best friend/guy with a crush on his best friend's little sister, the high school mean girls clique, the gay best friend who is super into glitter - but it's still a fun, quick, light-hearted read. This is a great summer romance for a day the beach when you want to just disengage your brain and indulge in some cotton candy fluff.

ARC provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This review can also be seen on my blog (www.pinotandpages247.wordpress.com) and my goodreads account (https://www.goodreads.com/pinotandpages).

Thank you so much to the publisher for giving me a chance to review this book! The Boyfriend Bracket gets 3/5 stars from me. It was definitely a good page turner; I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. However, I did have a couple of issues with it.

WHAT I LOVED:

-The readability. Like I said above, I read this book in less than 24 hours. It was easy to read, and I genuinely wanted to know what happened to each of the characters.
-Three cheers for gay rep! I wish Franklin was my best friend.
-I loved how much art this book contained in the storyline. The fashion aspect was awesome on it's own, and something a little different from most of the books I pick up, but the comic book portion was a nice touch as well. It's always nice to portray art as a viable career choice for kids after high school, and I liked seeing these kid's dreams come true.
-I am a big fan of the "brother's friend to boyfriend" trope, and this book didn't let go of the trope the entire story. While that may have made it pretty predictable, it's still a trope I hold near and dear to my heart, and I would have been unable to root for any of the other boys in the boyfriend bracket after the possibility of Will was presented.

WHAT I DIDN'T:

-This is possibly the single most bothersome thing I have ever noticed in a book before, and also has some slight spoilers: Chapter 7 is taken straight out of a country song. I don't mean it slightly resembles a country song, I mean the lyrics are pulled straight out of the song and are found on the page. I dare you to listen to "Kissed you (Goodnight)" by Gloriana, and then read Chapter 7, and not notice it. This is pure laziness on the author's part, and while I'm sure it was unintentional, I still found it pretty annoying.
-This book is set in high school, and is told by high schoolers. It reads JUST like that. The maturity level is right about high school age, if not lower. The book is still very readable, but definitely better for a younger audience.
-Stella. While I loved Will and Franklin, I wanted to punch Stella in the face a few times. She's pretty self-involved, selfish, and immature. While she does fess up and apologize towards the end, she's a pretty crummy friend to Franklin (who is AWESOME). I also found her brother's single-mindedness towards scaring her boyfriends away pretty unrealistic and a little one dimensional.
-While I normally love books that switch POV, especially when I am not super in love with the MC, this book often had the POV switch mid-chapter, which kind of ruined the flow of the book for me and made it seem a little disjointed.
-Like I mentioned above, this book is pretty predictable and does not stray once from its final goal. There isn't really ever any question on who Stella will end up with, and I wish the author had done a little more with the whole 'bracket' aspect. If you're fine with that, then proceed. If you like a little bit more mystery and maturity to your story, then take a pass on this one.

While I obviously had a lot of issues with The Boyfriend Bracket, it was still an enjoyable, quick, well-paced read for me. This would be a great book to pack up and take for a day at the beach, and you could probably finish it in one sitting. I do think it is best suited for younger readers, probably right in the high school age.

The Boyfriend Bracket releases on June 19.

This is a cute contemporary about a girl who just wanted to have a boyfriend but her overprotective big brother made it difficult for her to do so. When her brother finally graduated from high school, the main character, Stella finally felt free. Stella along with her best friend used the boyfriend bracket as a method to find Stella the perfect boyfriend. While the premise of the story sounded interesting, I'm afraid the story sets up a relationship between Stella with her long-time crush and it wasn't subtle. The interesting part about this book was the change of perspective between Stella and Will. I didn't have to think to know that Will plays an important role in this book and what his role meant for the boyfriend bracket system. I just wished the development of their relationship had not been rushed. I wanted a slow burning romance but it didn't feel that way for me. Then again, it depends on the reader's interpretation.

I'd give an extra star for the description of the overprotective brother because it tends to be a common trope I rarely see in YA novels nowadays. However, I noticed this trope many times in multiple Filipino tv shows while growing up. Reading about a character that embodies the characteristics of a long-forgotten (in my opinion) trope was an interesting experience. I didn't think the 'overprotective brother' trope was overly done and I thought it was the only trope I can stand in this novel besides the "brother's best friend trope." And like other YA novels, this book had many clichés like the mean girls trope. Needless to say, this was a cute light-hearted contemporary read meant for entertainment. I'd recommend this book to teens who enjoy reading cute and fluffy contemporary reads.

Sweet, cute, and very light-hearted read. Cute story, with some swoony moments. Read alike authors: Sarah Dessen and Susane Colisanti.

Such a cute read Loved this book!!!! Kate Evangelista does not disappoint

I was a little distracted reading this because the author seemingly switched points of view and topics out of the blue without starting a new indented paragraph. I know that's petty, but I had to go back and reread now and then to be clear.
I really did like the story, though. I particularly liked the main male character. He was endearing and sweet. Also, all girls, fashionista or not need a best friend like Franklin.

Pretty cute book about a hs senior who crushes on her brother’s best friend. She and her best friend design a bracket to help her pick a senior boyfriend. Set among the fashion scene, UCLA, and Parsons, this is an easy YA romance to love. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

What a charming book! Stella and Will are so sweet together. They have known each other for a really long time and their relationship is very realistic. Something else I really appreciated about the book, is that even though it's about Stella trying to find a boyfriend and get over Will, there is not a lot of time spent on the dates with the other guys. I am not really a fan of love triangles so I was glad I didn't feel torn on who to root for while I was reading. The book is mostly told from Stella's perspective, but we get a little snippet of Wills perspective in each chapter. Sometimes the switch would be mid-chapter and that made the book feel a little disjointed to me. Overall, I enjoyed this book even though I expected more regarding the “boyfriend bracket”.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group Publishing via NetGalley.

Stella has been head over heels for her brother's best friend Will since she was a kid and as he moves away to college she is hopeful to finally get over him and move on. A makeover and break from her older brother gives Stella the chance to engage in a whole lot of dating with a whole lot of different boys. With the help of her best friend who creates a boyfriend bracket, Stella begins a dating adventure. This adventure comes to a halt when Will catches wind of it and his jealousy flairs up for the girl he has been also secretly in love with since his junior year. Their romance blooms as Will decides to protect Stella from dating strangers. Keeping their new found relationship a secret from her big brother and Will's best friend is a tough situation and it tries the love connection. This was a cute story, had some swoony moments, but I felt like I wanted a little more of the side dating on the boyfriend bracket to really push Will. Overall this was a nice book and I will recommend it to my students. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this book was okay, and I appreciated the lack of sex in it, but I thought the writing was overdone in places.

Thank you netgalley good the advance copy. This was classic YA with your usual themes. I did find it off that the author chose to have the main male character be in college while female lead in HS. I didn't are a lot of character growth in this and some of the story felt forced like a 3hour drive for a frat party so characters could be in the same location. Overall 3 stars.