I was skeptical about this book from the moment that I first saw it mentioned and was able to read the synopsis but I decided to give it a chance by reading the 60 page preview that was available to me. Before I started reading I felt like the book could go one of two ways, it could be the sex-positive rom-com-esque book that the beginning of the synopsis described or it could go the way of the rest of the synopsis in which virginity was taken way too seriously and the whole thing began to border on a weird competitive nature in which virginity was looked at as something negative.

Unfortunately, in the excerpt that I read it leaned towards the latter of those two. I think that there were a lot of opinions put forth in this beginning section of the book that could have a negative impact on younger readers. A lot of the side characters put forth misogynistic and slut shaming points of view and it left a bad taste in my mouth considering this book puts forth so many claims to be sex positive. I was also disappointed that from the very beginning it's basically written in stone that being a virgin by the end of high school is a bad thing. It hurts to read that opinion because it's perfectly normal to be a virgin leaving high school, whether or not you have sex as a teenager does not define you but this book seems to say anything but. I also was left feeling quite uncomfortable with the fact that one of the love interests is in college. This is something that I've noticed takes place in quite a few young adult books, that there's a female main character that is in high school that falls for someone in college. Not inherently bad, but still makes me uncomfortable, especially when the pair didn't already know each other in high school.

Now I don't want to say that this book is all bad because I only read the first 60 pages but I can say that I will not be willingly seeking out the rest of the book to read. If it so happens to fall into my lap I will give the rest of the book a chance but from what I've read I was quite disappointed.

I enjoyed this preview for the title. Seems to make interesting commentary on double standards, sex, and feminism. Without reading the entire galley, cannot comment too much on the title. Excited to read the entire thing.

REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️| The Best Laid Plans by @camloond
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When high school senior Keely falls for James Dean, her college hottie co worker, she’s terrified for him to find out she’s a virgin. Better yet- she doesn’t want to be one at all anymore. So when she asks her lifelong best friend Andrew to help her lose her virginity, what could go wrong?

Remember when I said I didn’t like YA? I just ate my words because I LOVED this one! I think I could rave about it all day.🙌🏼

Things I loved:
⭐️The writing was amazing and rich full of description
⭐️The ensemble of amazing characters. Writing about a large group of friends is hard to do without info dumps and long, uninteresting passages. But the author did a spectacular job of weaving their history throughout
⭐️High school senior vibes were 👌🏼. I LOVED high school. This crew reminded me a lot of my friend group back then. The description of feeling like you’re doing everything for the last time and how everything was about to change seriously struck ALL the chords. It almost made me tear up and long to go back!😭
⭐️Can we give Andrew Reed adorable points? He’s the best friend / boyfriend every girl should have in their life at 18 years old. Literally the best. He’s hot, confident, protective, caring, but also vulnerable
⭐️I’ve also become weirdly into friends to lovers tropes lately? This one was SO well executed
⭐️This book handles teen sex and consent so well. All the praise hands for this one 🙌🏼

There is literally nothing I didn’t like about this book. Again, usually I can’t read YA bc I have a hard time relating to younger characters. But it didn’t feel immature or annoying in any way. Keely was literally my 18 year old self. I felt like I wanted to give her a hug.

Anyway, I could go on and on. But this one of my favourite reads this year. I HIGHLY recommend.💗

Although this was just a sampler, I was thoroughly impressed enough to want the finished copy! This was such a a fun read. It caught my attention from the beginning, and it kept me wanting to read more. I’ll definitely be ordering a copy soon!

From the little preview of this book I’m hooked! I can tell it will be a cute YA romance with lots of teen drama, such a guilty pleasure. The writing was fast paced so I’m sure it will be a nice easy read! I’m excited to get my hands on the entire book because I’m hooked from the preview!

I got a free “sneak peak”. While I’m incredibly grateful for the chance at even this.....
It wasn’t enough. I need more. I feel like I’ve been forced on a book diet while being teased with the entire book dangling in my face.
I will be purchasing the book because it is that good.

Unfortunately, I cannot leave a full review without having been able to read the full book. I’ll leave my full review on goodreads once I’ve read it!

I’m so bummed that this is just an excerpt because it is too cute and I need to read more!!! It’s a perfect YA romance that is more mature. It’s a quick and easy read.

I read the first six chapters of this book because I saw the pizza promo boxes on Instagram and I was interested to see if this book is something I would be interested in reading. It most definitely is and I will be asking my friend to borrow her copy!

I can't tell right now if there will be romance with Dean from the movie store or Andrew her childhood best friend, but I am keen to see the sparks fly. I appreciate that losing your virginity is a critical point of this story as I remember there being a lot of peer pressure when I was a teenager to just do it. I am eager to see how this book handles that pressure and the delicate balance of feeling like you are ready.

It seems like a fun, fluffy and cute romance!

Thank you @netgalley for an extended sneak peak for The Best Laid Plans. This is fun YA and I love the characters. Can’t wait to read more to see what happens with Keely.

What a cute little YA novel! I cannot wait to read the whole thing. The book follows Keely, a teen itching to lose her virginity. Keely finds herself interested in college-boy Dean, but worried she is too inexperienced for him. Enter her best friend Andrew, who could potentially be Keely's solution to her lack of experience! Who ends up being THE GUY for Keely? Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for a PREVIEW copy of this book for an honest review.

This preview was adorable and I am dying to read the rest of the story. Keely is relatable and sweet and the dymanics between her friends is so real and fun. I want to know more about Dean and the movie store. I want to know more about Andrew. Bring on the rest of the story!

This was only a preview of the book, but it was very convincing! I liked the characters, the dialogue, and the writing style. I'm looking forward to getting the book and seeing what happens next!!

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to read a preview of this book (first 6 chapters).

The story begins when Danielle loses her virginity at her friend, Keely’s, 18th birthday party. This makes Keely the lone virgin in her group of friends. Soon, Keely meets Dean, a sophomore in college, and sparks are flying!

I can’t wait to buy this book and read the rest! Does Keely finally lose her virginity? Is it to new crush Dean or her best friend Andrew? So excited to find out the rest!

This review is based on an exert of the book I received for free. I received a sneak peak of the first 6 chapters of the book. In the first chapter we are introduced to what I can only assume are the main characters of the book Keely, Andrew, and Hannah. The theme of the book is high-school seniors loosing their virginity prior to going to college. The first 6 chapters were a very fast read and I was drawn in. I would have definitely read the whole thing if it was available. It was written well for what I read.

Best Laid Plans follows a high school senior Keely Collins, the only virgin in her group of friends. When she meets Dean, a hot college guy who genuinely seems interested in her, she panics thinking that he will no longer want to date her if he finds out she’s a virgin. Desperate to lose her virginity, she asks her experienced best friend Andrew to help her before she makes a fool out of herself with Dean. But what she doesn’t count on is Andrew’s feelings for her and how sex will complicate and change their relationship forever.

Best Laid Plans is told entirely from Keely’s perspective as she struggles to figure out her feelings for both her coworker and her best friend. At times I felt frustrated with her and for her. Andrew, her best friend was my favorite character.

I loved Best Laid Plans so much. I read it in an afternoon. It’s the perfect mix of humor and heart. Friends to Lovers is my favorite YA romance trope and Best Laid Plans handles it so perfectly. It also has a great understanding of friendship and slut-shaming in a way that I rarely have seen in other YA books. I whole-heartedly recommend Best Laid Plans to other Young Adult Romance fans!

The Best Laid Plans by Cameron Lund, is a romance about Keely determined to lose her virginity. She is the only person in her group of friends that is still a virgin. Unfortunately the book I read is only a preview, and I'm not sure if want to read the full book. Based on this preview, I recommend this book, if you enjoy this type of romance. I like the cover.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was 100% unputdownable! I read it from beginning to end with only a few bathroom breaks in between! It is sexual tension and sexual frustration to the max and I loved reading a sex positive, feminist YA novel. I just wish there was a longer happy ending between Keely and Andrew. Also, I’m not the biggest fan of the mean girl trope.

This was a cute sneak-peek, and definitely made me interested in reading the whole novel. It is difficult to give feedback on a sneak-peek, as we don't get enough to really see where the plot is going or know whether or not the characters or the writing style is thought out and well done. However, this preview did give me enough to know I'd be interested in the reading the rest of the story--anything describe as a sex-positive Meg Cabot got my vote!

There were so many reasons why I HAD to pick up this book and see what everyone was talking about. But the main one was the subject matter. Anything that's considered a "taboo" topic in YA, I needs it. And sex in YA is definitely considered taboo.

Everyone in her friend group is changing.... Except Keely. They've left her behind when the last virgin in her group loses it at a party. It's hard to feel left behind. But, she can't stand the guys from her small hometown. She can't believe her luck when she meets Dean, an older college guy who takes an interest in her. But things get complicated when she realizes she has no idea what to do with Dean, and the only person who can help her is her oldest, best friend, Andrew....

First off, I wanted to give this all the stars because it's a sex positive YA book! And it came from all POV's, the parents, the characters, the friends, everyone. There's little to no books about this because sex is considered taboo to most people (at least in my area because the amount of parents I get that ask me all the time if XYZ book their child wants to check out is clean tells it all) But this book is definitely informative and I think it will be beneficial to teens. Oh, and all the stars for showing the use of a contraceptive every time.

But unfortunately, that about sums up what I liked about this one. I took some stars away for my own personal bias of drinking and drugs. Normally I would have DNF'ed, but the drinking was the only thing seen on page. The drug use (my actual deal breaker) was shown only for a split second and I was able to skip over the worst of it.

And the characters were all bad. All the guys were trash. And the girls weren't very great either. I don't remember liking anyone other than Hannah. And that's saying something because she isn't even the main character. It's just normally there's one toxic or mean character, but in this one, it was everyone.

Then I took more stars away because the plot went no where. It seemed like there was no arc and because of that it made the love triangle the entire focus. And it was obvious where it was going, so the main story was the mystery that was happening to another character was more of a draw than what was happening to the main character. (Also, I guessed who it was from the first incident that happened too.)

[SPOILER] Lastly, I was NOT a fan of the main character. Did she really not see that coming? Like how? I knew from the very moment that one person was introduced what would happen. I kept wondering when she would finally realize it and it was literally the entire book. We never got to see them together. And I mean it was like at 90 something percent that she finally realizes it and I hated that. And to say this entire book was about this one event, it was in a terrible place at a really unrealistic time. Basically, if I could change the ending to this book, that'd be great. [/SPOILER]

For the most part, I enjoyed this. The topic is a much needed one in YA and the readability of this is nice and easy. But the writing style and characters gave me trouble. However, if there was another book on the crew and what they were doing after they all left for college, I would totes read it!

my obsession with this book is real. i loved keely. i loved that this was a YA book. The way Lund developed the characters made this one of the best YA books that i have read. I also loved Andrew. I had a best friend like him throughout high school/college. My story didnt end up like theirs but it reminded of our friendship! Cannot wait for Lund's next book!