This is a YA I would recommend to readers who read a lot of YA. The characters have very teen feelings from friendships to falling in love to conflicts. I saw some negative reviews from adult readers and though I can see why - this was not written for adults! I think teens will connect very well to the emotions the main character has and will enjoy this book!

This was a fun (but frustrating) book - mostly because of miscommunications. And oh, are there a LOT of them.

If you like -
- love triangles
- friends to enemies to lovers tropes

this is the book for you.

I love Emily Martin, and she tackles a lot of issues with a really authentic teen voice. There's plenty of teen drama, and she handles these topics - from sexuality, divorce (and being put in the middle), teenage drinking, etc deftly. Aubrey's cynicism towards love is understandable, having watched her parents own relationship (particularly after her mom puts her in some unfair situations) but immensely frustrating at times. I love the relationship with her best friend, too - it's probably my favorite part of the book.

Niggles:
I thought the love triangle aspect was a little uncomfortable as Harrison and Winston are cousins, and that seemed to violate bro code (like it would with girl code). I kind of felt sorry for Harrison, who seems like a nice guy, and Aubrey's her cynicism and resulting distancing makes for a tough relationship.

Thank you so much @InkyardPress & @NetGalley for giving me this physical ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 16 March 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Aubrey is attending homecoming with her next door neighbour & crush (Webster), however when she arrives she realises that he has actually stood her up for reasons unbeknownst to her. She decides that she cannot rely on love, especially if her parents relationship is anything to go by, but a year later sparks start to fly between her & Webster's cousin.

WHAT I LIKED:
- enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes
- really enjoyed the snarkiness & banter (although I've seen that some people think its taking the "he is mean because he likes you" trope too far)
- Aubrey's growth throughout the story

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- miscommunication is a key part of this conflict
- the bisexuality rep could have been better

I love that this book honestly shows the impact a struggling marriage can have on kids, and the way that Aubrey is dealing with that as she navigates high school relationships. I love that it portrays miscommunication honestly, but also shows the characters working through that and learning how to be better. It also has a really healthy portrayal of sex, which was great to see. It also adeptly handled the weird limbo that the end of senior year puts you in as everyone tries to figure out what the next step for them looks like and what that means for their relationships.

Something about this didn’t quite hit the mark for me, as an adult, but I would love to get this in the hands of as many teen girls as possible - which is who this book was truly written for. An A+ YA romance.

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love is about Aubrey and Webster. After Webster stood Aubrey up at homecoming, they stopped being friends. Aubrey ends up at Webster’s house for a party and meets his cousin. Aubrey and Webster end up lab partners, and they still hate each other…right?

Another YA Book checked off my @NetGalley list (I HAVE SO MANY BOOKS TO READ) - and I really enjoyed this one. I’d definitely recommend you read it if you love YA!

Thanks to @NetGalley and Inkyard Press for my ARC!

A boy next door, enemies to lovers romance, chock full of misunderstandings and messy relationships, about believing in love even when it's complicated and hard. Bi boy rep!

Mean Dudes--I'm sorry, more like Cruel Dudes--never fly with me, even if they eventually explain their meanness and there's this small kernel of sweetness in the middle. (Yes, I'm talking about Webster.) Then Baye's Theorem is brought into it for the "five ways" concept, and maybe it was a week of mental exhaustion for me (then again, when isn't it), because I would just space when Aubrey talked about it. I get Aubrey's cynicism about romance given her parents' shitty marriage, but then falling for the guy who has decided to use you as a punching bag doesn't make any sense. I felt really bad for Webster's cousin, Holland. Also, I didn't like that Webster was given the stereotypical "horny bisexual" trope. Like, obviously not all straight guys are players, but Webster as he was written inadvertently contributed to the "all bisexuals sleep with anyone" stereotype.

A fairly middle of the road YA contemporary. I appreciated the bi love interest representation (and the way it touched on even unintentional biphobia), and the development of Aubrey and Webster's relationship over the course of the book, but I found the love triangle aspect awkward, and I wondered if there might be a way to flesh the world out a bit more in general. I think it will find its fans, but it struck me as fairly average.

What WONDERFUL romance story! I loved watching Aubrey grow into the person who starts to believe in hope, and realizes that not everything can have a logical explanation behind it, especially when it comes to feelings. I really enjoyed the story; once I started reading I just couldn't stop! Reese is an awesome best friend, Veronica is is an amazing friend to Aubrey, and I definitely need a Webster in my life haha.

"Five Ways to Fall Out of Love" was both cute and infuriating. I went back and forth between wanting to give the main character a hug and wanting to pop her upside the head for making ridiculous decisions. Thus is the life for a teenager I guess. I would definitely recommend this to older teens, as there is some reference to certain sexual acts, but other than that it was a cute book.

Aubrey doesn't know if she believes in true love. It's hard to when all you see is your parents constant fighting. When a new guy moves in across the street, Aubrey creates a friendship with him. That is until she asks him to the school dance and he stands her up.

This book follows love, heartbreaks and relationships. Aubrey was hard for me to connect to since she thinks she has everything figure out, but truly doesn't know the first thing about anything. A cute book for teenagers.

Five Way to Fall Out of Love is instantly engaging, unique, and brimming with complexity.

The novel starts with Aubrey Cash being stood up at Homecoming by the boy-next-door she had been steadily falling in love with all summer long, Webster Casey. Though they spent months talking, laughing, and eating pizza, Web humiliates Aubrey and is determined to ruin her life for the next year. The only problem is, Aubrey has no clue what she did to earn Web's ire. She's clueless and heartbroken and vows to never let love rule her again.

Fast-forward to Senior year and Aubrey's eye is on the prize: getting out of her hellhole house and accomplishing her goal of becoming a vet. Enter a super cute boy at Web's NYE party and every plan Aubrey had set in motion and every notion she had about love and relationships is tested again and again.

What I Loved:
-Pacing was perfect
-Characters are wracked with flaws and so, so earnest
-Dramatic and terrible parental relationships
-Best friend breakups and makeups
-Using science to approach love is my favorite new trope
-Vulnerability.. so much fear of being vulnerable with all of these characters

Aubrey’s parents do not get along. Always fighting, she’s been stuck in the middle wondering why they stayed married if they hated each other that much. When a new neighbor moves in next door Aubrey befriends him and Webster Casey becomes not only her second best friend, but she thinks they could be something more. Going out on a limb despite not believing in love Aubrey asks Webster to Homecoming but when the night comes he stands her up. When she finds out he’s at the dance she figures there was a misunderstanding and drives to meet him there just to be humiliated in public, destroying her hope that love actually does exist. Fast forward a year later and she meets this cute guy at a party who just happens to be Webster’s cousin AND Webster becomes her lab partner for a year. Does she take a chance again on love?

I liked this premise and Aubrey. I can remember also living in a house where my parents fought but unlike Aubrey I didn’t let their relationship taint all of my own. As the book starts a year after the incident Aubrey and Webster are NOT friends, in fact they go out of their way to antagonize each other. I was kind of surprised that she was willing to give his cousin Holland a shot because she was so down on romance. As her relationship with Holland progresses I was surprised that she tried so hard to not like him too much. In fact it became apparent that she wasn’t going to allow herself to really like anyone. This is when I started to get a little tired of her character. Aubrey was a big downer and it took her entirely too long to come face to face with her little problem.

At first I really didn’t like Webster. I mean he was not a very nice guy to Aubrey, and when I still cared about her character it was hard to overlook him standing her up. However, I quickly realized there might be a little more to this story. Aubrey had just too many problems. Granted, they were both pretty immature, hello they were in high school, but he seemed to be so much more together. He was bi, had come out to everyone at school, and seemed to have a good relationship with his mom and friends. Other than Aubrey. Needless to say there was another reason, which I won’t spoil for you all if you’d like to read this book.

Now, I will say the book wasn’t all bad. The story entertained me and I enjoyed some of the side characters. I also think there were some great lessons Aubrey learned by the end of the book that slightly redeemed her down on love attitude. For that reason I gave this novel a 3.0 rating. I never gave up on it despite it making me mad at times and I did like how the book ended. Do I think everyone will feel the same way I do? No. So, please, if this book looks good give it a shot and make your own judgement.

A YA coming of age romance that is brimming with authenticity and teenage drama. A dynamic story that is handled with warmth and genuineness. Martin gives us a tough and sometimes glaringly accurate picture of what it’s like to figure out first love and to find one’s place in this world.

Aubrey and Webster have been on the outs ever since he ditched her at a dance, but when Aubrey starts dating Webster’s cousin the two are forced to come to terms with what really happened. Aubrey starts to question her true feelings and must decide to stop running from the truth.

There is so much more to this story than the typical boy meets girl and girl and boy fall in love schtick. There are subjects such as divorce, sexuality, partying, and self reflection that are explored in a realistic and completely unfiltered way. Aubrey and Webster were relatable, endearing in their honesty, and they both grew tremendously as the story progressed. Everything within this book is nostalgic, driven by self exploration, and totally engaging in its ability to explain high school relationships. An intriguing page turner that I surprisingly enjoyed.

3 stars = Solid/Fine/Good

This was a sad and somewhat depressing story for me. There's a lot of relationship angst and break ups. Aubrey is so cynical - for good reason - for someone so young. There's a lot of emphasis here on communication, which is a great message. There's also a lot here about second chances and friendship. I think this will be a good fit for readers looking for a serious story that teases out some of the harder aspects of love and relationships including dating after a lifetime of family conflict that leads to divorce. (Language, sex, LGBTQ+, underage drinking)

This was a cute and fun read. Nothing too remarkable about it. But I think it would be a good book to pull you out of a slump.

I enjoyed the book; however, I found the organization into five parts (presumably, the five ways to fall out of love) confusing as I didn’t feel it fit completely for every relationship and it felt a little forced.

I also forgot what Baye’s theorem was and I didn’t have a great way to locate it if I wanted to look back so I didn’t. I kept hoping the author would remind me and she didn’t. I guess I could have looked it up but I kept thinking it wouldn’t show up again and then it always did. I guess I feel that if this is something that is so central to the protagonist’s character, it should have been “reviewed” at some point.

Overall, an enjoyable read.

Wow is there a lot packed into this cute YA read! You’d think you were getting into a basic teenage romance drama but there is so much more to this story! High school senior year for Aubrey should be fun and carefree and with a boy she likes going to Homecoming with her it has so much potential. Until he stands her up. She is completely blindsided by this and is heartbroken. Add in her parents separating and her childhood friendship falling apart there is so much to digest.

There is a lot of meat to these characters. This is defnilety a character driven story. You have to buy into these characters and the constant misunderstandings that lead to much of the drama that unfolds. There is some great LGBTQIA representation in this story.

There is a lot going on in this love story as well. Some times it is enemies to lovers, then it was a love triangle, then it got oddly steamy for a YA romance. This is definitely try not for younger readers. This is upper edge of YA for sure. I love a steamy romance but since this is written with so much teenage drama that it felt oddly inappropriate. Just be warned if that isn’t your thing. That being said, as a teenager, I would have loved this book.

There is no one Aubrey hates more than Webster, her neighbor and former crush. All of a sudden she finds herself dating his cousin and stuck with him as a partner in a life skills class during her final semester of senior year. As they start to spend more time together, those angry feelings start to change, especially when they learn that incident that lead to their falling out was all just a misunderstanding.

This was all very mediocre. There wasn't much to the characters that made them stand out in a bad or good way. I enjoyed the chemistry between Aubrey and Webster; their banter was fun to read, even though both characters were not the most likable characters. I'm honestly surprised Aubrey wasn't even more closed off or bitter towards relationships because her parents were so toxic. Just straight up harmful for her development. I think it was cool to see a hotshot jock be out as bisexual in high school, and seem to be accepted for it.

The drama just got messier as the story went on, and not really in a good way. In all, this was just an average story with some ok characters, but I don't regret reading it.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an e-arc of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

I don't know what it is about these types of plots that hit me in this way even when I have a decent idea of what I'm getting into. There's just something about (typically) a girl who is trying to figure out and make sense of love and how to find it or ensure that you won't end up hurt that just intrigues me so much. This book was no different but I did enjoy the rivals to lovers/ almost second chance lovers aspect of it.

But I think my favorite thing about this book is the fact that it doesn't demonize being sexually active. Yes this book does have some on page sexually charged scenes so if that is something that's going to bother you, thus is not the book for you. The scenes were done in a really great way and never felt like they were too much.

If the miscommunication trope drives you bonkers, this might not be the book for you as well. I don't want to get into too much detail but our main character does struggle at times with communicating and can sometimes say the wrong thing or interpret things without all the information. It can be a bit much at times bit also finding love in high school is so hard especially when you throw in other complicated relationships and preparing to leave for college and the anxiety that can bring a person considering relationships.

Even though high school has admittedly been more than a few years for me, I did find this book to be relatable and feel like the characters acted like they are. Overall the book hit the mark and was an enjoyable read.