This book has quite literally started my healing process. I felt so seen by this book and i was shocked by all the commentary it had because I entered this book thinking it would be a fun quick cute romcom and boy was I wrong. A warning to everyone who picks up this book: it had me SOBBING in the middle of the night because the writing just hit me and I was relating to the characters so hard. I loved this book so much. I already want to have a physical copy to reread and annotate. 4.5 stars.

Spoiler Free Review

How to be the best third wheel is a cute contemporary novel that follows the main character Lara who is a high school girl that will be going into her senior year. When her and her family take a trip to the Philippines, Lara doesn’t expect any changes when she comes back. Little did she know, while she was on vacation her 3 best friends had all gotten boyfriends. When Lara got back she soon realized how much of a third wheel she was when all of her friends tried their best to include her during their dates. We meet a character James who in a way, is also a third wheel. Lara finds herself getting interested in him by the day, though she resents the idea of herself liking him. Continue reading the book to read about the interesting ways Lara will deal with third wheeling.

To me, this book was an easy short read. There was typical teenage drama & emotion. What I did like about this book was that it was relatable. I could relate to Lara’s worries & hopes. I liked the filipino culture representation in the book too. Similarly, another thing I had liked was how each chapters title was a tip on “How to be the best third wheel”. My reasoning for 3 stars was due to how I found parts of the book to be cringe and predictable. Finally, there was much character improvement through out the book which I had liked.

Do I recommend this book? Yes, to those who are looking for a nice YA novel.
Overall, this book was good, just didn’t capture my attention as much as I hoped.

e-ARC provided By Netgalley and Publisher. (Thank you!)
I received a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are mine.
EXPECTED RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2022
REVIEWED: 1/7/2021

I requested this one purely on the blurb. Don’t get me wrong. I do like the cover too! It’s just the blurb kept screaming at me. I wasn’t even going to request it because it was being published by Wattpad, but I really wanted to give it a try regardless of that. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up working for me.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Lara. Her story is essentially a guide for the person who is the third wheel of their friend group. It kind of reads this way when it comes to the titles that are in the book. There is an introduction as well that explains her definitions. She wasn’t a bad character or anything but some of her antics were childish and felt below her age.

The plot is filled with a lot of tropes and I wouldn’t say that it brought anything new to the table. It does have tropes that I enjoy which is a plus, but I didn’t like her love interest. He was a dillweed and I honestly wouldn’t have forgiven him as much as she did. She should have just cut her losses. Because of that, the plot is filled with a lot of drama. You could say that it is overly dramatic. Sadly, that’s something I don’t like to see. It takes me out of the story and just feels too unbelievable. I just don’t enjoy it.

Overall, this was just an okay book. Others may enjoy it more than me. I also didn’t mesh with the writing style and that’s definitely a me thing.

“Why is it so hard for us to spend time together now? Are they simply tired of our group? Do they laugh more with their boyfriends than they do when we’re together? Is our friendship not interesting enough for them?”

Thank you, Netgalley, for the arc!

Filipino MCs always get bonus points. So do Canadian MCs. So this book scored those right off the bat. Lara is like me for other reasons so I appreciate being attacked. (Fictional men are better, though). I related to her struggles with being a third-wheel and her imposter syndrome. I wish we got more on the latter.

I do like the format of the story with all the tips, but the flow was off. Nothing was cohesive and the parts felt choppy. A lot of the dialogue was cringey, especially with some of the teachers.

Lara, girl, you need new friends. You too, James, but mostly Lara. I know they were there for you in the end, but seriously. And their boyfriends were the same dude in different fonts.

Possible but I hate how it was very obvious that she’d end up with James from the start. Although it was super cute how they were both third-wheels. They were really cute and I like how they developed through the story. I think this could’ve been a cool fake dating story. But was all the cheating drama necessary? I mean, sure but why? I wanted to like the dude. I do appreciate how this book didn’t make them ultimately end up together by the end. It was different and bittersweet, and I respect that.

But overall, it was a nice and enjoyable book.

After a summer spent in the Philippines with her family, Lara de la Cruz is eager to start her senior year and, most importantly, reunite with her three besties, Carol, Jasmine, and Kiera. Of course summer is the season of change, and Lara knew she’d have to get caught up on the major updates, hot gossip, and other shenanigans she may have missed. But what she did not expect was to show up on the first day of school to all three of her friends now in relationships.

Warning you are not going to want to step away from this book! It will go with you everywhere for the day. I would say that you should enjoy this lovely little story. Carol is a firecracker watch out for her! There's a couple of times you may cringe in your skin but that's high school (well for most of us anyway). All in all I liked the book and would rec.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Lara spent the summer before senior year visiting family in the Philippines, and expected that nothing much would have changed when she returned. So it's a shock when her three best friends all have found boyfriends over the summer, and she's the third wheel - or more like the seventh wheel. And what makes it even worse is that the boyfriends are all friends with her arch nemesis, James, who is third wheeling too. Now that the two groups are mixed, Lara can't escape James, and the feeling she pushed aside when she was younger are coming back.

I was really surprised by this book. I was expecting it to be a decent contemporary, probably a little cringy in places, and though that did happen at times, I also couldn't put the book down once I started it. I really enjoyed all of the characters in the book. Lara was a little abrasive at times, but she was dealing with a lot of change, and she wanted to keep the status quo. However, it read like a real book, with real characters and scenarios. Okay, it was cringy at times, and a bit over the top at others, but all in all, it really suited the characters and the setting of it. The only real thing I disliked was the ending, though I think it was probably included to make the book feel more realistic, rather than fiction? I don't know, but it was a solid debut in any case.

I loved the premise of the book, but in the end, the writing was just too dramatic for me. (Which totally makes sense given that it's YA -- I probably would have loved it more when I was a teen.) So while it wasn't a fit for this reader, I think if polished up, it could be a really cute story.

This was... interesting. I'm not quite sure what I had in mind when I asked for this ARC, but I didn't anticipate the level of drama in this. (I think I selected this book because the character on the cover looked Indian? But of course, now I know that it's actually Filipino)

Lara's mortal enemy is James, which is terrible considering that their mothers are the biggest best friends - and even planned thier pregnancies together. James is constantly harassing Lara, and Lara obviously cannot let it go, so when James' mom pleads with her to please tutor James in math, Lara's first instinct is no. But of course, because their mothers are the best friends they are, Lara reluctantly admits to the task. It's not like she can go to any of her three friends for support though because, coincidentally, they're dating James' three friends. And while, yes, being in a new relationship can be busy, they almost completely ignore Lara, and it seems that no one is there for her at all - except James. And the more her friends seem to ignore her, the more Lara seems to realize... maybe James isn't so bad after all.

I just felt like this book was so cliche, over-the-top, and dramatic, but then again, I also really hate enemies-to-lovers tropes and everyone is clearly obsesssed with that, so... I have a feeling that most people will like this book though. Its clearly not meant for me because of the amount of drama (and how Lara "supposedly" intimidates her friends' boyfriends to the point where they are constantly curling up into a fetal position and addressing her as a military general *eyeroll*), but I'm sure this is what most people love, so I won't dissuade them if this becomes the next Twilight or something.

(I will confess though, I really liked how they had entire conversations in Fillipino but had the translations in paranthesis for non-speakers. I really like cultural threads through a book.)

While not my favorite YA read but it was a cute quick read and sometimes that's all you need at the time.

'How to Be the Best Third Wheel' is honestly the best book I've read in a long while. I laughed out loud through 3/4 of the book, I was also sad at times but most of all I totally related to the main characters. Lara and James have known each other all their lives, first they were best friends, then enemies to lovers. The book shows how much we get attached to people, how much they mean to us and how really important are relationships betweem friends and family members. I loved the book for hilarious dialogues between Lara and James but also for the very real representation of teenagers' lives. The book focuses on how we make mistakes just because something stops us from proper communication, how we support our friends no matter what, how forgiveness works and how our family can understand us without words. I loved it for the ultimte warmth, wit and being true to life. I rarely give 5 stars out of 5, but this book deserves them all and more!

What an emotional rollercoaster! An outstanding book and I'm out of words to appreciate the author and this wonderful book. I never expected the author to pick up a simple topic of teenage love, crush and friendships and plot them so well. Every character had the simplicity yet their importance wasn't diminished. The flow of writing was brilliant and every scene was so beautiful emoted. The depth of the writing was great and the humor wasn't overstuffed. I could relate to almost all the characters and their reactions in every chapter. Hats off to the author. A well deserved 5 star.

2.75 stars ⭐️.
First of all the book has many hilarious moments and I loved both the friendship and familial bonds in this. This book is a cultural delight and written beautifully. Also the third wheel scenarios are spot on.
But..
There is a reason I stay away from YA romance, I have both a teenage brother and a sister at home so almost all the problems faced in the book is what I face in my everyday life at home. Having reached a certain age I now find it silly (sorry in advance to whichever teens who are going to read this.) it doesn’t help that we have significant age gap. So this book didn’t resonate with me that much.
Also I hate the trope heroine secretly in love with hero but he dates many girls and have fling etc. it also didn’t help that heroine witnesses him kissing two different OW’s. Technically it’s not cheating here as they were not dating at the time but both had feelings for each other and heroine was so hurt. I HATED THAT PART.
Do you know what I hated more? THE ENDING.

And no freaking epilogue! may be there will be a part two. But doubtful if I’ll be reading it or not.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for letting me review this book!
4 stars
Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions!
Honestly, I was intrigued by the cover and premise of the book and it seriously did not fail, at least for me. This was super cute YA rom-com following our mc Lara who becomes the third wheel of her friend group as they all decide to get into relationships as if not having one friend being in relationship is bad enough and having to third wheel in that relationship she has third wheel for her other two friends. UGH! I felt for our mc being the "third wheel" and it was perfectly described. The romance between Lara and James was a cute enemies to lovers but there were times where I wanted to pull my hair but that's what makes it good book, when I have the urge to scream or pull my hair.

Lara is coming back to school after a long holiday in the Philippines, unaware that her three best friends have secured boyfriends over the holidays. Life isn't easy for Lara — she's now the odd one out, often left with James, who she definitely doesn't have feelings for. Nope. Not at all.

I first read this book when it was up on Wattpad, and I'm happy to say that the quality of the manuscript has much improved since then. This book was such a fun read — I loved Lara and her struggles (she felt like such a real and relatable character) and I loved the ending. It was bittersweet but realistic, and added another layer of charm to this book.

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the weaving of Filipino culture into the book. It wasn't at all forced and flowed so naturally; I was so intrigued by all the traditions and names (Lolo, Lola, etc) and their tight-knit community which is so different to my own.

Despite all these pros, there were a few cons in the book — some of the side characters were really similar to one another, so much so that if their names weren't mentioned I would have mistaken them for one another... however there was a large cast of characters so this wasn't a big issue, especially as the main focus was on Lara and James. The romance between them was believable and cute, but there was one thing that happened that I really didn't like and didn't think was necessary to the plot (which is a spoiler, so I'll be leaving it out of my review. Rest assured that it happens near the ending of the novel, and the ending saved that part of the book for me). I hate books that use that as a plot point, but I still decided to give this book 4 stars because of how much fun I had reading it. I read it all in one sitting and was on the verge of tears at the end. I also thought the pacing of this book was excellent.

Loridee De Villa has come so far as an author, and you can really see her own unique style when reading this. It's much more polished and effective than it used to be, and even though she remains in the constraints of the YA Genre (shorter sentences, fast pace, lots of dialogue and internal monologue) her style still shines through.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I would definitely read another novel by Loridee.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that I read in a couple of hours as I found it to be an easy, predictable and drama packed read. I connected well with the protagonist, Lara, and found her to be a very real take on someone who is going through the third wheel dynamic. She faces emotions of jealousy, anger, isolation and worry and I'm thankful the author didn't hesitate to portray these rather than showing her to be a calm and collected individual. I also appreciated that Lara had goals and dreams of her own, which she stood by and believed in.

Many of the scenes were true to the typical high school dilemmas where actions take place and consequences are ignored, leaving people hurt and betrayed, the ending was as aptly written. For a true romantic like me, this book may not click but given the circumstances in this book, the author certainly made some practical and true to Lara's character style choices.

I want to start by thanking @netgalley and @wattpadbooks for giving me and advanced copy of this book.

The story follows Lara and her group of friends as they navigate through their senior year in high school. They all had planned to spend their last summer going on adventures and doing all sorts of activities, but there’s only one problem, after Lara comes back from her trip, she finds her three friends are now in relationships, all with the the best friends of her number one nemesis who she has known since childhood…and whom she has also grown to hate.

I’ll admit this story had quite a few stereotypes in terms of the relationship between the main characters and the way some of the characters acted, however, there was one thing I truly did not expect to see as the story progressed and that was how much I related to Lara. I know people will see her reactions and feeling as exaggerated and maybe even childish (which, if you do, please remember this is a YA book), but the truth is that at some point or another, I too felt like an outsider and had trouble finding where I belonged and whether it was just me making things up.
I applaud the journey that we follow with Lara and also the diverse characters that are present in it. It also has a very realistic ending which I also didn’t expect but I am actually thankful that the author decided to end it that way. Overall, a quick romance that explores strong friendships and the doubts and internal conflicts that come when you’re trying to find your place in the world at a young age.

How to be the best third wheel by Loridee De Villa

From the get-go this book was fun and enjoyable. I loved Lara’s character, because she describes how so many teenagers feel about so many things: Changing friendships, new-found relationships, indecisiveness about the future and so much more. I also loved how the author made Lara’s culture a significant part of her life. I think that’s why I enjoyed the book as much as I did because a lot of it relates to me now.

Even though it was definitely a very cliché book, with a lot of repeated ideas you can’t help smiling. There was also the friends-to-strangers-to-enemies-to-lovers trope I loved. There were parts that were cute, heart-breaking, frustrating and very honest which I loved. The writing was not forced (which I found a major problem in a lot of Romance books) and everything flowed naturally.

And I honestly don’t know if I was just feeling overly emotional or I grew a serious attachment to the characters but towards the end I actually had tears in my eyes. The realism of the ending was something I also really appreciated, where the characters learn to put themselves before others.

I will definitely be purchasing this book because it was both enjoyable and reminded me why I love high-school, teenage-drama books. I would definitely recommend this to YA readers who like those cute, cliché romance books.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for the eARC!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
3.7/5

You get exactly what you get with this one.

It seemed cute. The cover is nice. I really liked the description as someone who is always the third wheel I felt I could relate. However, this wasn’t what I hoped it would be. There’s nothing particularly unique about the story. It’s fun and light to read sure but the lead and the love interest aren’t very likable. To be frank, none of the cast was very likable to me.

But most of all James was the worst. I couldn’t get behind his character at all, even in his sweet moments. Their relationship wasn’t developed enough for me to put aside his behavior.

Thanks to NetGally for this arc in exchange for my unbiased review.

3.5 ⭐

How to Be The Best Third Wheel is a friends to enemies to frenemies to lovers, YA romantic comedy.
It follows Lara, coming back from a 2 month vaycay to find that her three best friends have each found themselves in a relationship. Quite distraught by the news, Lara now has to handle being "alone", feeling left out and being the third wheel alongside childhood best friend - now enemy - James, who does everything to annoy her yet seems to be the only one there for her (even through all his torturing digs).

Let me just start off by saying the absolute pure torture of the frustration i felt while reading this! This was that typical YA high schoolers being oblivious for their actions towards their best friend. I highly sympathized with Lara, and i think that's why i found it so frustrating but yet...i couldn't put it down.

It did read like wattpad writing, quite amateurish but personally i liked that because it was easy to get through. there were some childish actions happening (for example gripping a guy by his shirt, and a character dropping down into a fetal position out of fear...). easily able to overlook those things when the story picked up.

when it came to Lara's friendships, i was quite happy with how that went. Did i want more groveling? Absolutely! but they pulled through in the end.
the second part of the story just created emotional havoc. i found myself heavily frustrated towards a guy i was rooting for. his reasoning for certain actions was absolute bullsh*t and so male typical that he just couldn't redeem himself to me fully.

classifying the ending...it's definitely a HFN. I'm satisfied with the ending but yet also sad because it's still two people who shared a childhood together and the endind just screamed FINAL.
It's a very realistic ending, romantics (like myself) may not like it but in reality it was just the perfect ending for those two...for now

*𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

"How to Be the Best Third Wheel" by Loridee De Villa was a quick, fun read that hit on a lot of different topics and themes. Lara was a very relatable and likable protagonist, and I enjoyed watching her mature throughout the story. Having perviously read this book on Wattpad, it was exciting to see how far the story has come. That being said, I did find the plot a bit simplistic and the writing style a little stilted.

Lara reminded me a lot of myself when I was a teenager in high school, and her gang of friends and their "boyfries" were hilarious to read about. Her love interest, however, was more of a mixed bag. There were times when I liked James, and others when I wanted to join Lara's friend Carol in punching him. James hurt Lara time and again, and I wished Lara had enough confidence to stand up for herself. I also feel like a lot the the issues Lara had with her friends, James, and family could have been resolved through better communication. I know it wouldn't have made for as good of a story, but it was frustrating to watch the drama unfold and know it could be resolved if people sat down and actually talked about it.

I enjoyed the amount of humor worked into this story, and it was fun to watch some of the interactions between Lara and James. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else about this book that made it stand out. The positive representation was nice to see, and the realistic setting helped add credibility to the story, but ultimately this book wasn't for me. I know others will enjoy this story, and I hope "How to Be the Best Third Wheel" finds a home on many reader's shelves.

I received an ARC of this book curtesy of NetGalley and the publisher; all opinions are my own.