This bois was just not it for me. It was unnecessarily long. I did not like the main character, why would she be upset with her friends for having boyfriends! Not the nook for me

This is a high school romance about being the one left out of all the relationships and finding your place in high school and with your group of friends.

"James looks at you like you're his world."

Can I just say, in my opinion, the best authors always come out of wattpad. Lara is ready to have the best senior year ever with her three best friends. But she comes back to school after being gone for the summer, only to learn that all her friends have gotten boyfriends, leaving her out as the iconic third wheel. Of course, Lara isn't about boys, since school is already time consuming, so she doesn't mind as long as she can still have fun with the girls as much as she can. But, as the girls start to flop on her for their boyfriends, Lara starts to wonder if this friend group is falling apart faster than it should be. There were already doubts about whether the girls would still be friends after high school when they're all going off to different places, but it seems like they're already drifting even before graduation. Like that isn't enough stress, Lara's still confused about her life after high school, and what path to take in order to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor. Her anxiety is already at some high levels when university application deadlines start approaching and she still hasn't figured out where to apply. On top of all this, her arch nemesis, James, who she's known since childhood, just won't leave her alone after he also becomes the excluded third wheel in his friend group. To make matters worse, James' mom asks Lara to be James' tutor, and since she can't say no due to his mom being a second mom to her, she's forced to tutor James. The two have constant prank battles and bickering that will make you laugh like no tomorrow. But OF COURSE, as the two spend more time together, Lara realizes that it's James who calms her down during her most stressful times, and who actually understands her more than most people can. But how can she tell her worst frenemy that she has feelings for him, when chances are he might not even be in the same country next year? Also, will telling James she likes him ruin their dynamic forever, especially if he doesn't feel the same way? Can I just say, I love the Filipino representation from this book. GO READ IT!

I found the cover, title, and blurb interesting, hence I requested this book. But the number of characters and style of writing really got to me. I didn't understand what was meant by the author and couldn't grasp any of the events. I DNFed it about 20% through.

I received an e-ARC of this book through its publishers and NetGalley. All opinions in this review are solely mine.

This book wasn't really for me. It was ok but not great. I think I'm just not the target audience. It's a YA romance and I do enjoy some of those but in this one, I really didn't find the main character very likeable. She was rather whinny and annoying. Though the ending wasn't quite what I expected. Overall an OK book but not wonderful.

Honestly, this book was kind of funny. The third-wheeling scenes got me laughing and were completely spot on, but this book was just too YA.. The romance was cringey, and the end ruined the novel for me.

A disappointing read for me.
I usually like delving back into YA once in a while, but in this case it was just too obvious and standard for me. Instead of memories of times gone by and problems lived, it was very predictable and a lot less funny than I had hoped or than the title suggested.
That said, a teen may well enjoy it, but as an adult read it's not captivating enough.

I did not finish this book. It just did not old my attention the way that I was hoping that it would, It was one of those books that I forgot that I had to read, And I tried to get it done before the due date and couldn't finish.

this was a cute YA read that i read so quick. i definitely saw myself in the characters, even as an adult now. I liked the cultural representations and getting to see how important family was to them. This book was a lot of fun and would be a quick read by the beach.

Back into the halls of high school after summer break Lara's world is rocked when the realizes that her three best friends have all coupled up with three boys in their grade. This leaves her as the odd woman out and fending for herself against James, he lone boy of his group of friends. James and Lara have known each other their entire lives. Lara doesn't particularly like James and doesn't really want to spend any alone time with him. She is able to avoid him for the most part, until his Mom recruits her to tutor James. Lara is faced with James, who is quite good-looking, and her own feelings about him.

This is a cute read with some comical parts that made me chuckle. Lara's friends were kinda flakey which made it really feel like high school. I'll tell you right now, I was not a fan of the ending. I wasn't having it. 😂 I am fairly certain I even yelled "NO!" because I was that put out.

Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the Advanced Readers Copy. How To Be the Best Third Wheel by Loridee De Villa is available for purchase now if you're into a cute YA read!

How to Be the Best Third Wheel was such an amazing book. It was laugh-out-loud hilarious but also dealt well with mental health issues, including anxiety, as well as body- and image-issues.

Synopsis: Lara comes back from summer break in the Philippines to find out on the first day of school that all three of her best friends have gotten into relationships over the summer, leaving her as the seventh wheel. Lara tries to navigate her new standing with her friends, all while tutoring James, her constant rival and thorn in her side.

I had such a wonderful time reading this. Lara is hilarious, and I love her relationship with James, how they’re always at each other’s throats but how they also get each other like no one else does. I really enjoyed learning about their backstory. I loved how confident Lara could be and how protective she was of her friends. I also really enjoyed all the secondary and side characters. They all had distinct personalities, which is not something that is easy to achieve in writing side characters. I even loved the teachers, even though they had such little time on the page. I was able to really immerse myself in the world.

The humor was so much fun. I laughed out loud so many times. Even the author’s note in the beginning was hilarious. I highlighted so many of the funny lines, it ended up being practically half the book. But the author also expertly balanced the humor with serious discussions, including discussions on mental health. I also liked that she addressed the ridiculousness of expecting 17-year-olds to have their lives figured out, as we use the number of internships and jobs and scholarships to whether someone deserves to be successful or not, and that’s really so much pressure on anyone, much less a teenager. It made me think about it a lot, and I hope it will help teenagers realize that they don’t need to have life figured out.

I also liked how Lara struggled with trying to figure out what it meant to be true to herself and what was the best thing to do for herself, and not forgiving people just because they’re sorry. I liked that she realized that you don’t have to immediately forgive someone, and you have a right to remain angry if that’s what you can handle right now. You don’t owe anyone else your forgiveness.

I was really anticipating putting this in my favorites of 2022 book list, but then there was the ending. I think it was well-written. I think it was a totally justifiable route for Lara and James to take. However, it was not the ending that I was expecting or wanting, and while it definitely showed Lara’s character development, it really changed how I thought about the novel. I wish it had had some more closure, with an epilogue maybe. So while I think it was well-written and that a lot of people will like the ending, that part wasn’t for me, and lowered my anticipated rating of five stars down to four stars.

This book was a DNF (did not finish), it failed to keep my attention and I couldn't really connect to the story so I stopped reading after the first 50 pages.

This book wasn't a great fit for me as a reader. That being said, there were still things I liked.
De Villa does a great job of showing bicultural characters living their everyday lives where the plot isn't focused on any sort of trauma related to their culture or identity. I loved the incorporation of Tagalog, and the general representation was great.
This book also played on some fun tropes, including an enemies to lovers plot.
I found many of the characters realistically flawed such that they were relatable, but I struggled with inconsistent characterization. I would have liked to see more conversations and resolution with Lara and her friend group. I did enjoy the portrayals of Lara's family dynamic; the emotional connection between these characters really shone the most for me.
This book features a more leisurely pace.

As someone who is always the 3rd wheel, I loved this book simply based on the title alone. The YA feel of the story made it a fast read, and while it wasn't earth shattering & followed the plot of most romcoms, I still thought it was adorable!

I loved the cultural representation within the book, as well as the importance of family within the story.

If you're looking for a fun easy read, this is it!

This book fell back heavily on early 2010s plot devices, like the “not like other girls” vibe of the main character. It was disappointing to see that make a comeback in 2022.

This was a sweet, easy, and diverse read. Lara returns home after a two month trip to visit her family in the Philippines, but when she returns she discovers her best friends have all got boyfriends. This comes as a shock to her as whilst she was away, there was no way to stay in touch with her friends. Her friends are a group of four, and the boyfriends are part of a group of four, which inevitably forces her to spend time with James, her childhood friend who she drifted apart from.

‘Between you and me, I think he really likes you.’

I loved the premise of this book, but at times something about it felt off. It was very cheesy and there were many moments when I had second-hand embarrassment! I know if I had read this when I was 13-15, I would have been obsessed, so I think a lot of it rides on maturity level, and the targeted age range for this book!

I don’t know how I feel about Lara’s friendship group. I think all of them aren’t the greatest of friends at times. The girls constantly ditch Lara and their plans to hang out with their boyfriends, which is just not okay. But also Lara isn’t considerably welcoming and accepting of the boyfriends at the beginning! This does eventually improve, but I don’t think I’d want them as my friends!

‘Our kiss is the kind of kiss that makes you forget what numbers are and what adding is and even what your own name is.’

There were many cute moments in this book between James and Lara. James convinces Lara to tutor him, which causes them to spend a lot of time together and get to know each other again. This causes Lara’s deeply buried feelings for James to resurface, which she tries to manage over the course of the novel.

Full of cultural diversity and a stunning portrayal of the enemies to lovers trope, this is a gorgeous YA romance about two childhood friends who are sworn enemies until all of their friends start dating each other: we go on a journey of them becoming friends again, and taking in love, and while it’s predictable in a YA kind of way it’s a cute story and quite well written.

Whoa! What a ride. It was very fast-paced. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and how real the story felt. The author did a great job painting the setting, so it was easy for me to visualize the scene played out before me. I recommend giving this one a chance!

Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book. I like the family-oriented MC and some side characters, but I couldn't stay interested in the characters. The story was somewhat cliche and was really predictable. I would've liked this probably at 13. So, if you're thirteen...

2 stars.

This was a very easy read, a light hearted rom com read. It was just what i needed after a heavy fantasy read, it brought me back to normal with its cheesy-ness.
I felt that it was a little over the top sometimes and the friends of the MC was slightly toxic at times (is this realistic?) and that the MC herself was too forgiving of this but I guess that's the main point of the book, being the third wheel.
It was enjoyable and definitely what I needed to take a break from ready fantasy , a little bit of contemporary.