Why I Loathe Sterling Lane

5 STARS!!
I LOVED this book! It was immensely entertaining and smart. It helped that enemies-to-love is one of my most favorite romance tropes. This book took that trope to such a height, I couldn't imagine a way down. Yet, Ingrid Paulding pulled it off with aplomb. I mentioned that this book was smart. I love when an author doesn't question the intelligence of their young adult readers and creates a non-patronizing story. One that not only entertains its intended audience, but also older readers. Yes, the main characters give off Ferris Bueller vibes by out-smarting adults with their craftiness and skirting the rules, but those were some of the most enjoyable moments. A must-read for those who enjoy YA romantic comedies.

This book was the cutest contemporary that I have read in a very long time. I got some Jamie McGuire, Beautiful Disaster vibes. I loved the dynamic between Sterling and Harper and how their rivalry very obviously turned into more. I loved how the chapter titles were reasons for us to know why Harper loathed Sterling. My favorite reason was reason number 24- "it was a teeny-tiny kiss-" that had me laughing out loud. I would definitely love to check out more from Ingrid Paulson. 5 out of 5 stars. A+ rating for sure!

Harper Campbell like to play by rules. Her life is filled with it and she's faithfully following them since. But newly enrolled Sterling Lane just came into her world and rocked them every moment. Not to mention that he's causing her brother trouble. He knew it was his fault, and she will do anything to protect her brother. But - Sterling Lane seemed to know how to twist things and make her culprit. She tries to expose him for what he is - but every prank keeps coming back to her.

One by one, she breaks her precious rules - if only to help her brother who seemed to be in trouble, but would not tell her anything. Now, she teams up with her ultimate enemy to get her brother out of the mess he's in. Soon, she realized that there was more to this troublemaker after all, and maybe, just maybe there is something similar to the both of them that what she realized.

Harper is one of those straight-A, know-it-all students that you hate in high school. It was hard to like her at first - but as the story goes on, you will understand where she's coming from and why she's doing what she does. She just wants to protect her brother. The more she spends time with Sterling, as well as with her new, unexpected roomie, Kendall - the more her walls crumble. By the end - you will actually like her. Especially when she does the unexpected.

Sterling Lane is definitely what Harper needs - a fun thing in her life. If only he doesn't antagonize her. He was a surprise. Since I have not read from his Point of View - everything he does is a surprise - he would pull one prank after the other. But there was so much more in him than that, and he's just amazing. He has reasons for doing things, and just like our Harper, he's as loyal as heck,

So yes, I enjoyed reading this book. It comes with a whole lot of surprises, and twists that will have you laughing, and cringing at times. I enjoyed the characters, they were just awesome. They brought change in each other's lives - they didn't really want the other to change. They preferred the way they are, and watching Harper finally fell, and watching her fall is just spectacular. She deserves some happiness in her life.

My lessons learned: blurbs can be deceiving and to let go of my unjust prejudices against the YA genre.

To be honest, when I got approved for the ARC, I wasn't even sure any more why I'd requested it in the first place. While I'm gradually warming up to contemporary YA, I'm not usually big on hate-to-love romance, and the synopsis sounded so much like petty high school teen drama. The only reason I even started this book when I did was to get it over with.
Boy, was I ever wrong. Ingrid Paulson blew me out of the water with this one.

So there's Harper. Harper has a firm set of rules she lives and acts by, never straying from them even if that makes her a school pariah. That is, until Sterling Lane, the new boy at her boarding school starts pushing her buttons in a way no one ever has, and her twin brother Cole gets tangled up in trouble that might get him expelled. Convinced that it's not a coincidence that all the mess began at the exact same time that Sterling started hanging out with Cole, Harper starts her own investigations on the charming manipulator. He doesn't know what he's in for.
And thus starts a thrilling and hilarious battle of wills, pranks and emotions none of them would have ever expected.

If there's one thing I've learned since I started reading YA and NA novels, it's how hard it is to pull off the bad boy vs. good girl trope without getting lost in a sea of clichés. There's just too much that can go wrong, such a fine line between bad boy and insufferable, obnoxious douchebag, and between good girl and stuffy, boring weakling. I don't know how she did it, but Paulson walked that line with such an unexpected ease that I often felt like I should have, if not hated, then at least disliked the two protagonists, but for the love of me just couldn't.
Don't get me wrong, there were times when I was mentally begging Harper to punch the smug smirk out of Sterling's face, or when I just couldn't help but roll my eyes at her rule-abiding perfectionist ways. But the thing is, I still loved them for their personalities and their flaws. Both of them were absolutely amazing characters.

I might even go as far as to claim that Harper and Sterling are my new favorite romance couple. The banter, the tension, their strong wills and wits. I had so much fun reading this book, switching between aggravation, swooning and cracking up so many times I never knew what to expect next. I loved how they both influenced each other for the better without even noticing it.

Add to that the fact that this book didn't have the typical YA feeling to it, and I was a goner from the start.
The characters were mature (most of the time) and strong-willed, there were no bitchy co eds, no jealousies, nothing that felt contrived only to add more drama to the mix. What you'll get instead is a devilishly funny yet profound hate-to-love romance, a couple to ship, an unlikely but beautiful friendship, a well-construed mystery, a prank war, few but thus all the more lovable supporting characters and a touching twin sibling relationship.

I seriously can't wait to read more of this author's amazing writing.

Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy—academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s Sterling’s fault, and to protect her brother, she vows to take him down. As she exposes his endless school violations, he keeps striking back, framing her for his own infractions. Worst of all, he’s charmed the administration into thinking he’s harmless, and only Harper sees him for the troublemaker he absolutely is.

As she breaks rule after precious rule in her battle of wits against Sterling and tension between them hits a boiling point, she’s horrified to discover that perhaps the two of them aren’t so different. And maybe she doesn't entirely hate him after all. Teaming up with Sterling to save her brother might be the only way to keep from breaking the most important rule—protecting Cole.

What I really love about books like this is that at the end the hero has a story that shows he has redemptive qualities. I love Sterling and I might be in the minority, but I found him endearing. He reminded me of a friend I grew up with. That kid that always tugged your pigtails and yet picked relentlessly on you and then fell in love with Harper. Oh, Harper, you're a mess!! You need to throw your rules away girl!! Just let go of your 537 rules and let your hair down some. You probably have a rule that helps you pee. That's how rule focused you are. I know girls like this. When Harper starts to loosen up and give Sterling back some of what he's dishing out...I wanted to cheer. They are both a breath of fresh air. I found a couple editing issues but the truth is - it just didn't detract me enough to go...subtract a star - sure. I thought that the content was enough that it made up for it. The heat between these two was off the charts, but the sexual content was minimal. I thought it would be appropriate for 18 and over ages and maybe even 16. Well done and I would definitely read anything else by this author!!

I was given a copy of this ARC from the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review. All of the above comments are my express opinions and no one else's.

I found this book quirky and enjoyable to read. I was able to read it quickly which was nice. I loved this story though.

I really did not like the main character in the beginning. She annoyed the crap out of me, just making really bad choices. Let me put it this way, it was like she was playing poker and everytime she got a decent hand she would say "Oh, there's no way you'll beat me!" and flash them her hand so they all end up folding and she gets nowhere. That's what this reminded me of. She does get better, she loosens up and I found her a lot more relatable after she stopped doing that.

I really loved Sterling. I especially loved his chemistry with Harper. A lot of the times chemistry in a love hate relationship can feel a bit forced, but here it seemed very natural.

I loved Kendall. She was this pretty popular rich girl, but she wasn't a complete stereotype. Typically, she would have been vapid and mean. While she was a tiny bit vapid, she did have a personality. With hopes and dreams and aspirations, so not very vapid.

I enjoyed the sibling relationship between Cole and Harper. I liked how they looked out for each other. Whenever I read a book with siblings that are boys and girls, I feel like it's almost always the boy who is constantly being over protective of the girl, that was flipped in this book. I enjoyed that.

Overall, I think this book was well written and completely enjoyable. I'm definitely going to be reading more of this authors works.