Solving for Ex

by Leighann Kopans

• ISBN10: 1492819689
• ISBN13: 9781492819684
• Publish Date: 2 October 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 340
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Solving for Ex was so freaking cute! It combines two of my favorite things: romance and math! Ashley is a Mathlete and in love her team captain, who also happens to be her neighbor and best friend. In fact, Brendan is really her only friend at her new school after she was bullied so badly that she had to move and transfer. Now, Ashley is just trying to stay under the radar and get into college. Then the twins come to town. Sofia immediately attaches herself to Brendan, and Vincent really seems to be interested in Ashley.

Apparently, Solving for Ex is a modern retelling of Mansfield Park. I'm not familiar with the original at all, so I can't tell you how this one compares. But I can say that I super enjoyed it! I loved that it didn't go the way that I was expecting, but I'm sure if you know the original story, you'll know how it goes. Watching Ashley's dating disasters and her little war with Sofia was a lot of fun. Nothing goes right for this girl in her quest to get a boyfriend and go to the state math competition!

My favorite part of Solving for Ex was that there wasn't any "Waah, my brown hair and brown eyes are so ugly. I'm so plain! Boys don't like me! I'm poor and have ugly clothes!" nonsense from Ashley. She doesn't have the designer clothes like her classmates, but she feels confident in the clothes that she does have. She even looks at herself and admits that she's pretty and that her ass looks great in these jeans. I think that's super important for girls to see! Especially geeky girls! Ashley doesn't get all dolled up, she's just comfortable with who she is and that is wonderful!

Solving for Ex was just a really pleasant surprise. It's geeky and cute and sweet. I think Ashley was an amazing protagonist and not just because she owns her body and appearance. She stands up for herself to Vincent when he's not being the best date. She stands up to Brendan even though she's in love with him. She actually talks to the adults in her life about her problems. She's just awesome!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Sam@WLABB]

A romance built around math -- stupendous! Seriously, "Solving for Ex" was a very sweet and adorable YA romance. I know a lot of people are saying, "if only they had told each other how they felt," blah, blah, blah. However, I thought the responses and actions of Ashley and Brenden were fairly realistic. Ashley left a really tough situation in her hometown to start over at a new high school. Suffering from depression, Brenden was there to help get her back on her feet. Why wouldn't she love him!!! Brenden never showed any interest beyond friendship towards Ashley, so why would she risk their friendship by declaring love??

I actually really enjoyed the friendship between Ashley and Brenden. It was very sweet how they supported each other. I also liked the evolution of Ashley from wounded to fired-up and strong.

Overall: I always love a story with characters who are interesting and relatable. I need to be able to feel something for them and I did find myself sympathetic towards Ashley (I swear, I was a little choked up at times), angry at Brenden, swooning over Vincent, fuming at Sophia, and worried for them all. There was a lot of humor, including nerd humor (yay!)

[bookishzelda]

Solving for Ex is such an adorable book. I love LeighAnn Kopans writing style and the book pacing was perfect. I don’t know if I can say enough good things about it.

I loved Ashley to death. I wanted to crawl into the book and punch anyone that was mean to her. I thought it was so cute that she was crushing on Brendan and trying to figure out how to tell him. It made sense that she didn’t ruin their friendship if he didn’t feel the same at the end. She was just so completely adorable through the whole book and I think that she was so dependant on Brendan that she didn’t even realize she is a tough chick on her own. I loved her reactions and how she handled things. Especially at the end, I wanted to stand up and clap and yell you go girl!

I loved when vincent starts pursuing Ashley. I didn’t want to like him and I was suspicious of him, especially since his twin was out for Brendan. I liked how he brought Ashley a little more out of her shell. Her whole life was revolving around Brendan as her only friend. I liked that Vince was able to get her to try doing different things. Even though they didn’t work out as planned and it wasn’t going to change who she was it was like he took her out of her comfort zone. Even though Brendan was a great support to her during her emotional trauma he shouldn’t be the only support. The situation with the twins and him were almost making her stand on her own more. I felt like she needed that. It made me happy seeing her character develop.

Brendan is adorkable of course but I wanted to slap that boy so many times. What are you doing! Why are you so clueless. Hello in there. Which really I think that he was in the same boat as Ashley. Didn’t want to ruin their friendship. He still acted like a total guy though.

With Sofia, well let’s just say she was the chick that I was most ready to roll up my sleeves and rumble with.

Another huge thing about the book that I really enjoyed was the relationship Ashley has with her Aunt Kristen. I like how they are actually super close and Kristen is really supportive. They might be home every second of every day but they are supportive and expect her to be back in her own bed every night. She’s not frolicking around town with no supervision. It’s just nice to see a strong grown up figure in a book every once in a while.

So I loved Solving for Ex book. I consider this one of my favorite contemporaries because it just felt so different and unique to me. If you are looking for something fun and not super heavy. Then definitely read this book.