Anything To Have You

by Paige Harbison

Natalie is the quiet one, college bound and happy to stay home and watch old movies. Her friend Brooke is the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be. Then it happens-- one crazy night that Natalie can't remember and Brooke's boyfriend, Aiden, can't forget. Suddenly there's a question mark in Natalie and Brooke's friendship that tests everything they thought they knew about each other and has both girls discovering what true friendship really means.

• ISBN10: 148872072X
• ISBN13: 9781488720727
• Publish Date: 1 February 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Permanently Withdrawn
• Out of Print: 17 October 2024
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: Harlequin
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/02/anything-to-have-you-by-paige-harbison.html
Let me start by adding that this book isn't at all horribly written, it was actually difficult to put down and I read it almost in one sitting. It isn't the characters themselves as such, but the actual storyline. It's ridiculous. It highlights unprotective sex, cheating, lies, secrets, binge drinking, drug taking, and no parental guidance. Natalie has no backbone, and although she is seemingly happy being on the outside of the teen social scene, all it took was one party and she morphed into a binge drinking idiot. She allows Brooke to plan her life and push her towards dating Eric, even though she has no interest in him whatsoever. Brooke clearly has issues, and neither Natalie or Aiden could take time out from their lives to give her a harsh dose of reality? Without intervening, they've become enablers.

Aiden seems to be the neglected boyfriend who is the only one who is still in the relationship. He's the nice, sensible one who doesn't deserve to be treated as an accessory. But don't be fooled, he's an asshole wrapped in an attractive package. My biggest issue, that although these are very real situations that teens navigate each day through the choices they make, there doesn't seem to be any learning curve here. Just carry on and it'll sort itself out. There are a few instances of living with the consequences of your actions, but considering the intended teen audience, I couldn't see the positive message it should have portrayed. Girls with no self respect, sex that could be considered as rape when one participant has blacked out, the lying, cheating and no fear of repercussions, as there were none.

It really does undo what mothers are trying to instill in their impressionable teen girls. I take no pleasure in writing a negative review, but sadly I can't imagine this book not leaving female readers outraged

[Leah]

When I spotted Paige Harbison’s third novel Anything To Have You on NetGalley, I thought it sounded really great. I love novels about friendships, I think they’re the best kind of novel, and I do like a good novel about a toxic friendship and this sounded as if it might veer into that territory. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into, not having read any of her other two novels but she comes from good writing pedigree as her Mom is none other than Chick Lit author Beth Harbison, so I couldn’t wait to see for myself what Paige was all about.

Anything To Have You is your typical teen novel in that best friends Nat and Brooke are torn over the same guy. Brooke’s currently dating Aiden, but Nat’s had feelings for him since she met him, so when they end up at a party all three of them and Brooke and Aiden have a fight and Brooke goes off with some other girlfriends, Nat finds herself drunk, and with Aiden and some other guys. When she wakes up the next morning she’s got no idea what she’s done, having blacked out. As the semester wears on, Brooke’s and Nat’s friendship starts to fall apart as Nat falls further for Aiden, and Brooke finds herself at the center of attention with Reed, the hottest, most troublesome guy at school, even though she’s still dating Aiden. Things are about to turn even more on their head when Nat learns a troubling secret.

For the most part, I enjoyed Anything To Have You, I quite enjoyed Nat’s narration, I enjoyed Nat as a character and I did sort of root for her and Aiden, even though I am a firm believer that a guy should never come between two best friends. I did, however become less interested in the novel when Brooke took over narrating duties. I just never warmed to her as she seems super shallow, and full of herself, as if a rainbow shines out of her backside. That definitely lessened my enjoyment, because for the entire duration of her narrative she seemed to spend it flirting with guys who weren’t her boyfriend or drinking more than your average alcoholic. I would probably have preferred if the entire book has just stuck with Natalie, or even switched to Aiden, I didn’t feel that Brooke added anything to proceedings.

I’m quite surprised that the official synopsis of the novel gives away the fact Aidan and Nat slept together as that’s never made entirely clear until the end of the novel and thus, is kind of spoiler. All we know is they wake up in bed together after a house party, hardly substantial evidence. I admit it was also a bit skeevy as Nat didn’t even remember it. But, all in all, I am glad I read the book. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a solid 3 star read, and would mean I will look into Paige’s other novels. There were just bits I would have personally changed and I would have so loved Aidan’s perspective on the whole thing, it would have added more than Brooke offered, let’s me honest. But, a solid YA read nevertheless.