Notable (Smith High, #3)

by Marni Bates and Ni Genovese

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Notable was not what I was expecting at all! It was still a super fun read, but it was way too over-the-top and unbelievable for me to fully get into the story. We learned in Invisible that Chelsea was being shipped off to Cambodia while her parents get divorced. Her father pulled some strings to get her into a study abroad program through the college where he works. It's suppose to let her get her crap together, since she has bad grades and drinks too much. Well, the trip most certainly is educational and allows Chelsea to learn more about her true self, but not in the way her parents were hoping.

I actually loved how Notable was mostly set in Cambodia. I haven't read many books where the characters are traveling, so it was fun. But then things take a serious turn. Chelsea walks in on their supervising professor getting beat up by some thugs. Then she accidentally runs off with some cocaine (or heroin, they're not really sure) that belongs to the biggest drug lord in the country. Oops. So yeah, this plot is completely over-the-top and eye-roll inducing, but I enjoyed reading it. Where my issues with it came in, was that Chelsea decides to handle this situation herself by meeting with the drug lord to exchange his drugs for the teacher instead of going to the embassy for help. Whatever.

The romance in Notable was very light. Chelsea winds up falling for one of the "geeks" on the trip, Houston. The two bicker and straight up argue a lot. I liked how he remembered her from some past event, but she didn't quite remember him until he confronted her. Chelsea has not always been the nicest person, but she does change and feels bad for how she treated Houston. There wasn't too much development though, since the group is busy trying to figure out how to handle this situation, so there's really no time for romance at all.

Notable was fun, if totally unbelievable. I can appreciate it for what it is though, but if only a few plot points had been changed a bit, I would have liked it more. There was too much suspension of belief for my liking.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.