99% Faking It (Dating Dilemmas, #2)

by Chris Cannon

[Julie @ Struck by Stories]

This was a book where the concept turned out to be better than the execution.

When I went into this book, you've gotta understand that I had SUCH high hopes. And okay, maybe that part was on me. But isn't the point of wanting to read a book that it's a book that you're highly anticipating?

Anyways, I'm off-track. Back to the book!

First, we have Lisa, who in addition to being a total overachiever, is also a proud bookworm. Obviously, I found that I could relate to her to a certain extent (what with the whole book-lover thing and all). Personally speaking, I preferred her bookish friend, Nina, to her, but I think that was more of a me thing than anything against the author.

Also, I really liked the concept of a wedding ring phenomenon! For one, I fully agree that if you're already taken, you will easily gather more attention. Furthermore, the execution wasn't all that bad.

And, umm, I think I'm gonna end with the positives there, because there are a couple of other things I'd like to address:

1) I won't say who, but there were scenes in which a boy/man would threaten to harm another boy/man who is bothering another girl. Coming from the perspective of someone who has actually had this offer made to her by another guy, I was a little annoyed that this just got casually brushed off. This is TOXIC masculinity and is NOT! OKAY! Not only could the whole scenario be a misunderstanding, but it can also result in lasting damage that cannot be undone!

2) There were also numerous times when I found Lisa and Matt's to be highly irritating. Throughout the book, their relationship kept going back and forth from I Love You But Too Chicken To Admit It to I'm Dating Someone Else Even Though I'm In Love With You to I Am Madly in Love With You And Need to Prove It To You to I Can't Ever Be With You Because I Would Be Your Second Choiceto Fine, Let's Be Together and THIS ANNOYED ME SO VERY MUCH!

Also, MAJOR spoiler - I hated how it wrapped up. All Matt had to do to get her to date him was BRIBE HER with Harry Potter merch. Like seriously, I know Lisa is a book-lover, but you don't just date someone because they give you bookish merch!]

3) And finally, while I won't mention what the spoilers are, I will say that there are definitely, 100% spoilers in this book for book 1, The Dating Debate. Unfortunately, that one has been on my TBR for a while, and I should have seen that coming, but I feel like it would have been nice if the author included a note in the synopsis that if you don't want spoilers for

Overall, while I didn't enjoy this one as much as I thought I would, I guess I still would recommend it to certain fans of YA romance. Looking forward to going back and reading book 1!