"When Lainey gets dumped, she employs an ancient Chinese warlord's tactics to get her ex-boyfriend back"--
Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her-- no reasons, no warnings, and in public no less! With help from her friend Bianca-- and a copy of The Art of War-- she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back. Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. Can fighting for what she wants help Lainey figure out what she really needs?
Well, well, well, wasn’t this a surprisingly enjoyable read? I went into The Art of Lainey knowing precisely two things: 1) it’s a contemporary novel, and 2) it’s about a girl who takes advice from The Art of War. Of course I was intrigued, but I went into the book with certain reservations.
First of all, I was expecting Lainey to annoy me to no end with her strategy to win back the guy who dumped her. That kind of storyline is usually frustrating, because I tend to spend the majority of the time rolling my eyes at the main character while she jumps through hoops to win back a guy who is really no good for her. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by how the whole situation is handled in this book. Sure, Lainey is trying to win back her boyfriend, but she’s very strategic and intelligent about it, and along the way she learns a lot about herself. I thought this aspect of the storyline worked very well with Lainey’s character development, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
