Publishers Weekly
07/11/2016
Viv Galdi has had her heart broken by Jake, a boy who hooked up with her for a week over the summer only to ignore her once school started up. To get over Jake, the high school junior decides to crush on someone with less “zing” to protect her heart, devising a list of mediocre crush candidates—careful to avoid including Dallas, an attractive “McNerd” who’s new at school. Roberts (Playing the Player) hits all the expected notes in this straightforward romance: Viv and Dallas resist and misunderstand each other for the bulk of the novel, even as they flirt and as Viv tests the waters with her crush candidates—with advice from Dallas. Avid readers will appreciate the many literary threads Roberts weaves into the story: she gives Viv and Dallas jobs in Viv’s mother’s independent bookstore, her mother writes “a semi-famous series of mystery novels” under a pseudonym, and Viv is a book blogger and runs a romance book club. Though the novel sticks to a fairly predictable course, it’s upbeat and entertaining throughout. Ages 12–up. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Sept.)
School Library Journal
09/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—A light love story, full of fun, flirty, and friendly characters. Vivian is crushed on the first day of school when she learns her summer fling with Jake was only that—a temporary romance. She concocts a plan to seek a replacement crush: someone who doesn't register more than a five on her "zing" meter. Her friends Jaz and Amy help out with the plan. All proceeds rationally until a new boy, Dallas, shows up at school. Viv is drawn to him but tamps down those feelings even as time and time again the two are unwittingly thrown together. When they finally kiss and Viv's zing meter goes haywire, she knows that for logic to prevail, she must push Dallas away. An incognito rock star, a few beach parties, and a talent show are thrown in to upset Viv's logical plan. The predictable yet playful plot will suck in romance seekers. Vivian's references to her feelings are often laugh-out-loud funny: "My hormones were like drunken monkeys in the cockpit of my heart." Even though the characters are high school students, the language stays fairly tame. One attempted rape scene, while not explicit and certainly needed to further reveal character, is loaded with enough realistic tension to make this better suited for older readers. VERDICT Teens will see themselves in these characters and will root for a Dallas/Vivian match from the first chapter. A recommended choice for romance shelves.—Lisa Ehrle, Falcon Creek Middle School, CO
Kirkus Reviews
2016-06-22
A bookish Star Trek fan, stung by a summer liaison, meets an attractive computer whiz during a search for a boyfriend who won’t break her heart in this YA novel. On the first day of her junior year in high school, Vivian “Viv” Galdi feels nervous and excited, having spent her summer indulging in secret make-out sessions with Jake Fontaine, the sexy surfer classmate on whom she’s had a longtime crush. Arriving at school with her artsy best friend, Jaz, however, Viv soon experiences a letdown: Jake ignores her and flirts with a beautiful “dreadhead.” Also catching the friends’ interest is the arrival of a new classmate, a Clark Kent–looking Vespa rider whom they dub a “totally hot McNerd.” Jake soon lets Viv know that she was just a summer fling, a rejection that leads her to find a “replacement crush” with whom she’ll feel no “zing.” Viv, Jaz, and another pal, Amy, map out possibilities in a journal, but it’s difficult to stick to the plan, especially when the appealing McNerd turns out to be the computer expert named Dallas that Viv’s bookstore owner and mystery author mother has hired to help her daughter with database and inventory work at the shop. By novel’s end, Viv, whose many shared interests with Dallas include a love of Star Trek, sheds aspirations of Spock-like rationality and puts her heart on the line in a posting on her romance novel blog. She also enlists a visiting pop star to help make her case at her California seaside town’s talent show and homeless shelter fundraiser. Roberts (Playing the Player, 2015) has written another smart, charming teen romance, this one featuring plenty of amusing commentary on the genre itself, including Viv and Dallas riffing on romance hero categories. While the conclusion of this novel isn’t hard to predict (as Jaz herself snarkily comments several times in the narrative), Roberts puts a lot of well-woven side details into this journey. These threads include chronicling Viv’s connection with the local homeless contingent and having the dreadhead and another surfer character rise surprisingly above stereotype. An entertaining, nicely nuanced depiction of teen relationships and challenges.
