~ BOOK REVIEW ~ The Dating Debate ~ by Chris Cannon
Title: The Dating
Debate
Author: Chris Cannon
Genre: YA RomCom, Sweet
Romance
Publisher: Entangled
Teen
Hosted by: Lady Amber’s
PR
Blurb:
Nina Barnes thinks Valentine’s Day should be optional.
That way single people like herwouldn’t be subjected to kissy Cupids all over
the place. That is, until her mom moves them next door to the brooding hottie
of Greenbrier High, West Smith. He’s funny, looks amazing in a black leather
jacket, and he’s fluent in Harry Potter, but she’s not sure he’s boyfriend
material.
West isn’t sure what to make of Nina. She’s cute and loves
to read as much as he does, but she seems to need to debate everything and she
has a pathological insistence on telling the truth. And West doesn’t exactly
know how to handle that, since his entire life is a carefully constructed
secret. Dating the girl next door could be a ton of fun, but only if Nina never
finds out the truth about his home life. It’s one secret that could bring them
together or rip them
apart.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book is not for
anyone who has to get in the last word, but it is for all book nerds,
especially those who live next door to so called unapproachable gorgeous guys.
There’s no debating the
chemistry.
This was a very sweet, light read that I really enjoyed. Considering this is more of a teen book, and appeared
from the description to be something that was meant to be more lighthearted, I
didn’t go into reading this expecting anything groundbreaking – just a sweet
story about two teenagers. I wasn’t
disappointed. This was sweet, but it was
also a little bit complicated like a normal teenager’s life would be.
Certainly not every teenage relationship is perfect, but neither
is every home they live in. In this
story we have varying degrees of imperfect home lives, which was a nice
change. There wasn’t the perfect
marriage with the perfect kids set to go to the college of their choice, nor
was there the troubled teen that had a terrible home with a drunk parent (or
something along those lines) that makes the teen act out. In this story, BOTH teens – and even their friends
– were somewhere in the middle, and doing the best with the lives they were
given.
As far as character development, I really loved Nina. She’s fun, spunky, a bit of a ‘hippy chic’,
loves to debate people in a fun way – not a know-it-all obnoxious way – and who
couldn’t fall in love with a serious bookworm?
Both characters had a healthy amount of sarcasm and a shared love of Harry
Potter. When I was in high school, these
two could have easily been my best friends.
I truly did enjoy reading this story, and I liked that the whole
thing wasn’t wrapped up in a pretty bow, but was just happy enough. Just like real life. Families can’t always be perfect or fixed
completely, and relationships don’t always have a predictable future. It was a beautifully imperfect story.
Chris Cannon is the
award-winning author of the Going Down In Flames series and the Boyfriend Chronicles.
She lives in Southern Illinois with her husband and several furry
beasts.
She believes coffee is the Elixir of Life. Most evenings
after work, you can find her sucking down caffeine and writing fire-breathing
paranormal adventures or romantic comedies. You can find her online
at www.chriscannonauthor.com.
Author
Links:
Buy Link:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2GdaA0R
Later that night, I sat reading on the couch, when Gidget
came over to join me. And by join me, I mean she wedged her long, skinny nose
under my book and pushed it up so she could play the world’s largest lap
puppy.
“Gidget.” I set my book down and looked into her soulful
brown eyes. “Are you not getting the attention you
deserve?”
She made a sound that my mom and I described as her
complaining yodel. “What’s that about?” I asked as I ran my hand over her silky
blonde head. She yodeled
louder.
My mom walked into the living room. “She is trying to tell
you we’re out of
chewies.”
“Oh, no.” I hugged Gidget. “The
horror.”
She whined like she agreed with me. “It’s okay, girl. I
can run to the
store.”
“It’s
not like she can’t wait until tomorrow,” my mom
said.
“No big deal. I need gas anyway.” I slid out from under
Gidget and looked at my fur-covered jeans and shirt. “The good thing about
running to the pet store is no one cares if you’re covered in
fur.”
West’s dad had parked his ridiculously large SUV further
up the driveway. Backing out next to his car was almost impossible. Thank
goodness I only had to back up next to West’s Ford Fusion, which wasn’t a big
deal.
I set my phone on the dash and checked my mirror before
backing up slowly. My cell buzzed, and I turned my head to see who the text was
from. The scraping crunch of metal on metal set my teeth on edge. I stomped on
the brake and stared at my hands where I’d turned the wheel the slightest bit
to the right when I’d checked the text. Son of a… A cold sweat beaded my
forehead as I pulled forward and parked. It took me a moment to unclench my
hands from the steering wheel. Maybe it wasn’t that
bad.
No one had come running, so the crash hadn’t been that
loud, which gave me hope. Less sound had to mean less damage. Right? Hands
shaking, I undid my seat belt and climbed out to assess the
carnage.
My Jeep sat up higher than West’s car, so I’d scraped a
foot of his paint and ripped off his passenger-side mirror. It lay on the
ground, mostly in one piece. Maybe I could stick it back on like a Lego. Would
it snap back into
place?
I
picked up the mirror and held it up to its former position. Nope. It was broken
clean off. Acid surged in my stomach. Now what? Shit. I was going to have to
confess. And since I couldn’t knock on his door, I was going to have to call
him.
Damn. Damn. Damn. It’s okay. I can do this. Not a big
deal. Right… I dialed his
number.
“Nina?” He sounded surprised to hear from
me.
“Hey, West. I wanted to let you know…we can drive to
school whatever time you want
tomorrow.”
“What are you talking about? Why would we ride
together?”
“Well, the damage isn’t bad,” I said, stalling for time.
“It’s your passenger-side mirror, really, or lack of
one.”
“What in the hell are you— Oh my God…did you hit my
car?”
“Yes.”
I
could hear the sound of him moving, and then the front door flew open. He
stalked down the
driveway.
“I’m sorry.” I held the mirror out to
him.
He snatched it from my hands and stared at it like he
couldn’t believe what he was holding. “You hit my
car.”
“I did.” This was when me not lying really
sucked.
He
walked over to his car and ran his hand down the area where the paint was
scratched, and then he inspected where the mirror used to be. I bit back a
nervous laugh when he tried pressing it back against the car the same way I
had.
“We could try some glue, or maybe duct tape,” I
offered.
“Duct tape?” He practically spit the words out at me. “You
want to duct tape my mirror back on my car?”
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