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Okay, I'm a sucker for romances from time to time, but when I first picked up this book, it didn't seem like something I would normally read. It was a Christmas gift given to me by my parents, and I'm glad they gave it to me. The back of the book intrigued me, sure, but the style of the book was a little cheesy at first. It started off almost cliche, but it got a lot better as the book progressed. I was wrong on my initial opinion on the book and actually ended up really liking it.
Now, let me tell you about it.
*minor spoilers ahead
PLOT
The plot was kind of all over the place at times, but it stayed moving forward nonetheless. There were a few points where I wished that the author would've included a scene of something instead of skipping over it, but it was a nice plot. It was different from anything I've read before, and it was quite nice to venture out of my comfort zone.
The author managed to tie in Peyton's home life, school life, social life, and theatre life well, and I really liked that. It went through the motions of a mentally ill mother and healing from that, budding relationships and how they can fall apart in seconds, overcoming embarrassments/teasing, friend relationships, extracurricular, how keeping secrets affects people around you, and self consciousness well.
As I said before, it started kind out of cheesy. It started with Peyton, a talk girl, working in a cafe when a really "hot" new guy walks in. Her and her friends make a bet on Peyton getting him to kiss her, and Peyton wins. The dude kissed her, and that bet led to the next bet. There was an 800 dollar bet on Peyton getting a guy over 6'3" to go on four dates with her, including the prom, and that was the driving force of the story. It was interesting; I know it sounds like Peyton used a bunch of boys for money, she realizes that she's doing just that and changes her approach. I'll get to that later.
WRITING
The writing style was really good - it kept me intrigued, wanting more, and it made me laugh from time to time. The only problem I had with the plot was here - there were some phrases in the writing that American people wouldn't normally say, so I guessed that the book was written by someone with an English background. It didn't bother me too much, but it did happen enough to be noticeable.
MAIN CHARACTERS
PEYTON
Peyton started off as a self conscious, frightened girl that was scared to stand up for herself and was hidden behind walls she built out of fear, and grew into a confident freaking queen. Even through all of this, she was constantly showing off her sense of humor to those she was closest to. Her relationship with her mother was strained, but it got better as the book progressed as they both worked out their issues. Peyton also realizes that it's wrong to keep people in the dark about using them to get money from a bet - and that hits her hard. Hey, at least she learned her lesson.
