About the Book
-
Author:
- Alex Light
- Genre:
- Boy-Girl Romance
Cover Story: Froggy Went a-Courting
Drinking Buddy: Pitcher of Flat Soda
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (crude humor)
Talky Talk: I Missed Something
Bonus Factors: Sisters, Secret Identity
Bromance Status: Odd Coworker
Cover Story: Froggy Went a-Courting
Cute little picture, which kind of sums up the book. Jackie reminds me of every girl who ever had a crush on me. I don’t mean they were crazy free spirits, but that they all dressed like frogs. ALL OF THEM.
The back cover is kind of misleading, implying Jackie torpedoed her boss’s relationship out of revenge, rather than by accident.
The Deal:
Jackie Myers is eighteen years old without much direction in her life. She’s working at a children’s restaurant to save money so she can take a summer road trip with her best friend, Suzy, but doesn’t have a plan after that. To make things worse, Wilson, her boss’s obnoxious nephew, had her demoted from waitress to costumed frog for slacking off. Kiss the tips goodbye. Even worse, nineteen year old Wilson is the new restaurant manager. Jackie’s boss.
Jackie unexpectedly finds online fame by running breakmyheart, where she dishes out advice on how to painlessly end a relationship with someone. It started as a joke, but people are really seeking her counsel. Jackie eats up the fame, until one day Wilson breaks down at work. His fiance has left him. Jackie realizes that she’d inadvertently advised Wilson’s other half to leave him. What’s more, after Wilson proves vulnerable and despondent, Jackie wishes she hadn’t stepped in. Without revealing that it was all her fault, Jackie volunteers to mend Wilson’s love life in exchange for a promotion at work. And only for that. Wilson’s a jerk. A big fat jerk. She just has to keep reminding herself of that.
Drinking Buddy: Pitcher of Flat Soda
Jackie was driven and smart, but at times she struck me as the quirky, generic character. She seethes about getting demoted at work, but she really is kind of insubordinate and rude to her boss. She had a good excuse for being on her phone while on the clock (her sister had just gotten engaged), but never bothers to tell Wilson. Wilson, on the other hand, was officious, twerpy, and just plain rude at times. It was hard for me to root for either one.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (crude humor)
Shockingly, both Jackie and Wilson realize that what they’ve been looking for is right there in front of their faces the whole time. But there was very little chemistry. They’re both young, attractive, and single, so it’s easy to see how they would hook up, despite their personality differences. But Jackie goes from loathing to twiterpated when Wilson not only remembers that she likes Twix bars, but buys her one. I could believe this if Jackie was coming off a string of bad relationships with jerks, but she admits she doesn’t have much of a romantic history.
Talky Talk: I Missed Something
I feel like about a fourth of this book was missing. Jackie ends up working two jobs to afford to buy a car so she could go on a road trip with her friend Suzy, but Suzy is in the book so infrequently, I wasn’t sure why this was such a big deal. Wilson takes over managing the restaurant when his uncle gets…cancer, maybe? Jackie viewed this guy as a mentor and friend, but that subplot is kind of dropped. Also, this book had a bad case of Lord of the Flies Syndrome (where there are no adults in the book). Jackie lives with her parents, but they are in the book so little, it was rather jarring when they made an appearance. When Jackie’s sister goes on a wedding planning excursion, the mother is conspicuously not invited.
Bonus Factor: Sisters
Jackie has older twin sisters, Julie and Jill. Julie is engaged to an Italian hottie, while Jill is living her best life working for a women’s magazine. She even gets Jackie a job there. But Jill’s boss is her ex girlfriend. A woman who hurt her badly in the past. And Jackie worries they might be getting back together. Can she keep this information to herself? Should she?
Bonus Factor: Secret Identity
So Jackie’s most exciting role in life is playing a frog at children’s birthday parties. But then her heartbreak blog suddenly takes off she finds herself an internet sensation. Unfortunately, she hasn’t had a lot of real-world experience, so she starts picking her sisters’ brains about their past heartaches, which she uses to dole out advice. Now Jill and Jackie’s boss wants to interview the person behind the blog and sends Jill to get the scoop. Jill, unaware of his sister’s involvement, could get a huge promotion if she gets an exclusive. But Jackie can’t reveal herself as the heartbreak kid without Jill realizing Jackie betrayed her trust.
Meanwhile, Jackie is rushing to play cupid to win back Wilson’s girlfriend, while hiding the fact that she was the one who broke them up in the first place. But as she gets to know Wilson, she can’t help but shake the feeling that maybe he’s chasing the wrong girl.
Bromance Status: Odd Coworker
I enjoyed our time together, but you’re not someone I’m going to look up later.
Literary Matchmaking
Philip Siegel’s The Breakup Artist has a similar plot.
Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies, by Abigail Hing Wen, is another story of lost loves, secret identities, and conspiracies.
Like books about costumed mascots? Beth Fantasky’s Buzz Kill has got you covered.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, but no money or relationship advice.
