Review: The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts

The Replacement Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Raincoast Books
Publication Date: September 6th, 2016
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 11+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Books About Books, Boy Drama

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BLURB:

True love can’t be strategized.

After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart.

But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission.

Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.

Before I had a blog, and so, became a book blogger myself, I thought reviewers were some kind of celebrities in the book world. I highly admired them (still do) and wanted to become them.

Which is why I think I would have LOVED this story if I weren’t a book reviewer/blogger.

Those parts of the story are definitely charming – with the bookstore, book club, author mama, book blog and book reviewing. With the mention of ARCs and random, cool info about book-related subjects (e.g. sub-genres and werewolf sex, hehe).

But because nothing was new to me (it would have been two and a half years ago), I wasn’t impressed exactly.

However, I sure was charmed by this book. Everything was familiar territory (except maybe the snake-ish character who goes by the name of Jake), so I often wanted to hug this book.

My main, main problem with it is the plethora of drama. Why, oh why? Please do take the title seriously. As you can imagine, Viv is looking for a replacement crush. Let’s face it, that’s another phrase for saying she’s looking for a ‘‘rebound guy’’.

That whole situation brought shallowness to the story and Viv’s character. Because no one wants to fill in some place as the second choice, and so, it’s quite selfish of Viv to want a replacement crush in the first place.

BUT ANYWAY, since I expected that, as it’s very clearly specified, I obviously cannot hold this against anyone or anything. Plus, as I said, it’s a charming story indeed. Although Viv and I are two very different people (despite our love of books), I still enjoyed following her trying to find herself some guy who could cure her broken heart.

Jaz, her best friend, and her ‘‘starstruckness’’ really made me smile throughout the story. I do really wander what it feels like to live in California. But it’d be too hot for me. I’m used to -40 Celsius degrees by now. Couldn’t give up my Canadian Winters for sunny, hot ones.

To resume, I’ll say one thing: THE REPLACEMENT CRUSH is indeed immature and melodramatic at times, but this is a book I’d want to read if I were younger and not a book blogger, so I can’t possibly not recommend it.

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