After Rebecca, who is painfully shy and doesn’t like public attention, is so publicly dumped she thinks things can’t get any worse! But when she’s hit on by the popular, hot, out of her league, but also big jerk Derek straight after for a bet and then realises they are in the same class and paired up with him for a project…Rebecca realises things are only just beginning. But when Derek starts bringing Rebecca out of her shell and slowly starts making her a little bit more confident, she soon realised that maybe she is falling for Derek but is this just another story that will end in her public humiliation? 

“I hate you so much,” Rebecca moaned, noticing his obnoxiously cheerful expression. “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Rebecca.” She stared at the ceiling. “It’s a partnership.” “Is it? Already?” Derek wiggled his eyebrows. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

This was a fun, flirty, funny young adult romance that was easy to read and easy to enjoy. With loveable characters and a story line that just flowed from word to word, I was quick to get hooked in and it was a great read for a lazy Sunday afternoon! 

“So you came here to check up on me? Thanks for the vote of faith, Prude.” “Original nickname,” Rebecca said. “If the shoe fits…” “I’m not a prude.”

Rebecca was easily relatable to me. Being quite shy myself when I first meet people I was able to understand how awkward and annoying it can be to be that way. I loved watching her becoming more confident as the story went on. She slowly becomes a confident and independent woman who realises she may actually have be worthy when it comes to Derek after all. 

“I…” He shook his head. “I was a fucking asshole. I know it doesn’t make things better, but if I could go back and … if I could do it over, I wouldn’t have…” He seemed at a loss for words. “Teased me?”

Derek was also really likeable. He teases Rebecca at the start and I wasn’t sure if he was going to go the way of being a jerk- one of those  popular kinds who knows he’s popular and uses it. But he wasn’t. He does tease Rebecca but he just wants to bring her out, make her more confident and learn that it’s okay to laugh at yourself sometimes. As the story goes on we learn more and more about Derek, we start to see he has a lot to give and maybe he wants to give what he has to give to Rebecca! 

“Just because Derek was good-looking and had done a nice thing didn’t mean he wasn’t bad news anymore. He was still the same man-whore that he’d always been. Even if she felt something for him—and no way in hell did she—he could never give her what she wanted…”

The secondary characters such as Shayler and Ansley, Rebecca’s best friends, also provide great laughter in the story, adding in another element of this easy, fun, read. This story really was just about the love that can grow between two young people, while we also saw the two young people grow within themselves becoming better, more confident people. 

~BETHANY