Review: The Art Of Lainey by Paula Stokes

Book Title: The Art Of Lainey

Author: Paula Stokes

Published Date: May 20th, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Normally, I don't go for the tattooed, mohawked guy, but Micah definitely changed all that. He was edgy, but it was more of a gentle edginess if there really is such a thing. He was a sweet guy, a respectful guy. His mannerisms definitely reminded me of my own boyfriend so of course I fell for Micah.

Now Jason was a total douche-canoe. Yikes, I could not understand why Lainey was desperate to keep him around. The only thing I could think of, was that it was a comfort thing and the idea of change terrified her. There were many, many times where I just wanted to grab Lainey by the shoulders and shake her. I could not understand some of her decisions and i kept having to remind myself that she was a teenager and teenagers tend to be over-dramatic. 

Kendall was truly an awful person and I found myself furious with her on multiple occasions. I can see that she was probably in a bit of a tough place with Jason being her brother and everything. But she was mean, judgmental and just plain obnoxious. I kept hoping Lainey would dump both members of the Chase family. She definitely had some issues going on but she was choosing to self medicate in the off chance that drugs & alcohol would make her problems go away.

I loved Bianca. She was exactly the kind of friend Lainey needed. She was supportive, but not afraid to dish out the tough love stuff when things weren't going the way Lainey was hoping they would. She was trying so hard to keep both Lainey and Micah from being hurt.

"So don't mess with him just because you're lonely. He deserves better than that." -Bianca

Lainey struggled with when and even if she should let go of Jason. At the beginning of the book, she had been sure that she needed to fight for Jason. She begins to feel less certain of that, but then she struggled with letting go of Jason. Jason had been hers for 2 years and suddenly, he just wasn't anymore. 

"Sometimes it's easier to fight for the wrong thing than to recognize it's time to let go."

Lainey never expected to fall for Micah, but she falls and she falls hard for him. She's scared of having him, but she's also afraid of losing him. In their brief time as fake boyfriend and girlfriend, she did the one thing she never expected to. She fell for tattooed, mohawked Micah.

"Not everything is worthy of great risk and possible sacrifice. Micah is."

This book was a wonderful book. It was a book that reminded us that what we want might not be what we actually need. It was an important message to take away from the book. I don't generally look for messages in books, but this one was kind of obvious to me. I enjoyed this book very much and I'll be giving it 4 stars. I'm excited to see what the author writes next.