Review by Booklist Review
Getting dumped on prom night is the stuff of nightmares for some girls, but for Gia Montgomery, it's all too real. With her friends waiting inside to meet her (now ex-) boyfriend, Gia knows she can't walk in by herself, so she does the only sensible thing she approaches a boy waiting in a car and asks him to be her fill-in boyfriend for the night. And she ends up liking him far more than she ever expected. Gia, often self-absorbed and lacking in empathy for others, is not always easy to like. Several difficult exchanges with Gia's so-called friends make for a slow start, and the girls' mutual cruelty is cringe-inducing. West doesn't keep the story there for long, however; what seems like a fairly run-of-the-mill high-school story blossoms into a surprisingly engaging romance and journey of self-discovery, particularly as Gia grows closer not only to Hayden, her fill-in boyfriend, but also his entire family. High-school romance fans will enjoy the sweet and witty dialogue between Gia and Hayden.--Gaus, Eve Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-High school senior Gia Montgomery is crushed when her dreamy boyfriend, Bradley, a junior in college, dumps her on prom night. Gia's friends have never met Bradley, and she had been looking forward to showing him off, especially since her friends were starting to doubt his existence. Unable to admit defeat, Gia sweet-talks an equally cute guy she meets in the parking lot into pretending to be Bradley for the night. The only problem is that Gia can't get Fake Bradley out of her mind, even when the real Bradley comes back into her life. Although the chemistry between Gia and Fake Bradley is swoon-worthy, Gia is often self-absorbed and manipulative, making her a tough protagonist to root for. A subplot about tensions between Gia and a frenemy presents conflict but is mostly silly and unrealistic. Narrator Shannon McManus provides a convincing voice for a teenage girl. VERDICT Fans of contemporary teen romance may enjoy. ["If sometimes too overt in the "shallow girl finds depth" theme, this sweet romantic tale is still hard not to like": SLJ 3/15 review of the HarperTeen book.]-Julie Judkins, Univ. of North Texas, Denton © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
