The Starter Boyfriend [NOOK Book]

Adorable teen romance

Cute teen romance with funny characters and great paced story.Courtney, was funny and had some cute sarcasm in her remarks. Adam was interesting but didn't jump off the page like she did. The angst and fawning over each other wasn't there as much. But I still loved it, the plot was amazing with a really good ending.

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This one was definitely not for me.

If I had to use only one word to describe this book, it would be "contrived."

The premise through the book, is that Courtney get's a little tingly around the store front mannequin, at the Tuxedo shop she works in, and she likes to have pretend conversations with him. So people who have pretend conversations with mannequins, would be...the cast of Today's Special (if you remember that kid's show from times gone by), Giselle from Enchanted, Aurora had a brief moment in Sleeping Beauty, but you get the point, it's lonely girls with a lot of imagination. The lead character here, is part of the softball team, has friends, a semi-wealthy Father, who is dating a woman she likes. She's very practical and very straight-laced, and is in no way given over to flights of fantasy. Every time "Tux" is brought back into the story, it feels very forced, and veering away from the natural story line.

The main theme isn't that Courtney is really all that lovelorn, or has that many issues for a teenage girl. the main theme is that Courtney doesn't want to drink at parties, and everything in her life is pretty much an orchestration of how to get out of parties that people are drinking at. And add in an abandonment by an alcoholic Mother. It felt like the author had an agenda, to direct kids to the straight and narrow. It just get's a bit heavy-handed.

And many things feel implausible. **SPOILERS** For instance, the one time she takes Tux out of the store, and he meets with a mishap, her Father's first reaction, is that her employee will press charges and have her arrested, or that she'll end up in Juvenile hall. I was like...wait, what? She has a good relationship with her Boss, and she's been a good employee up to that point, I seriously doubt that he'd send her straight to the slammer.

Saffron's method of sabotage...what happened to just spreading rumors? But every time she wants to accomplish something it has to be in a giant flyer spread around the whole entire school? **END SPOILERS**

In the end, I just didn't like the character of Courtney, and wondered if many teenage girls would relate to her life. Even the real issues that she had, the insecurity at feeling unwanted by her Mother, and resentment at having to take over the role of running the house once she was gone, felt too easy. Maybe she simply has a very strong mental constitution - which doesn't make sense in someone that has a mannequin for a shoulder to cry on. As stated, it didn't feel cohesive.

However if you don't want your teen to drink, and want them to like their step-mother, this wouldn't be a bad book to give them.

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