Review: "How (Not) to Fall in Love" by Lisa Brown Roberts
Note: This ARC was provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
How (Not) to Fall in Love is a young adult (YA) novel and the debut release of author Lisa Brown Roberts. The blurb got to me as I was reading it on NetGalley but when I started reading this book, whatever preconceived notions I had (spoiled rich girl and her family suddenly find themselves poor and she has to adjust to life on the other side of the fence, learning valuable lessons along the way) were swept away. The main female character isn't what you expect her to be and the story goes above and beyond expectation.
Darcy Covington is seventeen, studies in an exclusive private school, and lives a more than comfortable life with her parents. On the day her car is suddenly towed out of the school parking lot, her life begins to tilt off its axis. Her father has run off, his business on the precarious edge of failure, and her mother is coping with the aid of a bottle or more of wine. She's ridiculed by her classmates in school, leaving only her best friend Sal and Sal's boyfriend Mark to be her sources of support...until her Uncle Charlie calls.
Darcy hasn't seen her Uncle Charlie since her father decided he didn't want his hippie brother being an influence in Darcy's life. Still, Charlie would send Darcy birthday packages that included a figurine pepper shaker and a birthday card with the drawn salt shake partner every year. She's kept every single one, remembering her uncle as a kind man. When he reaches out to her and invites her to come to his thrift shop, she hesitates because her car has been repossessed, but Charlie offers the driving services of Lucas.
Lucas Martinez is Charlie's all-around repair guy in the thrift shop and when Darcy first meets him, she immediately notices how good looking he is. Her dog Toby experiences insta-love and follows Lucas around like the lovesick dog that he was. Lucas has his own quiet assumptions regarding Darcy but when he realizes the predicament she and her mother are in, he begins to see her in a new light. Darcy's crush on him grows but she tamps down on it when she meets Heather, the one girl she always sees with Lucas.
As the weeks turn into months, Darcy goes through a range of emotions regarding what her father has done, how her mother has clocked out, and what she needs to do in order to pick their family up from the rock bottom that they've hit. In the process, Darcy begins to see a side of herself that she never thought she had. She becomes more courageous and finds a self-confidence that had always been missing. She refuses to be a pushover and doesn't want to be steamrolled in the scandal their family is left with.
While dealing with all the stress of her family and home life, Darcy learns to rely on those who are more than willing to give her the support she needs. Aside from Sal and Mark, Darcy's bond with her Uncle Charlie grows as she spends more time with him, and she becomes close to her boss at the coffee shop, Liz. And let's not forget Lucas. ^.^ Darcy and Lucas form a true and close friendship but Darcy is so busy believing that Lucas doesn't see her as anything more to realize just how wrong she may actually be.
Through it all, Darcy refuses to give up hope that she will be able to figure out where here father is at. She tries to piece together where he's headed based on where she knows he's been at. But if and when she finds him, is she still hoping to return to the luxurious life she once enjoyed or is fully embracing the life she now has, one that's filled with new people who love and accept her for who she really is and one that has her opening her eyes to the newly evolved Darcy that's ready to face up to the challenges of her life?
I loved, loved, LOVED this book! Yes, I know I'm not the target audience for a YA novel but I'm a firm believer that you can appreciate a book of any genre, regardless of whether the book was written specifically with someone like you in mind, if it's well-written. This gem of a book most certainly proves that the author has the writing chops to deliver a wonderful story about self-discovery, family, and first love. This is just Lisa Brown Roberts' first novel and I can't wait to read more of her books in the future.
Darcy as the lead character was inspiring and the development was one that was neither rushed nor forced. You could see the growth pains she was going through as she was confronted by one thing after another and had to decide whether she would fight or flee. Her relationship with the people around her, especially with Lucas, made her even more endearing and there aren't enough words to describe how great a character Lucas was. Perfect first book boyfriend (BBF) material for all female YA readers out there.
I appreciated that the book was a clean romance, i.e. there's no sex in it, mainly because I've noticed a lot of books that are labeled as "YA" but have the main characters having sex, sometimes steamy enough sex that you end up wondering if the book's crossed over to new adult (NA) or women's fiction. Hey, I'm all for romance novels with sex in them but this was refreshing and a pleasant change of pace for the genre. How could I not fall for How (Not) to Fall in Love?! It gets five stars and is on my list of 2015 favorites. ♥
Release Date: 03 February 2015
Date read: 01 February 2015
Learn more about author Lisa Brown Roberts here.
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