Monday, February 22, 2016

How Willa Got Her Groove Back by Emily McKay - Review

When your life feels like a bad movie, rewrite the script.

When Willa Schofer’s father comes home from a business trip with an über-famous new fiancée, Willa’s senior year blows up in paparazzi-fueled flames. Overnight, she has a new house, a new car, and a new soon-to-be stepbrother—the unbelievably hot, unbelievably arrogant, Finn McCain. Thank god he’s constantly pushing her buttons, or she might do something irresponsible. Like fall for the jerk.

Just when Willa’s decided to avoid him for, oh, ever, Finn lands in the center of her senior project team. Seriously—how hard is it to shake a guy? At least her work on the project snagged the attention of the (second) hottest guy in school. He might only be into her because of her famous stepmom, and he’s not quite as exciting as a certain annoying housemate, but at least she’s allowed to crush on the guy.

Because crushing on your annoying stepbrother? So not cool.

This Entangled Teen Crush book contains an unbelievably hot bad boy, an unbelievably famous actress, and all the drama that comes with adding both to your family. Oh, and a forbidden flirtation with a soon-to-be stepbrother.

---------------------------- Amazon, B&N, Goodreads ----------------------------

I didn't know what to expect but I ended up loving How Willa Got Her Groove Back. Willa's voice is hilarious and authentic and her reactions and emotions towards all of these semi-unbelievable things happening in her life are great. I love her relationship with her dad (or, at least, pre-Mia, Willa's soon to be stepmother relationship). I liked that she was a writer and that it was an outlet for her to explore her feelings of her mother's death and her relationship with her dad. As a daddy's girl myself, I liked reading how Willa was taking in all these changes, particularly with her dad, and how she develops as a character. 

Likewise, I liked exploring Finn's point-of-view. Much darker and jaded than Willa's, seeing the world, and particularly Willa, through his eyes was interesting and added another layer to their growing relationship. Finn and Willa have wonderful chemistry, friendly and romantic, and watching Finn change, even slightly, because of Willa is wonderful to read and makes me wonder what's going to happen in the next books. 

There is a cast of secondary characters, most noticeably Finn's mother and Willa's dad, but Finn and Willa are the real and rightful stars of this sort-of Hollywood story. Romantic tension between two characters who may become related (my marriage only!) can sometimes become uncomfortable or at least unbelievable, but Emily McKay really makes their friendship and tension believable and fun to read. I can't wait to see where the next book leads, with them all living in the same house and our star characters developing in response to one another. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

** Have questions! Have comments? We also have both Emily McKay and Tera Lynn Childs scheduled for AMAs (Ask Me Anythings) on Reddit.com/r/Books on March 10th and March 18th respectively. Here's the complete line up: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/amafullschedule! **
Emily McKay's website is under construction but follow her on twitter here! @Emily_Mc_Kay

Happy Reading!

Jasmine

1 comment:

  1. Great review, Jasmine! This book sounds like it's right up my reading alley. :)
    #Commenting365

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