Nina Barnes thinks Valentine’s Day should be optional. That way single people like her wouldn’t be subjected to kissy Cupids all over the place. That is, until her mom moves them next door to the brooding hottie of Greenbrier High, West Smith. He’s funny, looks amazing in a black leather jacket, and he’s fluent in Harry Potter, but she’s not sure he’s boyfriend material.
West isn’t sure what to make of Nina. She’s cute and loves to read as much as he does, but she seems to need to debate everything and she has a pathological insistence on telling the truth. And West doesn’t exactly know how to handle that, since his entire life is a carefully constructed secret. Dating the girl next door could be a ton of fun, but only if Nina never finds out the truth about his home life. It’s one secret that could bring them together or rip them apart.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book is not for anyone who has to get in the last word, but it is for all book nerds, especially those who live next door to so called unapproachable gorgeous guys. There’s no debating the chemistry.Â
Before I jump into the review, I want to thank Netgalley and Entangled Crush for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
West and Nina are next door neighbors who have nothing to do with each other until they start fake dating. Â They two who are complete opposites, Nina is a ball of sunshine while West is all brooding and grumpy.
If you’ve read some of my reviews before, you will know that I am a HUGE fan of Entangled Crush’s books, They are some of the yummiest, feel good, cutest romance novels I have ever read. And this one was no different, except for the way they treated West’s mom’s mental illness.
West’s mom is a hoarder with severe OCD. In the whole book, West is ashamed by it and his father tries to hide her from the world by not letting her leave the house or have guests in the house. It bothered me so much how West spoke of his mom as if she was some weird beast, I think it’s more my problem of how he spoke of his mother. I get extremely uncomfortable when people speak in a disrespectful manner to anyone, especially the elders. It drives me crazy and makes me want to sink into the ground in embarrassment for the person who is speaking.
I’m not doubting that it’s hard for him to grow up with a mother who suffers from OCD the way she does, but the fact that it’s not even spoken about bothers me. Him and his dad talk about her as if she’s some mutant.
It was a cute romance, but I don’t think that this was my favorite. And I’m not so sure I would recommend it to friends. But just because I wasn’t the biggest fan of this one doesn’t mean I won’t be reading more Entangled Crush books, because I will. They are still some of my favorite easy reads.