Review : What A Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn

Summary (from Goodreads)

Courtesy of watching his mom’s relationships, Sebastian Hawkins knows what girls need to do to get a guy. He has what he considers a PHD in hooking up. When he needs extra cash for a car, Sebastian starts up an online venture as The Hook-up Doctor, to anonymously help girls land the guy of their dreams. Of course, his services don’t offer a happily-ever-after guarantee. He’s seen firsthand getting together never means staying together.

And then he falls in love…

With the last girl he would expect…

Totally not in his game plan.

Suddenly, Sebastian finds himself muddled in the game he’s always prided himself on. He can’t even pick up girls at parties anymore! Why would anyone want to be in love when it turns you into a stuttering, screwed-up, mess with really lame stalker tendencies? Stalking? Totally not his gig.

But the Hook-up Doctor won’t let himself go down easily. He’s always known how to give a girl what she wants and now it’s time to figure out what a boy wants… and he definitely plans on getting it.


Personal Thoughts

I keep reading a lot of self-published books lately because I'm finding a lot of hidden gems here and there. While searching for such books, I stumbled upon What A Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn. As I sifted through the reviews on Goodreads, I realized that the book was a favorite of many readers, so I knew I had to check it out for myself. While I enjoyed reading What A Boy Wants, I wasn't totally impressed and my enjoyment wasn't enough for me to develop a hard-core book crush like I thought I would.

Sebastian Hawkins is a "Hook-Up Doctor". For a sum of $100, he advises girls on how to reel in their crushes. Having seen his mother heart-broken by the men in her life innumerable times, Sebastian has developed a new philosophy for himself : Never fall in love because relationships never end well. Soon, Sebastian finds himself in deep waters when he realizes that he has fallen in love with the least expected person.

Sebastian was a cocky guy with an attitude. Confident and fearless, he was a guy who knew how to have girls swarming like bees around him. To be honest, I'm not sure I liked that personality trait of his. At times I felt like his confidence bordered on conceit. Personally, I don't think that over confidence is attractive in a guy. Yet, he also had a sweet and caring side to him that he only brought to the surface when he was with his mom and his best friend, Aspen. That side of him, I definitely enjoyed. I loved how protective he was of his mom and the fact that he called her "Ma" was even more heart-warming for some reason. He was also very watchful of Aspen and he would do anything to dissipate threats around her. Plus, he was very nice to his friends, so you can't help but like him on the occasions when he's acting all cute and supportive. Now, Aspen wasn't a character that I connected with. For some reason, I felt like I didn't know her enough to identify with her. This is one book where I wouldn't have minded a dual POV just because I wanted to know what was going on in Aspen's mind. She also had me completely baffled a few times in the book due to the actions that she took. Even the secondary characters felt a little flat to me for the simple reason that their personalities weren't well developed and I didn't feel any emotional connection with any of them. 

What A Boy Wants was a typical "best friends fall in love" kind of story. Even though this isn't a theme that's actually unique or original, I did enjoy the budding romance between Aspen and Sebastian. I thought they had a cute relationship and the feelings that the two had for each other seemed genuine. However, I wasn't a fan of all the drama that followed. I just felt like it  was an unoriginal way to deal with the story and in the end, nothing really stood out in the book. One thing I loved in this book was the friendship that existed between Sebastien, Jaden, Aspen and Priscilla. They seemed to have a pretty strong bond and the way they behaved around each other seemed very realistic. The respect and love that they had for each other was palpable throughout the story. The male point of view was really well-written in What A Boy Wants and while reading, I had no doubt that Sebastian was a guy since his string of thoughts was very boyish. Although, I wasn't exactly entranced by What A Boy Wants, I'll be checking out Jaden's story in What A Boy Needs.

What A Boy Wants was a short read perfect if you're looking for something light in between very heavy reads. Although I wasn't completely satisfied with the turn-out of the book, I do recommend it to fans of  YA contemporary romance. Who knows ? Maybe, Sebastian's smarty-pants attitude will charm you!

Rating

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 2/5
Writing : 3/5


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