Review : The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Art of Lainey
Author : Paula Stokes
Publication Date : May 20th 2014
Publisher : Harper Teen
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Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

Personal Thoughts

The Art of Lainey was a hard book for me to get into at first, but over the course of the book, the story began to grow on me and I stuck with it because of a certain adorable boy (Ahhh YA boys!). I'm so glad I did, because if I had given up, I would have missed out on some wonderful character development and a sweet romance.

I initially struggled with the story because of our main character, Lainey. She was a sweet and down-to-earth girl who just had her life turned over when her boyfriend broke up with her. Although I understood where Lainey was coming from, her obsession with Jason, her ex was a little overwhelming, especially because it took her about 75% of the book to realize that Jason was a complete douchebag. She refused to believe that she could have a life outside of Jason and it frustrated me immensely. However, after giving some thought to it, I realized that many teenagers would probably react in the same way, especially if they've been in a relationship with the guy for that long. It also helped that she matured throughout the book, growing into her own person and realizing that she deserved so much better than Jason had to offer her. Throughout my period of frustration, the character that kept me from abandoning the book is Micah. Micah was Lainey's co-worker and the guy she goes to in order to help her out with her jealousy plot. I loved this boy so much. With his mohawk, tattoos and his wit, he completely managed to charm me. I love how he defied his exterior appearance and showed that you should never judge anyone from their appearance. Lainey also had a wonderful best friend in the form of Bianca. She's the kind of friend that every teenager should have with her positive influence and her supportive nature. I did wish that we got to see a bit more of her in the book because she really did bring a lot of spark to the scenes she was in.

Plot wise, the book utilizes a jealousy story line. I liked how Lainey derived her plans from "The Art of War". It was very cool concept. I'll admit that I wasn't that involved in the story line, mostly because I didn't care for Lainey and Jason's relationship. I was more invested in her growing relationship with Micah. The romance between these two progressed beautifully. It started off with a mutual dislike of each other (which is one my favorite tropes) and blossomed into a friendship. As you can imagine, there was a very slow-burn feel to the romance which I was enamored with. And of course, the banter between the two of them was absolutely charming. You can't help but ship these two when you hear them converse. Throughout the book, I was also constantly looking forward to finding out about the fake dates that they would plan for each other because they would come up with the most elaborate and funnest ones. Micah's first idea is undoubtedly my favorite (you're going to have to read the book to find out!). While the romance was my favorite part of The Art of Lainey, the story is truly Lainey's growth from this infatuated teenager into a mature young woman.

While Lainey might give you headaches at times with her decisions, her story in The Art of Lainey is worth the read because there are so many great elements including the romance, the secondary characters and the almost enchanting writing style. Fans of YA contemporaries will not want to miss this one.

Rating
Cover : 3/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 4/5

**Overall Rating : 3.5/5**

Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the e-ARC of The Art of Lainey.