Review : The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : The Fine Art of Pretending
Author : Rachel Harris
Publication Date : September 30th 2014
Publisher : Spencer Hill Press
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According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you're friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

Personal Thoughts

Rachel Harris' books are always such a delight to read. They are the perfect books to make you swoon and grin like a fool. I've read all of her YA contemporary books and knowing how well her books worked for me in the past, I was dying to get my hands on a copy of The Fine Art of Pretending. The book met all of my expectations of being a purely entertaining read and I couldn't be happier that I gave it a shot.

Aly might rub some readers in the wrong way because her main motivation for getting a makeover in the first place was to attract boys so she could be seen as a hookup instead of a relationship kind of girl, but having once been a teenager, it was very easy to see where she was coming from. It's a fact that teenagers often struggle with the way they look and Harris explored that through Aly's character in this book. Initially, I was a tiny bit wary that her wanting to change herself for boys would frustrate me, but Aly's loneliness and her desire to feel wanted was relateable. Let's be honest, I think most teenage girls go through a phase where they want to feel beautiful and attractive, and I personally don't believe there is anything wrong with that. Also know that Aly made a lot of mistake in the book through this journey of her wanting to be more attractive, but she also did a lot of growing up throughout the book and by the end of the book, it was clear that she had learned a good lesson.

The Fine Art of Pretending was also told in the POV of Brandon, Aly's best friend and love interest. They both wind up in an uncomfortable situation (that made me squee in delight because I knew where it was heading and I couldn't be more excited for it) when they decide to fake being in a relationship so another guy will notice Aly and want to hook up with her. As you can probably tell, that all went downhill as soon as they developed feelings for each other. This was one of the cutest best friends romance and it made me chuckle multiple times throughout the book because of how adorable both Aly and Brandon were. Their romance was most definitely butterfly-inducing and will give you all kinds of feels. Being able to visualize what Brandon was going through just made the romance even better for me.

The Fine Art of Pretending was a lovely and fluffy read that made me smile, grin, giggle and swoon. It's the perfect kind of book to cheer you up if ever you are in a grumpy mood. Rachel Harris truly excels at writing these sorts of contemporaries and I hope she continues to write more.

Rating 

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