Review : Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Paper or Plastic
Author : Vivi Barnes
Publication Date :  February 3rd 2015
Publisher : Entangled Teen
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

Welcome to SmartMart, where crime pays minimum wage...

Busted. Alexis Dubois just got caught shoplifting a cheap tube of lipstick at the local SmartMart. She doesn’t know what’s worse—disappointing her overbearing beauty-pageant-obsessed mother for the zillionth time…or her punishment. Because Lex is forced to spend her summer working at the store, where the only things stranger than the staff are the customers.

Now Lex is stuck in the bizarro world of big-box retail. Coupon cutters, jerk customers, and learning exactly what a “Code B” really is (ew). And for added awkwardness, her new supervisor is the totally cute—and adorably geeky—Noah Grayson. Trying to balance her out-of-control mother, her pitching position on the softball team, and her secret crush on the school geek makes for one crazy summer. But ultimately, could the worst job in the world be the best thing that ever happened to her?

Personal Thoughts

Oh this book! What a delightful little thing Paper or Plastic was! I enjoyed every minute of it and had butterflies in my tummy by the end.

I initially had some serious doubts about Alexis, our protagonist. She was caught shoplifting and in exchange for not reporting the case, the supermarket owner asks her to work for money at his supermarket, SmartMart. From the start, Alexis was quite condescending of the supermarket and the people working at the store. If she had maintained that attitude, it would have annoyed me to no ends. However, Alexis was someone who really grew throughout the book and as she got to know her fellow employees, she blossomed into this entirely different person who was loveable in every way. Sure, she had her typical teenage-girl moment, but Alexis was never an annoying protagonist. Overall, I was certainly impressed by how much she matured and learned from her experiences in Paper or Plastic. Her manager, and love interest, Noah, was also so adorable as well. He was sweet, down-to-earth and very loving. He worked as many jobs as possible to support his mother and his baby sister. You've got to love a boy who is ready to work his butt off to earn money to help his sister's hobby of entering beauty pageants and who does it without every feeling resentful that his money is basically being wasted a way. As you can tell, I was head over heels in love with Noah and his kind heart.

In addition to two lovely main characters, Paper or Plastic also had a quirky secondary cast. I was very invested in the lives of the supermarket employees and their idiosyncrasies. Ruthie, especially, was a fun girl who grew a strong bond with Alexis over the course of the book. But of course, while the characters were all great, it was the sweet romance between Alexis and Noah that really got me flipping through the pages. It was genuine, romantic and just full of heart. Theirs was a romance that grew out of a friendship and I loved watching them get closer together. They did have some obstacles in their way, in the form of a friend who had "suffered" at the hands of Noah (It's not as serious as I'm making it sound), and Alexis' conflict between choosing between her friend or Noah, but I liked how she finally stood up for what she really wanted at the end. What I really liked about Paper or Plastic though was how the author handled some serious themes in the book. Don't let that cutesy cover fool you into thinking that this is just a light and fluffy read. Topics such as Alzheimers', the ugly side of kids' beauty pageants, and abusive parents. Still though, it never got too angsty or sorrowful and managed to maintain that cuteness factor all throughout.

Paper or Plastic was a feel-good kind of read that managed to make me laugh and smile throughout. It's a sweet and heart-felt story and I highly recommend it to readers looking for cute YA contemporaries with a supermarket romance!

Rating

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


 Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the e-ARC of Paper or Plastic.

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