Author: Alexis Bass
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads
If you want more, you have to give less.Review by Nara
That’s the secret to dating in high school. By giving as little as they expect to get in return, seventeen-year-old Aubrey Housing and her three best friends have made it to the second semester of their senior year heartbreak-free. And it’s all thanks to a few simple rules: don’t commit, don’t be needy, and don’t give away your heart.
So when smoking-hot Nathan Diggs transfers to Lincoln High, it shouldn’t be a big deal. At least that’s what Aubrey tells herself. But Nathan’s new-boy charm, his kindness, and his disarming honesty throw Aubrey off her game and put her in danger of breaking the most important rule of all: Don’t fall in love.
I feel like, on the whole, Love and Other Theories is extremely unmemorable. I'm writing this review about a month after reading the book, and a lot of the major details are slipping away. All I can really remember is how moronic the protagonist was.
Oh my god, Aubrey was just so stupid at times. I mean, really, I just could not even with this idiot girl. Stop freaking going along with the damned theories of your best friends and do what you want to do. Stop accepting all those absolutely unforgivable acts of your friends just because there are some "rules" that you need to follow. Stop bullying everyone who doesn't accept those ridiculous theories. This is why you should freaking read some YA contemporary romances- so you know that those sorts of rules never freaking work.
Okay, so I had a quick skim read of the last 10-20% of the book, and now I remember why for the first 80% I was thinking of giving the book one or two stars: the characters are simply the worst. There is a ridiculous amount of bitchiness and bullying and drinking and just general debauchery. However, also reading the last couple of pages, I realise why my rating went up: one of the love interests is actually pretty awesome. Well...he's not awesome at first, but certainly in the last section he is- and it's not even out of character.
I guess in a sense, this star rating of mine is actually quite misleading. I feel like even though I liked this book overall, I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone, and I certainly wouldn't buy it for myself.
Liked it
Ratings
Overall: 4/10
Plot: 2/5
Romance: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Cover: 2/5
