By: Cait Marie
Take everything you think you know about the geek-and-jock-fall-in-love trope and throw it away because this book does not follow the expected patterns of those stories.
In “Love at First Fight,” we have Margo, Suzie, and Matt, the self-proclaimed geeks and outcasts of Grover High. They don’t fit in, but they don’t care. They’re enjoying life and looking forward to finishing high school so they can move on. When their back-to-school “party” gets crashed by the popular kids, and the hashtag #GeeksGoneWild goes viral, it’s war.
Jason is the quarterback of the football team and all around popular guy, but he’s not the stereotypical jock. He is the nicest person, who genuinely cares about his friends, and happens to be neighbors with Margo. They were friends growing up, but they’ve drifted apart over the years. With the war between their two cliques, they decide to call a truce and be friends in hopes that it will spread to the other students. They just hope it works before someone takes things too far.
I love this book! I didn’t really know what to expect, but it wasn’t this. The characters challenge stereotypes, and I think that’s one of the things I love most. It was refreshing to have a jock be nice from the start. He doesn’t have this hidden persona behind a mask–he’s always nice and everyone knows that’s who he is. There’s an equally nice cheerleader, Julia, too. Then there’s Margo, the band geek who is not afraid to be herself. She speaks up and fights for herself and her friends.
I will absolutely be continuing with the rest of this series, and then I’ll be checking out Dallen’s other books. If you like YA contemporary, definitely give these a try. They’re funny and the slow-burning romance was well worth the wait.
Functionally Fictional 
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