By: Heather Dowell
*Originally posted on Heather’s blog.
The high school hero offers to help his friend win the heart of the bad boy. But when he falls for her himself…? It’s no more Mr. Nice Guy.
The Bad Boy…
Simone has a plan. Well, her friends have a plan. The self-proclaimed Lonely Hearts Club has found a way for the awkward movie-quoting art geek to get the attention of the brooding bad boy in the band. This plan? It involves…studying.
When they get their hands on a stack of old magazines filled with ‘how to’ articles, the answer is clear. If Simone can master the fine art of flirting, her crush won’t stand a chance.
Mr. Nice Guy…
The school’s beloved starting pitcher might be popular, but the nerdy chick he’s been eating lunch with every day for years…? She won’t give him the time of day. Until he’s recruited by her friends to be her practice date, that is.
Everyone knows that Andrew is a good guy. A nice guy. So of course he agrees to be Simone’s stand-in crush. But then he starts crushing on her himself…
Now, all bets are off, because Andrew might be nice but he’s not that nice. And if playing dirty means stealing kisses, well…things are about to get messy.
REVIEW
I loved Jax, Rose, and Simone from the book Kissing the Player. I had no idea that they were also in this book, so I was pleasantly surprised. Simone was one of my favorite characters whenever she was only a side character, so to see her have her own love story was already exciting.
At the beginning of the story, she and her friends decide they’re tired of not knowing how to flirt with guys and get the attention of their crushes. Simone knows that Rose would be the perfect person to give them flirting lessons, so she enlist her help. Rose gives the girls lots of magazines with flirting and dating tips that they devour and try to put to practice.
Simone has a crush on the bass player in Jax’s band, but he doesn’t seem to notice her. She can’t even get out more than a few words to guys other than Jax. Seeing how hopeless she is, Rose wants the help of the star picture, Andrew, pretty much the nicest guy on the planet. Because he’s so bored, he goes along with it and says that Simone can use him as a sort of practice boyfriend as she goes after her true crush.
But as they get more comfortable with each other, he realizes he doesn’t want her to win the heart of the other guy. He wants her all to himself. The problem is, her self-esteem when it comes to boys is fairly low. She doesn’t think it would be possible for someone like him to be into her. But he is determined to prove her wrong.
I had so much fun watching these two characters. Andrew is basically a cinnamon roll of a boy, and Simone is extremely relatable to girls who were not popular in high school and were shy around guys. I love how Andrew took a risk but still wanted her to make up her own mind. And I loved the other girls in Simone’s group. I can’t wait to read the rest of their stories. In fact, immediately after finishing this one, I devoured a second book in the series, which is just as good.
Functionally Fictional 
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