Book Review: The Cheat Sheet

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Romance

*2.5

*First half: 2/5

*Second half: 3/5

Continue reading for more details.

Synopsis:

Is it ever too late to leave the friend-zone?

Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.

Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)

Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with...oops, forgot I can’t tell anyone about that!

Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.

How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?

Send help.

XO Bree

Review:

Bree’s first impression was not exactly the best. She gave pick-me vibes, even though she wasn't wrong about some stuff and was self aware to some level. Being the “girl best friend” who knows Nathan would pick her over any other girl wasn't even the thing that gave me the ick. What did give me the ick was how she was the only girl who would tag along to like the football team dinners where it was only the guys who treated her like their younger sister. Like, you're telling me the rest of the guys don't have any girls? I don't know, maybe that's just a me thing. Though, I didn’t mind her other than those few moments. She actually had some degree of depth and character development due to her past and what had happened.

“Bree, hope is healthy. Even if you prepare yourself for the worst in life, it will never make the fall hurt less.”

Nathan, I don’t know exactly how I feel about him. He was a good guy who also had his own struggles, which were more focused on towards the end, but they were so real and understandable. Though, he really isn’t that memorable or had me really interested in him. He was sweet and amazing towards Bree and really did love her, which was respectable.

“Your soul is my favorite in this entire world,”

These two were a cute match. They supported each other, knew each other so well, appreciated each other, and so on. Though, they seemed like they were mostly just physically attracted to each other. They did mention and acknowledge each other’s good qualities, but they didn’t really feel meaningful as much as general characteristics.

“It’s painful having to look at something so beautiful and never touch it.”

This leads me to writing. The way the author wrote about the characters and their attraction towards each other made me feel quite uncomfortable at times. Rather than describing them admiring each other, with a loving gaze the author described them as basically drooling with their tongues sticking out. Not up my alley at all, it was quite painful to get through. The wedding scene at the end was very cute though.

The plot was fine. The tension of who’s gonna make a move, how will they confess, will anything happen in the fake dating kept things going. No major events had me hooked or anything but I wasn’t necessarily bored either.

“I couldn’t bear to watch her lose her dream like that.”

Nathan’s friends and Bree’s sister were amazing side characters. They both were pushing Nathan and Bree to try getting out of the friend zone and were fun and supportive!

Overall,

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