After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart.But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission.
Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.
Title: The Replacement Crush
Author: Lisa Brown Roberts
Publication date: September 6, 2016
I received The Replacement Crush from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Vivian basically has the best life ever. She lives in a small, idyllic beach town, she’s a book blogger (romance is her genre), and her mom both owns a bookstore and is a bestselling mystery author. Her only problem is that the guy she’s had a crush on since kindergarten, the guy she spent all summer hooking up with in secret, doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore. He actually tells her that the only reason he was with her at all was because he was bored!
Vivian decides she needs a replacement crush, someone safe who she won’t develop feelings for. Yeah, that will work. You see what’s coming, don’t you?
The Replacement Crush is predictable but fun. I liked Dallas, who has just moved to town for his senior year of high school. He’s more into science fiction that I have the patience for, but Vivian doesn’t mind. She likes Star Trek too. I do like that Vivian admits to herself that she’s more a fan of the relationship drama of Star Trek (and spinoffs) than anything else.
I liked all the other characters too. I was happy to discover that Vivian has a whole circle of friends. It seems like so many characters have just one best friend and no one else aside from her love interest. Vivian has Jasmine, Amy, and Toff, and she even makes another friend later in the book. She’s also involved with her community and works in her mom’s bookstore and runs a book club. She’s not just sitting around waiting for a guy to come along and entertain her.
The Replacement Crush seemed very long while I was reading it but it’s hard to judge the actual length with an ebook. I just know that I got frustrated at times with Vivian and her reluctance to go for what she wanted: Dallas. At times Vivian is basically any heroine in one of her romance books who won’t admit that she’s in love with the hero and maybe I just can’t deal with as much of that anymore. Obviously things can’t be smooth sailing or there would be no book, but Vivian seemed to hold out longer than most YA characters.
Overall, I liked The Replacement Crush a lot. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a fun, light read. There are a lot of funny scenes that kept me engaged in the story, and I was really rooting for Vivian and Dallas. This is the second Lisa Brown Roberts books I’ve read and the second that I’ve rated 4 1/2 stars. I’m going to be watching for more books by this author.
