The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes Published by HarperTeen on May 20th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA, Young Adult
Goodreads
Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.
And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.
What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?
I read The Art of Lainey a while ago, and this review is very late, but hey- better late than never! While I have read it a while ago, I don’t find myself forgetting what happened in it, which rarely happens any more. The Art of Lainey is one of the cutest summer reads I’ve read this year, it is just so good. While it is your basic cute book, it also has a lot of more meaningful moments. Basically, The Art of Lainey is basically an amazingly fun novel, full of cute romance and some entertaining melodrama.
When Lainey gets dumped by her boyfriend, she resolves to make him jealous using The Art of War. She then gets the help of Micah, basically the most badass chef ever, and they pretend to be dating in order to make Lainey’s ex jealous. So in essence, this whole book screams fun!
Lainey’s personality was a little annoying at times, and she was a little whiny, but I completely understand. She totally seemed like a realistic teen though, it just worked for the novel. I loved Lainey’s character growth and her relationship with Micah was amazing. Oh Micah, swoony swoony, Micah. I feel like I can’t do him any justice but basically, he is all sorts of mysterious but sweet. The whole fake-dating angst was just the best and I swear I couldn’t stop reading, even if I wanted to.
All in all, The Art of Lainey is a great summer read that I just absolutely adored! If you’re looking for a cute read to cheer you up, I recommend picking this one up!
