The Heartbreak Cure
Author: Amanda Ashby
Publisher: Entangled: Crush
Pages: Kindle Edition, 144 pages
Genre: YA
Release Date: December 4th 2017
Summary:
How to get over a heartbreak:
Step one: Eat your body weight in brownies.
Step two: Throw yourself into your dreams of becoming a famous writer.
Step three: Beg your (hottie) ex-neighbor to act as your fake boyfriend.
Step four: Skip step three unless you’re ready for some serious fallout.
After being dumped and humiliated over the summer, Cat Turner does what any sane girl would do. She asks bad boy Alex Locke to be her fake boyfriend and show the world (and her editor at the school newspaper) that she's fine. Problem is, the more time she spends with Alex, the more she risks getting her heart broken. For real this time.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a swoony bad boy who will melt your heart, brownies, and witty banter. One, two, or all three might prove addictive...
About the Author:
Amanda Ashby was born in Australia but now lives in New Zealand where she writes romance, young adult and middle grade books. She also works in a library, owns far too many vintage tablecloths and likes to delight her family by constantly rearranging the furniture. She has a degree in English and Journalism from the University of Queensland and is married with two children. Her debut book was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award, and her first young adult book was listed by the New York Public Libraryʼs Stuff for the Teen Age. Because she’s mysterious she also writes middle grade books under the name, Catherine Holt and hopes that all this writing won’t interfere with her Netflix schedule.
Review:
The Heartbreak Cure started off with what looked your classic bestie to pretend lovers to the real thing storyline. Your classic cute and fluffy it seemed.
I was quite content with that. If you would have asked me around halfway in, what I thought, I would have told you very swoony cute & fluffy, very predictable and really enjoyable.
And then it took a turn. So suddenly this is more than a cute & fluffy. And I still love it.
But while The Heartbreak Cure did somehow manage to breach the cliff from cute & fluffy and thoughtful & heartbreaking, it seems like it can't decide what it is. Funny that I should fault that, but somehow, it felt unfulfilled.
Well, not the storyline mind you, it's cute, at times predictable and yet very enjoyable.
But the actual novel, the feel of it. I mean I liked the fluff for the first 70something percent and I liked the fluff ending as well. I really enjoyed the more serious parts. I loved how Alex and Cat, both come to the conclusion that not all is what it seems. I like that they are both somewhat mopey teens with a strong backbone. But somehow the fluff ending didn't make me feel all swoony because my heart was just dragged through the trenches and the issues Ashby highlighted weren't so simple to let go of. It was too sweet in the end, too fluffy. Somehow I feel there could have been more here. I was given a hint of more and then it was just brushed away.
The writing style is my least favorite part of the novel. It's okay, but at times it felt a bit wooden. Some phrases are just a bit too much of the usual usual. I am being very critical here, as always when it comes to writing style. While the style might not have been my favorite, it didn't detract from how much I liked the book.. clearly.
The character building, on the other hand, was my favorite. I adore Alex. Cat in all her sometimes drama queen teen glory is super sweet. I could relate to her and identify with her. The two MC's feel real, their fears and worries realistic. I could relate and I feel like I know them, more importantly, I felt with them. Their chemistry is tangible. Very cute couple indeed.
The support cast was interesting as well. Some of the characters were are first glance a bit of the usual typecast, but as we get to know them they do get more unique. I like that Ashby took a set of given ideas and characters and made them her own.
Very enjoyable, at times surprising and very sweet cute & fluffy with a pinch of depth thrown in for good measure. A must-read for lovers of the genre.
Rating: 
Excerpt:
“Please don’t tell my mom that one. She doesn’t need any more bad puns to put on her cards,” Cat said as Alex’s cell phone buzzed. He read the text message before looking up.
“You could tell her yourself—or not tell her, as the case might be. She wants you to call her.”
“What?” Cat said in surprise before dragging out her own phone and staring at the dead screen. She’d obviously played one too many games on it during math. “How did she even get your number?”
He shrugged. “I guess Joe gave it to her.”
“Oh.” It seemed Cat wasn’t the only forgetting Alex wasn’t her real boyfriend.
The darkening afternoon sky was a spectrum of blues as he held up his cell. “You can use mine.”
“Thanks.” She took the handset. The screen was cracked, and there was a fine coat of grease on the keys. She grinned at his screen saver, which was of Snoopy dressed up as the Red Baron. “Frozen and now Snoopy? I always knew you had a marshmallow heart.”
“Yeah. I’m a total softie,” his voice was light, but his knuckles whitened. Cat winced. Franklin had tarred and feathered him with the same brush they’d used for his parents. The worst thing was he seemed to believe it, too. Frustration gnawed at her chest.
How I am the only one who can see how amazing he really is?
Her mom answered on the second ring and explained she’d been held up in a sales meeting and it was going to run for another two hours, which meant she couldn’t pick Cat from school.
“It’s fine. I’ll hitch a ride with Nikki,” Cat said, promising to charge up her cell phone, eat some vegetables with her dinner, and on no account throw a house party.
“You’ll never guess what just happened.” Nikki came running outside, her eyes glowing and her cheeks bright.
“Mackenzie fell into a vat of glitter?” Cat suggested. “Or glue?” Alex added.
“Wrong. Parker just asked me if I wanted to grab a burger with him. Well, he said you guys could come, but I told him you were busy. Right. Right?” Nikki narrowed her gaze so there could be no misunderstandings.
“Right,” she agreed with a smile before recalling her transport predicament. “Go, have fun, and don’t tell him about the time you beat your brothers up. It will only scare him.”
“Duh.” Nikki grinned and went racing over to Parker, who was nervously chewing his lip.
“I can give you a lift,” Alex said once they were alone.
“Are you sure? I feel like every day I impose on you more,” she said, achingly aware of how close they were standing.
“What kind of fake boyfriend would leave his girl stranded?” He shrugged.
His girl.
His. Girl.
She tested out the words like a new flavor. Her body trembled in response and she nodded. “Okay, great.”
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