Reviewer: Rowena Over You by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
Publisher: Harper Collins, Harper Teen
Publication Date: August 21st 2012
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 304
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After the grand explosion of her relationship, seventeen-year-old Max Scott developed what every girl in the history of the world has been waiting for: a way to get over being dumped. Now Max is the go-to guru for heartbroken high-school girls all over NYC. But when her ex unexpectedly shows up in her neighborhood, Max’s carefully controlled world starts to unravel. With her clients’ hearts hanging in the balance, Max will have to do the seemingly impossible: get over him once and for all.
Brilliant at bringing humor to the trials and tribulations of the lovestruck, #1 New York Times bestselling authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have crafted a tale that will resonate with any girl who has ever been in love or had her heart broken. It brims with smart observations, features a pitch-perfect teen voice, and will attract fans of Jenny Han, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Barnholdt. Readers are sure to fall head-over-heels for this sharp spin on breaking up, making up, and getting even.
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by these authors before but I was pretty excited to read this one. The blurb sounded like something I would enjoy and while I did enjoy a lot of the book, there were a few things that got on my hot damn nerves.
So this story is about Max Scott, a young girl who drops out of high school (after heated fights with her mother) and goes into the business of helping young girls over their heartbreaks. It started off when she was in boarding school and she meets a boy named Hugo who becomes her world. She falls in love and then he dumps her and she’s devastated..and embarrassed. She flees from school to New York, where her mother has decided to stick around and she creates a new life for her there with her best friend, Zach.
She starts Ex, Inc. which is a business of mending broken hearts. Her clients come to her to help them get over their ex and get their confidence back. She has proven methods and programs that work and she’s really good at this….until Hugo comes back into the picture. By the time Hugo comes back into the picture, Max has already met Ben Cooper and they’re starting up a friendship that Ben is really keen on building on. He’s nothing but good to her and she’s starting to think about him a lot but because she’s got this business that keeps her busy all of the time, the relationship is kind of stalled for the moment.
There are other complications of course, one being that Ben’s best friend is the ex-boyfriend of one of Max’s clients and it’s her job to help her get over that guy which means that she’s pretty much erasing Taylor from Bridget’s life. Taylor is Ben’s best friend and Bridget is Max’s client. Can you see the complication?
The thing that I liked about this book was the same thing that Zach and Phoebe liked about Max. How strong she was. She was unbreakable and she was tenacious when it came to helping her clients get over their exes but when her ex came into the picture, she forgot everything that she’s been drilling into her clients heads and falls epically. I get that it would be hard but the way that she wouldn’t let anyone be there for her, especially her best friends. It made sense that she kept things close to her chest, considering the way that she was brought up but it still got on my nerves that she didn’t take her own advice when it came to dealing with her ex. While she’s ripping these guys out of her client’s lives, she’s not doing the same thing for herself. I guess that’s where her age comes into the picture because it’s something that someone so young would do but it didn’t make me feel any better about Max.
Spoilers…enter at your own risk!
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While she’s trying to get her closure and royally screwing that up, she hurts Ben and I hated that. I hated that she was so excited about her date with Ben and then ends up with Hugo instead. I didn’t like her when she went home with Hugo and spent the night with him and was making plans with him and going to lunch with his mother. I also hated that Ben forgave her so soon. I wish he would have made her squirm a little for being a douche with Hugo.
So aside from that madness, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the secondary characters, the story and Ben. I would have been happy with more Ben but he was in it enough to become a lovable character.
…and that’s your scoop!
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Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
