Rowena’s review of The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise.

Main Character: Audrey
Love Interest: Aidan (highlight to see)
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

In The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, super-smart, somewhat geeky Audrey McCarthy can’t wait to get out of high school. Her father’s death and the transformation of her one-time BFF, Blake Dawkins, into her worst nightmare have her longing for the new start college will bring.

But college takes money. So Audrey decides she has to win the competition for the best app designed by a high schooler—and the $200,000 that comes with it. She develops something she calls the Boyfriend App, and suddenly she’s the talk of the school and getting kissed by the hottest boys around. But can the Boyfriend App bring Audrey true love?

This was a quick read that I thought was too cute for words.  This book follows Audrey McCarthy, a nerdy programmer who’s never had a boyfriend, had a falling out with her ex-best friend-turned-tormentor-at-school and who wants to win the prize for the big mobile app contest.  The grand prize is $200,000 and when she develops The Boyfriend App, the popularity of the app drives her right up in the rankings of the contest and things are looking up…until they’re not.

Audrey’s father died and he plays a big part of her life because she had a really good relationship with her father and she misses him dearly.  She strives each day to live by the words of advice her father left her and she struggles with that, especially when she wants answers from people that are not giving her the answers.

There was a bunch of drama that I wasn’t expecting when I started this book but overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I wasn’t a fan of Blake and I wasn’t a fan of Xander but I was a huge fan of Aidan.  I loved that he was a programmer just like Audrey and not the most popular boy that is the captain of the football team.  I liked that he was a normal kid with a huge crush on the main character but was too shy to approach her the way that he wanted to.  I really, really liked the romance that blossomed between Audrey and Aidan.  They were too cute.

Some things that I didn’t understand was how all of those adults that worked at Public got away with threatening minors the way that they did.  The asshole-ishness of Blake’s Dad and even Blake’s complete turn on Audrey.  It didn’t seem like there was a discussion about what Blake’s Dad told Blake but I guess that’s the way of teenagers.

The whole story was interesting and I really enjoyed the computer geekery from all of the trogs.  I adored Lindsay’s character and her relationship with Nigit was too cute for words.  The friendships that Audrey had with Aidan, Mindy and Nigit was cute too.  Nerds rule and I wish my daughter was a nerd but I think she’s a jock.  *sigh*  Either way, this was an enjoyable contemporary read that I breezed right through.  Sise did a great job of sucking me into the programming world of Audrey and her friends and I thought Audrey’s voice was very easy to follow along with and her character was easy to connect to.  It’s a great summer read, you guys should definitely give it a go. =)

…and that’s your scoop!