{Blog Tour} The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris - Review & Giveaway ~ ***The Starry-Eyed Revue***

I am so excited to be helping Paper Lantern Lit celebrate their new imprint -- The Studio -- with a special blog tour to help support their debut ebook: The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris! The book was pitched as "a sweet romance perfect for springtime, with best friends-turned-enemies and love that blooms from unlikely places."

Title: The Boyfriend Thief
Author: Shana Norris
Series: n/a
Publisher: The Studio, a Paper Lantern Lit imprint
Publication Date: March 24, 2014
Source: from publisher for review/blog tour
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Avery James doesn’t believe in romance—she’s studied enough biology to know that love is nothing more than hormones and chemicals. Besides, she has more practical goals in mind, namely saving up for a summer humanitarian program in Costa Rica. But when her Diggity Dog House supervisor denies her a raise and Avery finds herself $500 dollars short for the trip of a lifetime, Avery has no choice but to accept an unexpected offer. The deal? She must steal her arch nemesis Hannah’s boyfriend before prom, giving Avery eleven days to seduce Zac Greeley.

Avery is sure the job will be easy. But a few midnight comedy shows and spontaneous dance parties (not to mention one particularly intimate carwash) later, Avery finds herself questioning everything she’s ever thought about love. Could Zac’s signature cherry-lime Slurpees be causing brain freeze, or is Avery actually starting to fall for him?

Will Avery be able to steal Zac away from Hannah before he steals Avery’s heart?

Boyfriend thievery isn't a topic I would usually be interested in, but I'll admit that my curiosity was piqued by the premise of The Boyfriend Thief, especially because Avery doesn't sound like the type of character to commit such an atrocious act. And once it was revealed who exactly wanted to pay her to do the stealing, I was on board.

Avery is the kind of protagonist that's going to grate on a lot of people's nerves. She did mine...at least, she did at first. But the more I got to know of her character, the more I realized that my teenage self had a lot in common with her. Avery is very goal-oriented, very ambitious, and very competitive. She's vying for Valedictorian and is currently tied with her ex-best friend for the top spot. I found myself in this very same predicament my senior year of high school. It was our competitive natures that drove the wedge in our friendship, but for Avery and her best friend, it was something far less altruistic: a boy.

Avery's mother left her family in a lurch after battling depression for many years, and Avery's never really recovered. She sabotages practically every relationship she's ever had, romantic and otherwise, and she's still doing it to this day. Avery doesn't believe in love except in a purely scientific manner, so when the opportunity to make the money she needs for her trip presents itself, she truly thinks she can keep it all business. But she never expected Zac to get under her skin the way he did.

The romance was cute, but I found it a tad predictable, especially since you can pretty much assume that Avery will mess things up at every turn, usually by jumping to conclusions or misunderstanding things and not waiting for the full explanation. It's comical at first but it becomes annoying after awhile. But there again, when I think back to my relationships in high school, I didn't always have the best judgment either, nor did I have much patience. However, I did like how Zac and Avery used each other as sounding boards and how they forced each other to face their problems instead of avoiding or running from them as they had before.

The Boyfriend Thief was a very quick read, and I think it's the perfect jaunty little book for a day at the beach. I recommend it to friends who are looking for a fun contemporary on the lighter side of YA because there's not a lot of depth here; it explores some deeper issues while remaining cute and fluffy. You won't walk away with all of life's questions answered, but you'll have fun anyway. ;0)

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Most days, Shana Norris still feels like she’s stuck at sixteen, which is probably why she enjoys writing about teens. Thankfully, she’s never had to work as a giant hot dog, but she did work at a locksmith shop making keys for six months. She currently lives in a small town in eastern North Carolina with her husband and small zoo of pets, which currently includes two dogs, five cats, and a flock of chickens.

Find Shana:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads