Review: Awkwardly Ever After by Marni Bates

Awkwardly Ever After 
Author: Marni Bates
Series: Smith High, Book 4
Release date: June 24, 2014 
Published by: K-Teen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Received from NetGalley as an ARC for review.

First off, I should tell you I have not read Marni Bates’s other books in this Smith High series, but after this one (the fourth in the series), I might grab the other ones and read them.

I really liked how the story is divided into three novellas, basically: 1) Awkwardly, 2) Ever, and 3) After. How neat is that, three bangs for your buck!

The first story is about Melanie, a freshman, who has a crush on her friend’s brother, an 8th grader--aWKwaRd, nice title connection. The second story is about Isobel, an amazingly geeky girl who likes to observe people and doesn’t think a cool guy could EVER like her. And the third story is about Corey who has fallen in love and is in a relationship with a rockstar but now faces the challenge of being in the spotlight--can the paparazzi ruin his relationship even after they’ve admitted they love each other?

I had a lot of fun reading the stories involving Melanie and Isobel. I think part of it was their relationship. They cracked me up several times. Here is one of my favorite exchanges between Melanie and Isobel. Melanie wants Isobel’s advice about how to get out of a date with the super cool Spencer King. Isobel’s suggestion: “I would let my trusty dragon take care of the situation. Or ask a warlock friend to intervene. Those things are way more likely to happen than a date with Spencer King. At least for me.” *still chuckling*

While I really enjoyed the first two stories, I struggled to connect with Corey in the third because of the rockstar storyline. I liked the character, had me chuckling a couple times, too, but I just couldn’t get past my brain which was going...really? really?...teenager falls in love with a rockstar and rockstar loves him back?...really? I mean I like fantasy stories, but after being grounded firmly in realistic fiction for the first two, I couldn’t alleviate the disbelief for the final storyline.

Anyway, I will be looking into getting this four book series for my classroom bookshelf. I think they will appeal to my students who eat up my Meg Cabot and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books. 

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