Book Title: The Break-Up Artist
Author: Philip Siegel
Release Date: April 29th, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA/Contemporary
Standalone
Book Link: Goodreads
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Some sixteen-year-olds babysit for extra cash. Some work at the Gap. Becca Williamson breaks up couples.
After watching her sister get left at the altar, Becca knows the true damage that comes when people utter the dreaded L-word. For just $100 via paypal, she can trick and manipulate any couple into smithereens. With relationship zombies overrunning her school, and treating single girls like second class citizens, business is unfortunately booming. Even her best friend Val has resorted to outright lies to snag a boyfriend.
One night, she receives a mysterious offer to break up the homecoming king and queen, the one zombie couple to rule them all: Steve and Huxley. They are a JFK and Jackie O in training, masters of sweeping faux-mantic gestures, but if Becca can split them up, then school will be safe again for singletons. To succeed, she’ll have to plan her most elaborate scheme to date and wiggle her way back into her former BFF Huxley’s life – not to mention start a few rumors, sabotage some cell phones, break into a car, and fend off the inappropriate feelings she’s having about Val’s new boyfriend. All while avoiding a past victim out to expose her true identity.
No one said being the Break-Up Artist was easy.
After watching her sister get left at the altar, Becca knows the true damage that comes when people utter the dreaded L-word. For just $100 via paypal, she can trick and manipulate any couple into smithereens. With relationship zombies overrunning her school, and treating single girls like second class citizens, business is unfortunately booming. Even her best friend Val has resorted to outright lies to snag a boyfriend.
One night, she receives a mysterious offer to break up the homecoming king and queen, the one zombie couple to rule them all: Steve and Huxley. They are a JFK and Jackie O in training, masters of sweeping faux-mantic gestures, but if Becca can split them up, then school will be safe again for singletons. To succeed, she’ll have to plan her most elaborate scheme to date and wiggle her way back into her former BFF Huxley’s life – not to mention start a few rumors, sabotage some cell phones, break into a car, and fend off the inappropriate feelings she’s having about Val’s new boyfriend. All while avoiding a past victim out to expose her true identity.
No one said being the Break-Up Artist was easy.
Disclaimer: I participated in an ARC Tour for this book & read it with On The Same Page ARC Tours.
Review:
I honestly was not sure what to expect with this book. I knew it could go in many different directions, but I didn’t know what direction it would go.I absolutely did not expect to relate to Becca so easily, but I did. Even though I didn’t really go through the whole friends abandoning me in favor of their boyfriends in high school, I went through that in college.
One of my childhood friends got a boyfriend and she could not stop obsessing about him. At one point I completely lost it and started yelling at her at a movie theater in front of the popcorn stand about how she didn’t seem to value friendship as much now that she was dating (and BTW the guy was a CREEP) After that our friendship basically ended. But I digress.
I know of several people who are seemingly unable to have time with their friends & time with their significant others. It’s frustrating especially when the friends lose out to the significant other. I understood why Becca was so upset that her onetime friend Huxley had basically abandoned her when Steve came into the picture.
It’s hard to explain to someone who has never gone through it but it really hurts that a friend would rather couple up and shut out all the single friends rather than bring the new significant other around the friends so that they can all spend time together. Or even better do something with their friends and without the significant other *gasp*
Becca is afraid that things are about to repeat themselves with Val and her new boyfriend Ezra and she does not want to lose another friend to the over-hyped bogus concept of love. But what she doesn’t expect is to fall for Ezra herself. Especially since she doesn’t believe in love.
It’s hard for Becca to believe in love when her sister was left at the altar by someone that she loved. Love has come to make no sense to Becca. All she’s seen it lead to is heartbreak after heartbreak. Becca has a very narrow view of what love looks like. To the point where she doesn’t think that her parents are in love anymore. There’s none of that affection, that is so rampant in high school, in her own home.
So she starts this business of breaking up couples and the business is booming. It definitely helped being anonymous though.She knows if her name gets out, then any chance of a social life is over. Not that she actually has one now, but she won’t be able to recover from this.
I really enjoyed this book even though parts were hard to read because of my own history with losing my friends to coupledom. Both Becca and her sister transform in different but no less awesome ways. I didn’t particularly love Val or Huxley and that’s because of their insistence on putting romantic relationships and social standing at the highest level and leaving their friendships to crash and burn.I also didn’t love Ezra. I started to, but then when we got to learn more about him I no longer liked him.I didn’t particularly love the ending because I thought it left a lot of questions. Sometimes I’m okay with it and sometimes I’m not. This time I was not.
So this book will be getting 4 stars from me. It was a good read, a quick read and one that I think everyone should read.Having a balance between your friends & significant other is so important and not one that people think about enough.
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