Boomerang Boyfriend by Chris CannonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Three and a half stars.
I have to admit, I misread the blurb on NetGalley when I requested this book and thought, for some reason, that Delia was best friends with Jack's brother not his sister!
Anyhoo, Delia has been best friends with Zoe for ever and spends probably more time at Zoe and Jack's house than her own. Delia's parents work anti-social shifts and appear to be a bit switched-off, they don't remember to buy food and sometimes it seems as though Delia is the adult taking care of her feckless parents. Having said that, money is clearly tight and her parents love her, they just aren't often THERE.
Zoe and Jack have been touched by tragedy when their father and grandfather were killed in a car crash, at first their mother also seemed to have checked out but she seems to be doing better. They all three live with Zoe and Jack's grandmother. Zoe is dating Grant and Delia had high hopes of dating Grant's best friend Aidan, but he has firmly friend-zoned her after she spontaneously kissed him.
Delia is starting work at Betty's Burgers as the new dessert princess - basically she serves slices of cake and sings happy birthday if someone has a birthday (when they get a free slice of cake). Jack already works at Betty's which is a problem because Jack is a complete jerk. But it seems as though the fates are conspiring against Delia because not only does she have to see Jack every time she spends time at Zoe's house AND work with him but as his class' art teacher has left suddenly he is also taking art classes at school with her. But as they are forced into even close proximity Jack and Delia discover they may have more in common than they thought and the person who irritates them the most may also see them the best.
I have tagged this as "angst-angst-angst" because of Delia's parents and Jack and Zoe's situation and Jack's best friend whose brother died of an overdose, heck even Aidan has problems at home. But at the same time I have tagged it as low-angst because these things are just background and the actual plot is relatively angst-free.
I liked this, but I didn't love it. I see from Goodreads that this is the third in the Boyfriend Chronicles series and although it can definitely be read as a stand-alone there is definitely the feel that maybe I missed something - perhaps the start of Delia's crush on Aidan?
Overall, a sweet YA romance about your best friend's older brother, it's got dogs and pie and art jokes and it's about normal kids with normal names, albeit that some of them have had to deal with some difficult circumstances.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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