Monday, February 22, 2016

How Willa Got Her Groove Back by Emily McKay Review

"When your life feels like a bad movie, rewrite the script.

When Willa Schofer’s father comes home from a business trip with an über-famous new fiancée, Willa’s senior year blows up in paparazzi-fueled flames. Overnight, she has a new house, a new car, and a new soon-to-be stepbrother—the unbelievably hot, unbelievably arrogant, Finn McCain. Thank god he’s constantly pushing her buttons, or she might do something irresponsible. Like fall for the jerk.

Just when Willa’s decided to avoid him for, oh, ever, Finn lands in the center of her senior project team. Seriously—how hard is it to shake a guy? At least her work on the project snagged the attention of the (second) hottest guy in school. He might only be into her because of her famous stepmom, and he’s not quite as exciting as a certain annoying housemate, but at least she’s allowed to crush on the guy.

Because crushing on your annoying stepbrother? So not cool."

NetGalley. Thanks for a copy.

No! This book can't end on a cliffhanger!

But it did. And I'm upset. Denied, the ending smirks. Denied. Denied. Denied. It's such a misfortune that they don't get together, and I'm sure that you all can figure out what's going on. 

Let's dig in. As we all can see, the story is very focused on the romance aspect of the story, but it thankfully also focuses on family relationships and friendships and crushes and classmate-ships. (Off-topic questions: Is "classmate-ships" a word? Can I make it one?) We get to look into the inverted relationship between Finn and his mother (where Finn is more parent-like than a child) and the played-straight relationship between Willa and her father. Willa also has her friends, and she has her own life. Finn, on the other hand, hasn't developed his own life (yet) after being moved to a new place by his mother. 

It's easy to tell that Willa and Finn are most definitely endgame. However, the plot doesn't want that. It's going to slowly let them be together for a brief moment before splitting them apart again. It's so aggravating (in a good way), and I can't help but keep turning the pages. Will they kiss? Do they finally kiss? Will they finally get together and believe in love? 

That is when I get to the ending. Cliffhanger. Boom. There. I'm so quick to squeal, because they were so close and... Argh... Grr... These two are definitely one of those pairings good at eliciting a lot of emotions (and shipper!feels) from me. 

Willa and Finn. Finn and Willa. They have a chemistry that burns very bright, and I just can't help but want them to get together. Willa's choices shape the way the plot turns out. She controls the way the story goes while Finn doesn't have that. Willa has a much larger arc compared to Finn, and I would love to see him have more of an arc. 

Insta-famous. A slow burn. Stepsiblings in love. And a (good) mess in nearly every direction. Overall, How Willa Got Her Groove Back is for fans who love forbidden romances. It's definitely for those who enjoy Did I Mention I Love You? and seek a much cleaner and slightly different version of that story. 

Rating: Three out of Five

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