Alexis Bass

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Silly theories that overrule common sense!

Opening Sentence: There’s one major reason I’m ready to be done with high school and it’s all culminating now, the first day back from winter break, in Senior Drama.

The Review:

The story centers around, Aubrey, and her group of very mean friends. Aubrey’s best friend, Shelby, has created these absurd ‘theories,’ which they all live by. The theories mean that the girls play by the guys’ rules so that their high school lives are love and pain free. By following these theories, they hope to remain free, have fun and not be a clingy, dependent girlfriend, which in their eyes is the ultimate failure.

It was hard to feel bad about saying these things. Everyone wants a reason to hate on someone, even if it’s not a good reason, and everyone loves a good slut-villain.

I’m not a romantic but I could not understand their way of thinking; casually dating and ‘going around’ and then judging other girls that are in relationships but that may be having issues. They’d rather fool around in high school and thereby fool themselves into thinking they’re better and happier than everyone else. This worked for so long until… surprise, surprise, Aubrey falls for the new guy. So predictable.

Flawed MCs are always interesting, but I just could not connect with Aubrey. She was like Shelby’s sheep, never being able to think for herself or make her own decisions. It was pathetic. Even when Shelby is clearly throwing herself at the guy Aubrey is falling for, Aubrey stands by and pretends it’s fine because that’s what the theories dictate! What type of friend does that so blatantly?

And if boys think girls are stupid, that’s how they’ll treat them.
Our theories stop boys from thinking girls are crippled by their emotions, and needy, and dramatic, and dependent. We like to think that our evolved behavior is saving girlkind. Because let’s face it, we need saving.

Nathan, the new guy and reason for all the drama, begins as a nerd and ends up being the town’s new heartbreaker! I would have thought he was more of a player if it wasn’t for the fact that he was just going along with these crazy theories that the girls had devised. Nathan can’t even be called a cheater because the girls were so insistent that there weren’t any strings!

The only reason I didn’t rate this as a one-star read was because of Trip. Despite his ‘player’ persona, it was obvious that he genuinely cared for Aubrey (no idea why) and his character made this story somewhat likeable.

According to Shelby, the longer you know someone, the longer they have to let you down. But sometimes, the longer you know someone, the more time they have to surprise you.

To sum it up, this was an unimpressive read.

Notable Scene:

Instead we all did whatever we wanted, and didn’t talk about what we were doing or not doing, because none of it was supposed to matter. We all kept secrets. If we didn’t acknowledge our feelings, we couldn’t be hurt by them. But they were there all along, buried and rooted and growing every minute. We never guessed what kind of feat it would be to keep them concealed, what an effort it would take to keep up the smoke and mirrors of our tricks.

FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy Love and Other Theories. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.… (more)

Terrible terrible terrible
This book is about a group of teenagers that follow some stupid rules when it to dating to avoid getting their heart broken. Audrey meets new kid Nathan and claims him for herself. But she finds herself getting a bit too attached and decides to treat him like crap so that he won't want to pursue anything further. It doesn't happen that way. And it all leads to even more girl on girl hate and me questioning hundreds of times why any of these girls are even friends with each other.
The ending was good because they reached a point where I wasn't worried about anyone and their emotional health but the journey to get there was stupid because I'm surprised anyone wants to read about petty insecure girls fighting all the time.… (more)

Love & Other Theories isn’t what I expected at all. I thought we were going to get a sweet book, but what we get is a much better realization about friendships.

I liked Aubrey even though she made some pretty insane decisions. She is a good student, works, and is devoted to her friends. Each friend brings something different to the table, and I think that is what makes them such a tight-knit group. Aubrey seems to be the only one that has any kind of parental involvement in her life, and the rest just sort of run rampant. Nathan is a person you have a love/hate relationship with. He makes some pretty douchey decisions and there were times I wanted to beat him down.

Now, there are a lot of things in this book: sex, parties, friendship, love, and these insane rules that these girls think will keep them from getting hurt. The way these characters stuck to the rules is what drove me nuts. I don’t see how they can make sense in anyone’s mind, but it’s been a while since I was a teen. I do know that there is always some kind of jealousy and wanting what your other friends have, and I think that is the biggest message in this book. There were times where I couldn’t understand how this group still managed to be friends. I was happy when Aubrey started to realize that maybe it’s okay to get hurt sometimes. She seemed to grow so much throughout the last half of her senior year.

This book definitely won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. This is some of the drama that high schoolers go through, and I don’t think that will ever change. They have to do like Aubrey does and decide what is worth it in the end.… (more)