(Review): The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

RATING : 3 STARS

REVIEW : 

Contemporaries is one of my favorite genres. That being said, I pick out the ones that are not cliched. Couple months ago, when the ARC(Advance readers copy) of The Art of Lainey was getting a lot of attention from bloggers, it caught my eye. I wasn’t sure if I would be interested, but reading all glowing reviews from my fellow bloggers, I couldn’t resist but request a copy, myself. I should say, I wasn’t completely sold. I could predict how things were going early on. Most of the contemporaries that I have read and enjoyed in the past, could also be predicted, but with The Art of Lainey, albeit different concept, it involved some melodrama that ticked me off. 

The varsity soccer player, Lainey Mitchell gets dumped by her boyfriend, Jason, in front of so many people and her co-workers. Lainey decides to win him back, and for that she seeks the help of her best friend Bianca. The two, get online to find some tips to win back Lainey’s boyfriend. Every possible tip they find sounds very cliched. It was Bianca, who gives the book The Art of War written by an ancient Chinese, Sun Tzu. Lainey uses the war strategies to get back Jason. Lainey reaches out to Micah, her co-worker to help her out. Micah, recently broke up with his girlfriend too and agrees to help Lainey, thinking that it might also help him win back his girlfriend. 

What I liked? Firstly, strong friendship between Lainey and Bianca. While most YA contemporaries fail to focus on female friendship, Stokes made the friendship sound so perfect and realistic. Although, both have different dreams, they support each other for their decision. Second, Lainey comes across as a shallow person at the start of the story, but her growth was excellent as the story progressed. 

I was exasperated at certain moments.What are they? -  I was thrilled to see how the use of war strategies could work, but in the end it turned out to make your ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend jealous. I couldn’t see anything new by incorporating details of The Art of War. I’m not a fan of fake dates but I did enjoy Micah’s choice of places-who wouldn’t enjoy House of Torture (for Pancakes) !! Again, I wasn’t a fan of Jason. At certain moments he sounded as jerk. I couldn’t see why Lainey was so focused on winning him back. All these my personal qualm.

The Art of Lainey was a cute summer read. Of all the glowing reviews I’m in the minority. I would recommend to pick up a copy of The Art of Lainey and find it for yourself. Although, I wasn’t greatly impressed with The Art of Lainey, I’m waiting for Stokes next book.