She Gets the Girl

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She Gets the Girl
Age Range
14+
Release Date
April 05, 2022
ISBN
978-1534493797
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She’s All That meets What If It’s Us in this swoon-worthy hate-to-love YA romantic comedy from #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart Rachael Lippincott and debut writer Alyson Derrick. Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand…not so much. Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mom. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just…hasn’t actually talked to her yet. Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus. But when Alex, fresh off a bad (but hopefully not permanent) breakup, discovers Molly’s hidden crush as their paths cross the night before classes start, they realize they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex volunteers to help Molly learn how to get her dream girl to fall for her, she can prove to her ex that she’s not a selfish flirt. That she’s ready for an actual commitment. And while Alex is the last person Molly would ever think she could trust, she can’t deny Alex knows what she’s doing with girls, unlike her. As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling…for each other.

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1 review
engaging YA rom-com
Overall rating
 
4.3
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
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N/A
SHE GETS THE GIRL is a cute YA contemporary rom-com. Alex spends her time taking care of her alcoholic mother, making sure the bills are paid and she does not go back to her ex. Her childhood has taught her not to easily trust others. She is about to go to college with a plan to improve her life, and her girlfriend is about to go on tour and she is working up the courage to ask for a long-distance relationship when they have a big argument and things are said. She is going to come up with a plan to get her back by showing her she is serious.

Molly has been in love with Cora since they were freshman in high school - but Cora does not seem to know she exists. Now that they are at the same college, Molly wants to change things. Not only is she going to try to get the girl, but she is also determined to make some new friends. However, Alex, the girl who wants to help her, is not really the person she wants to know better. Molly cannot deny that she knows how to get girls though, so she reluctantly accepts her help. As they spend time together, they each learn more about who they are and what they want - which may not be who they originally thought.

What I loved: This was a really sweet and charming romantic comedy. I loved the connections they made with each other and some of the other characters, particularly Jim, who is Alex's boss. Alex and Molly are both really compelling characters, and they each develop more fully throughout the story. While each has a conflict with their mothers, they are much different in scope. Alex is trying to break the dependency her alcoholic mother has with her while also still caring about what happens to her mother. Molly's mother is dealing with generational trauma that causes her to reject parts of her heritage and leaves her children feeling conflicted. As they attend the college and spend time together, each will confront themselves and their own truths.

The romance was really sweet and built slowly. For the most part, they spent a lot of time getting to know each other with a heavy cover of friendship. That being said, it was easy to cheer for them to get together and to find their happy endings. The thought-provoking and powerful themes around family, race, alcohol abuse, friendship, and healthy romantic relationships really elevate this read into something highly riveting.

Final verdict: An engaging slow-burn rom-com, SHE GETS THE GIRL is a charming and compelling YA contemporary read. Recommend for fans of THE ONE TRUE ME AND YOU, WHAT IF IT'S US, and FRESH.
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1 review
Overall rating
 
4.3
Plot
 
4.0(1)
Characters
 
5.0(1)
Writing Style
 
4.0(1)
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A slow-burn lesbian rom-com
Overall rating
 
4.3
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
WHAT I LOVED:
For teens who attend directly after high school, college is often a new beginning, especially if you’re living on campus or are attending a school far from home. That was certainly true for me on all the above counts. Molly’s journey to come out of her shell is one that rings especially true to me as someone who also wanted to be different after years of being choked by social anxiety in high school. Too bad she’s still too choked up by it to go for her longtime crush Cora Myers.

Alex has a much tougher time of things but is no less relatable. After years of watching her mom drink their money away, she’s looking to make a career as a doctor–something to make her so rich she’ll never worry about money again. College is about survival, not passion. Some of what she goes through with her mom is all too familiar.

She Gets the Girl is a VERY slow-burn kind of romance. Despite short chapters with alternating perspectives and a timeline of about a month, the book’s pacing is at an utter crawl sometimes. It can be hard to keep your attention on it. Due in part to that, it took me almost until the end of the book for me to get invested in Alex and Molly being together–which coincides with when they realize their feelings for one another.

This is not Prolonged Pining: The Novel. It’s enemies-to-friends-to-lovers with a long time spent on the “friends” stage. You certainly can’t say Alex and Molly don’t fit together or have any chemistry because that’s well-established!

FINAL VERDICT:
I feel pretty good about She Gets the Girl being a hit because of Rachael Lippincott’s bestseller status related to Five Feet Apart, but it deserves success on its own merits. It’s the cute, gay college rom-com of your dreams and feels as real as it can get.
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