Jesse McMann is still reeling from a breakup that shattered his heart and his band. Then pride (and some goading from his bass player and fellow barista) forces him to find a new drummer—and the inspiration to write music again.
Kismet arrives in the unlikely form of Grayson Barrett, who tries out for Jesse's band, and whose girlfriend is BFFs with the cute girl who orders a chai latte after yoga every Thursday: Maddie. What Jesse and Maddie thought they knew about the secrets of attraction and the rules of romance changes once they start falling for each other.
My Thoughts:
**An ARC of this book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.**
This was extremely middle-of-the-road for me. It was about a boy. And a girl. Both of whom had semi-serious relationships before they met each other and weren't initially attracted to each other. Stories like that are fun but I've definitely read it before. Also the boy, Jesse, was in a band and played guitar and sang. Again, fun but not a new theme for a YA novel. The girl, Madison, was all into artsy stuff and had major goals for her life. Great and all, but seen it already.
There was just nothing in here to set it apart from any other contemporary YA romance. Maybe the plotline with Madison's mom was a bit unique, sure, but it was minor. It wasn't enough of the story to make the book different.
The writing was fine; I wasn't really pulled out of the story because of some flow/grammar/writing issue. I wanted to keep reading and actually read it in about a day, so that was something. The writing wasn't particularly memorable, though. Actually, you know what, now that I think about it there were times when Madison would think/do/say something that would be way too feelings-y or repetitive. It was annoying. Especially when she would repeat the same thoughts over and over in different places. That was the only really irritating issue with the writing.
Ok, one more thing bugged: There was a lot left open-ended when the book was finished. I know that's kind of like life and all but in a novel (unless it's a series) I like for things to be very spelled-out for me in the end. I don't want to have to imagine what happened to these characters, what choices they made, where they ended up. I could do that. But I shouldn't have to. These are not my characters, not my world and I want to know what happened to them. That's all.
And the cover is terrible. It's one of those book covers that I would never carry around in public. I'm a little embarrassed to have read this book because of the cover.
So all in all this book gets a solid "meh". If I could shoulder-shrug on here, that would about sum up my feelings about The Secrets of Attraction: It's fine for a fluffy feel-good romancey read. Not good for much else.
Sexual Content: Moderate
Language: Heavy
Violence: Mild (if any)
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild-Moderate (honestly don't remember--must not have been much)
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