Review: A fun, sweet romance that manages to avoid the cliched trappings of so many novels in this genre
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2014
Straight A student London James needs just one more class to graduate from UNC and head off to L.A. to begin her acting career.  But the nutty professor of Communication 224 gives just one grade for one project, and it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds.  With another student as her partner, she has to live the project, immersing herself in the reality show world of perfect, unreal, romantic dates.  The goal?  To prove that rose petals and champagne can’t manufacture romance.  If only it were that simple.She’s spent the past four years of school immersed in acting, spending her weekends in the basement with the rest of the drama crew, working on their series of productions.  She’s dated a few fellow drama geeks, but nothing to write home about, and the last thing she needs is to be saddled with a partner who doesn’t take perfect grades as seriously as she does.  After all, if she makes less than an A, her parents won’t support her move to L.A.Beau Anderson is a typical college guy, exactly the kind she’s never been interested in.  He goes to parties, watches sports, lives with video game junkies, and has never even seen on of London’s plays.  But he’s easy to talk to, fun to be around, and keeps coming up with perfect date plans.  Suddenly her fake boyfriend feels a lot more real than either one of them intended.Judging Covers...Gorgeous cover.  At first, I was wondering how a beach scene had anything to do with UNC — I mean, it’s not like Chapel Hill is anywhere near a beach.  But then the break happened, and guess where our two love birds ended up?  *Insert girly sigh here*  Granted, I could have done without that font — it’s not nearly as bad as Papyrus, but it’s still way overused.  Still a lovely pic, though, with beautiful colors and totally fitting for the book.The Verdict...Loved it!  It’s a fun, sweet romance that somehow manages to avoid all the cliched trappings of so many novels in this genre.  So many romances have a couple at odds who finally give into their attraction, followed by a jealous misunderstanding or some angsty mess where one or both are unwilling to admit their feelings, followed by the guy rushing in to sweep the girl off her feet with some uber-romantic declaration.  But this book has something far better than that!London may be a theater geek, but she’s no wallflower, and for all his typical boyishness, Beau is a far cry from the binge drinking jock one might expect.  She’s not saving his grades, and he’s not showing her how to cut loose.  They’re just two people with very different interests who find a common ground and one hell of an attraction.  I loved that London is proud of who she is, and while she may be studious, she doesn’t naturally assume she’s any less of a catch than any other girl on campus.  And when the angst kicks in, she doesn’t even think about giving up.  Instead, she goes after what she wants — Beau, of course.  The result is a story that serves up a fun, sweet, somewhat complicated romance with just the right amount of drama to keep you turning the pages.  This is one author who’s going on my watch list!