Review: The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

I read Paula Stokes's The Art of Lainey about two months ago and really enjoyed it~ In celebration of getting to be a part of her street team for Liars Inc., here's my review for The Art of Lainey!

The Art of Lainey

by Paula Stokes

May 20, 2014

384 pages

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Goodreads Summary:

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

 

Review

I really enjoyed the first half of this book because I was super curious to see how Lainey would use The Art of War to devise a plan to get Jason back. The story moved along at a great pace. It did slow down a bit after the halfway mark because things weren't really happening but overall, I was satisfied at how the story progressed.

Lainey felt like any typical teenager. She's popular but can't help feel insecure when changes started happening. These changes made her question things about herself and the people around her. She was relatable but I was utterly exasperated when she kept going on about how much she still wanted Jason because he was the right fit. (view spoiler)Girl, he basically cheated on you!! How is that a right fit? I felt like she was a total wuss for not wanting any changes. I get that changes can be scary but they're also unavoidable. Especially if you're ex is a spoiled problem child. I was so pleased when she finally opened up her eyes!

Micah was stylish. I've never met a character who sports a mohawk so that was pretty cool. He was somewhat bland throughout the book for me. I felt like not much he did was memorable. Even Lainey and Micah's chemistry was very minimal until those last few chapters. Neither of them were brave enough to take any immediate action to show their affections for each other so that was a little disappointing. But that's just me. I'm a big sucker for romance so I really wished we got to see more of them actually being together before the book ended.

Where would Lainey be without Bianca!! Seriously! Bee was the best part of the book for me. She was so freaking supportive of Lainey's decisions. Or rather her indecisions. Bee totally deserves all the happiness in the world for her awesomeness. I saw it coming ;) (view spoiler)So glad she and Leo clicked!

The quotations from The Art of War at the beginning of each chapter were so insightful! It got the wheels in my mind turning. While I can't say I completely understood how each quote applied to each part of the story, it was fun to exercise my brain and do some thinking.

This book was different. So neat to be applying war strategies to relationships. Maintaining a relationship is really quite like fighting a battle (in a positive way). I love the idea and I think this book is definitely worth a thought!