Author; Jenn Bennett
Publisher; Simon Pulse
Genres; YA contemporary
Rating; 3.5/5 stars
Synopsis;
“Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is a whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter.
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.”
In every moment of this book it felt like Bailey or Porter could be someone I knew from school. I could imagine them being a couple I saw in the halls or be the people who sat in front of me in class because they’re just so real. Written individually with flaws, stories that influence them in the presence and personalities that felt organic they felt more like people than names written on paper. This of course meant, the dialogue was SO GOOD. It can be such a struggle sometimes because of how forced character interactions can be, but Alex, Approximately was perfect. The dialogue was dynamic, full of banter and genuinely funny.
When all of that greatness was all put together came one of my all new favorite book romances. I couldn’t stop swooning during this book because everything was so on point. The flirting. The banter. The chemistry. It was so fun to fly through and made falling in love with these characters so easy. Bailey and Porter felt natural together and I’d say they had one of the most natural feeling romances I’ve ever read.
But of course, this book was not all fun and quick. Unexpectedly, there were some dark back stories I was not even close to prepared for. I’m talking about the type of backstories that tear your heart from your chest — because it’s rough. I’m not going to spoil anything but learning about the character’s pasts was difficult and hard hitting since I had become so attached to the both of them.
The only thing I didn’t like this book was because of something Porter did near the end of the book. When he realizes that Bailey is Mink, the girl he’s been texting for so long, he kinda flips out. I thought his actions were really immature and I didn’t understand why he was so mad. He left her house immediately after realizing and treated her pretty badly the following while. It was frustrating and I all but threw my book across the room because miscommunication as a plot point (unless done very well) is annoying. In the end it wasn’t enough to destroy the entire book for me but it was very aggravating.
My one missed expectation was that I thought there would be more Alex and Mink texting in this book, when in reality there isn’t much. As Porter and Bailey get closer in real life they both stop texting the other as much so there aren’t that many texting interactions involved. I think it would have been interesting if their were more, maybe they would have figured it out a little bit sooner.
This book was so cute and is the type of book that’s perfect for kicking a reading slump. It’s so fast and swoony that it’s hard to put down until it’s way too late at night and you’re crying over the ending. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone who enjoys contemporary books, you won’t be disappointed.
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