Author: Cameron Lund
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: 04.07.20
Publisher: Razorbill
Source: Twitter Trade
My Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Synopsis: “It seemed like a good plan at first.
When the only other virgin in her group of friends loses it at Keely’s own eighteenth birthday party, she’s inspired to take things into her own hands. She wants to have that experience too (well, not exactly like that–but with someone she trusts and actually likes), so she’s going to need to find the guy, and fast. Problem is, she’s known all the boys in her small high school forever, and it’s kinda hard to be into a guy when you watched him eat crayons in kindergarten.
So she can’t believe her luck when she meets a ridiculously hot new guy named Dean. Not only does he look like he’s fallen out of a classic movie poster, but he drives a motorcycle, flirts with ease, and might actually be into her.
But Dean’s already in college, and Keely is convinced he’ll drop her if he finds out how inexperienced she is. That’s when she talks herself into a new plan: her lifelong best friend, Andrew, would never hurt or betray her, and he’s clearly been with enough girls that he can show her the ropes before she goes all the way with Dean. Of course, the plan only works if Andrew and Keely stay friends–just friends–so things are about to get complicated”
What words do I even use to describe how much I’ve cried over this book? And let me disclaim this… it wasn’t a good cry. Although The Best Laid Plans wasn’t a terrible book it just wasn’t what I was expecting and fell short in a lot of areas. I felt like the focus of the story strayed from what I was hoping for and overall it just missed the mark with me (which I am SO SAD to say. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year).
For reference, The Best Laid Plans follows 18 year old Keely who believes she’s the final virgin left at her small school where everybody knows everybody…which means everybody knows whose a virgin and whose not. After finding a cute college boy Keely decides that in order to not embarrass herself in front of him she should be more experienced. Enter Andrew, Keely’s best friend since birth. Keely decides there is no one better to take her virginity than Andrew.
Then, you guessed it, things get a little complicated in the romance department. Unfortunately for me, the overall romance was a miss. The boy Keely wants to impress from college, named Dean, was annoying and irritating to no end. It’s clear in the story that he is intentionally not a great person… yet his actions bothered me mostly because of how oblivious Keely was to him. This story touches on the idea of “knowing when you’re ready for sex” and despite this discussion I was annoyed with Keely’s oblivious nature towards the pressure from Dean. He was constantly pressuring her, asking her to do thing she didn’t want to, and had no interest in actually being with her. It was gross and a constant pain to read about. I wish less time had been spent detailing their make out sessions and that it had instead been spent focusing on Andrew.
Ahh, then there’s Andrew. I actually really enjoyed Andrew as a character. He was funny, shockingly sweet, and his relationship with Keely made my heart soft. Some of my favorite moments in this entire book come from the very beginning when everything was simple and there were just sweet Andrew and Keely moments. I loved their friendship, and more than anything I just wish there had been more of a development of their relationship in this book. They spent a great deal of time apart and I think I would have enjoyed this story much more if he had been a bigger part of it. I was expecting more of a romance between them, but they really didn’t even spend that much time together romantically….
Which I am still frustrated about. The way the plot and romance were written felt like a total missed opportunity. The friends-to-lovers setup was all there with Andrew and Keely being adorable as best friends but it never went anywhere. I’m extremely disappointed with how their romance was developed as it barely felt developed through the few interactions they had during the later part of the book.
My last note in this book regards the large discussion of virginity. It covers the idea of the meaning of being a virgin, the culture around being a virgin, assumptions about virginity based on gender/stereotypes, and more. Overall I really enjoyed the conversation that this book attempts to start about being a virgin. I feel that very few YA books really dive this deeply into the construct and idea of virginity, and the conversation that Cameron Lund starts in this book is an empowering message that should be less of a taboo.
Therefore, this book has a great message about the concept of virginity, it just falls shorts on the promised romance (which was the part I was the most excited about). If I had known, going into the book, that this story has less of a romantic focus and that the plot was steered towards a discussion of virginity I probably would have liked it more. But, alas, The Best Laid Plans promotes itself as a friends-to-lovers story surrounding the loss of Keely’s virginity… and that just wasn’t quite what I got out of this book.
DISCLAIMER: I was able to read and review an ARC of The Best Laid Plans through a trade on twitter. I was NOT sent this book from the publisher. Reading & reviewing were my decision. Opinions are all my own.
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