Source: Purchased.
When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend—two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.
The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party—three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.
Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.
I love this author. She has a great YA voice that rings true to this teacher. I, also, love her depth. Nothing is ever straight forward. It's an experience, one that anyone can grow from. Her characters grow and they always show that the mistakes people make help us become who we are. But what's different is the lack (thank goodness) of perfect adults and the adult voice cutting through the growth of her characters. She gets YA and creates funny, real and thought provoking stories that I just love to roll around in.
Gia gets dumped in the parking lot of her senior prom. It may have been something she should have been able to cry with her friends with but their newest friend seems to have it out for her. She grabs hold of the only guy in the parking lot and convinces him to pretend to be her college boyfriend. Lies are usually a deal breaker for me but I do love pretending so I was excited to finally get the chance to see what this tangle of lies would lead to. And it was fun tangle. Truly.
Of course, the lies increase and grow no matter how Gia tries to get them under control. It's ironic that the one person who accused of her lying is the one person that drove her to actually lying. And while I don't condone the action of lying, it is what brought her to actually evaluate her life and determine she wasn't who she wanted to be.
I so love FIB (Fill-in Bradley). We don't learn his name for a good part of the book. Gia takes to calling him Fill-in Bradley and he thinks the initials FIB are fitting. He has a great sense of humor and a broken heart. Eve, the breaker of his heart, is a &*#!*#* and I wanted to scratch her eyes out. Bec, his sister, is funny and a great friend to both her brother and as it turns out Gia. I loved the dynamics of their family and baseballs. (Gonna have to read it for that one). I could have used some baseballs when I was growing up as well.
But FIB is a great guy. One who can't leave a girl in the parking lot after another jerk, Bradley, breaks up with her outside of prom. Who does that?? Seriously! And then when Bradley called her afterwards to...never mind. I DO NOT LIKE BRADLEY. Back to FIB. He's just a good guy with questionable taste in friends. Adorable. He's adorable with his shaggy hair and glasses but he cleans up nice. I love it when Gia fixes his hair but then decides she likes it better his way in the end.
At the end, I just wanted it to go on - to know what happened when Gia left for college. To know what happened with Bec. To know what happened with Clair. It was just a place I enjoyed being.
This is one of those books that anyone can read and enjoy. It's funny. It's thought provoking. It's satisfying.
