Double dose review: Anything but Fine by Tobias Madden, All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle

 

All it takes is one missed step for your life to change forever.

Luca Mason knows exactly who he is and what he wants: In six months, he’s going to be accepted into the Australian Ballet School, leave his fancy private high school, and live his life as a star of the stage—at least that’s the plan until he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot in a way he can never recover from.

With his dancing dreams dead on their feet, Luca loses his performing arts scholarship and transfers to the local public school, leaving behind all his ballet friends and his whole future on stage.

The only bright side is that he strikes up unlikely friendships with the nicest (and nerdiest) girl at his new school, Amina, and the gorgeous, popular, and (reportedly) straight school captain, Jordan Tanaka-Jones.

As Luca’s bond with Jordan grows stronger, he starts to wonder: who is he without ballet? And is he setting himself up for another heartbreak? ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by Page Street Publishing in exchange for an honest review

Review: Luca Mason feels everything BIG. So when he falls down the stairs and injurers his foot, ending his promising ballet career, he goes into a spiral thinking he has nothing left. He's incredibly dramatic lol and I noticed a lot of readers didn't like that about him but it didn't bother me. 

He's a teenager who worked tirelessly for this one thing - to be a professional ballet dancer - attended a fancy prep school, and was taken away from his only friends. It's a lot. He also falls instantly head over heels in love with the (maybe not so) straight rowing captain, Jordan Tanaka-Jones. Again, is it a little over the top insta-love? Sure, he barely knows Jordan but Luca's life was turned upside down, he's a teenager - and hello - cute boy! and he's kind of replacing his ballet obsession with Jordan. 

Luca made bad choices, took a lot of his feelings out on his awesome single dad but he showed enormous growth while trying to figure out his future and stepped up for his friends and dad.  

I really enjoyed watching Luca learn that he was more than just ballet, find new friends, learning to speak up for himself & others and win the boy of his dreams.  I do think Jordan was a little underdeveloped but eh - can't have it all. 

P.S. I have never felt so old reading a YA as this book. They consider (music) CD's "a whole other level of old school" and talked about listening to *vintage* Marron 5 and Ciara. 😭

The Bachelor meets Gilmore Girls in this laugh-out-loud young adult romance about a girl who joins her mother on a reality dating show for single parents—only to fall for a contestant’s son.

Cara Hawn’s life fell apart after her father cheated on her mother and got remarried to a woman Cara can’t stand. When Cara accidentally posts a rant about her father online, it goes viral—and catches the attention of the TV producers behind a new reality dating show for single parent families.

The next thing Cara and her mother know, they’ve been cast as leads on the show and are whisked away to sunny Key West where they’re asked to narrow a field of suitors and their kids down to one winning pair. All of this is outside of Cara’s comfort zone, from the meddling producers to the camera-hungry contestants, especially as Cara and her mother begin to clash on which suitors are worth keeping around. And then comes Connor.

As the son of a contestant, Connor is decidedly off-limits. Except that he doesn’t fit in with the cutthroat atmosphere in all the same ways as Cara, and she can’t get him out of her head. Now Cara must juggle her growing feelings while dodging the cameras and helping her mom pick a bachelor they both love, or else risk fracturing their family even more for the sake of ratings. Maybe there’s a reason most people don’t date on TV. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing) in exchange for an honest review

Review: Finally! A book where the comparisons are spot on. This really does have a Gilmore Girls/The Bachelor vibe.

Cara's dad cheated on her mom and they are in the midst of an ugly divorce, often putting Cara in the middle. In anger, she records a video diary bitching out her dad (as the kids do these days) and it goes viral (as it often does lol). 

While it does make things awkward for Cara at first, it also brings an opportunity of a lifetime. Cara and her mom are offered the top spot on a new, single parent, reality dating show that aims to pair couples and their children. Cara would judge the children, while her mom would judge the men. The real draw though is the big fat paycheck that would set them free from Cara's fathers control. 

I do not watch, or like, reality shows but I have a weird curiosity about them and why people would participate.

I had a really tough time with Cara's mom at first. She and Cara clearly have a great relationship and I understand how defeated and off kilter mom feels after her husband cheats with a younger model right under her nose at the gym they both co-own. She's a personal trainer and runner but is lacking in confidence now. Cara's father is a real piece of work and knows how to push buttons. But I really hated how her mom fought with him in front of Cara. Cara clearly chose her mom, and again, they are very close, but it's very difficult for Cara when they are shouting over each other right in front of her. She still needs to see her dad for visitation. I kind of get it the way the dad pushes buttons but the mom kept doing it. Yes, the dad shouldn't do it either but he's a lost cause and is never going to do better. Cara's paint throughout the divorce is never really addressed either. 

Anyway, once they're off to the dating show things get lighter as they meet the bachelors and their children. As expected, the crew manipulates the contestants for more drama, Cara and her mom have a big difference of opinion of one of the bachelors and Cara ends up with a crush on one of the boys her age. The summary sort of pitches this as a romance, it's sweet but very subtle. This story is more about the reality show and the mother/daughter relationship. 

Overall, this was cute and I liked all the relationships between the contestants - especially Cara and the other kids who seem much wiser than the adults. I was super happy with the end pairing for mom and it's one I picked as soon as I met him.

I do think everything was kind of surface-y and nothing is developed too deeply but it all holds together for a quick read. Cara's bff back home was super cute and I wouldn't mind if there was a story about her in the future.

I still don't get the appeal of reality dating shows and why you would actually marry someone you just met - especially when you both have children but ...whatever lol