Book Review: Falling for the Wrong Guy by Sara Hantz

Falling for the Wrong Guy

By: 
Sara Hantz

Published:
Oct. 12, 2015

Publisher:
Entangled Crush

Add to 
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Source:
eARC from publisher in exchange for a honest review

GR's Summary:

Ruby Davis has a crush on her brother’s best friend. At least, he was his bestie until the big betrayal. Now Drew is off limits to everyone, especially Ruby. She can’t stand the way people treat him, or the way he feels about himself. It isn’t right. And those deep green eyes are calling to her. 

Drew is scarred and damaged, and he has no business even looking at Ruby. But he can’t help himself. She’s beautiful, but he does his best to stay away. When they are assigned a school project, they become reluctant friends – even though they want so much more. 

She’s torn between her feelings for Drew and loyalty to her brother. There’s no way they can ever be together...but love just might find a way.

My Thoughts:

The brother's best friend falling for the younger sister is my absolute favorite book trope of all time.  When I read the book summary for Falling for the Wrong Guy, I was so excited to dive right in and read this story.  However, I must admit that I was disappointed.

Ruby Davis has had a crush on Drew, her brother's best friend, for many years.  Unfortunately, a horrific accident causes the breakup of Drew, and Ruby's brother (Blake's) friendship.  Ruby and Drew end up being put in the same group to work on a science project together.  As these two begin interacting with one another, Ruby discovers that she still has feelings for Drew, and he begins to feel the same way about her.  However, being with Drew, would be viewed as a betrayal by her brother.  What will Ruby do?

This is a fairly short story, but it was very slow moving.  There was a lot of angst in the story, yet I did not "feel" the character's emotions.  I had trouble connecting with both Ruby and Drew.  Ruby came across as a bit naive and immature to me.  Drew was very brooding, and filled with guilt.  As I read the story, I felt like a lot of it was redundant.  The same things were mentioned over and over again.  The story didn't move for me.  I kept waiting for something to happen to propel it forward.  Finally at the end, a large event occurred, and then everything was wrapped up in a nice neat little bow.

Falling for the Wrong Guy had a lot of potential.  I liked the unique storyline, but just felt like more could have been done with it.  The characters were very surface level, the story didn't come across as realistic, and there was too much "telling," and not enough "showing."  However, I appreciated the lessons and teaching points in the story.  Many things in life can knock us down, but it's important to get back up, live a good life, and not wallow in self-pity.  

My Rating:

I give, Falling for the Wrong Guy, by Sara Hantz, 2.5 Horrific Incident, Broken Friendship, Moving Forward Filled Stars.

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About Sara Hantz: 

I was born in Northampton, England, the eldest of 4 children (I have 3 younger brothers), and I took my eldest child responsibilities very seriously. When I said jump, they asked how high. They’re all a lot taller than me now, so I’ve had to change tactics for getting my own way. 

School and I weren’t a match made in heaven. I was bored a lot of the time, and it seemed much more fun to dream up ways of disrupting lessons than to actually pay attention. Which could explain why I was always in trouble! But I redeemed myself later, when at twenty-one I went back to full-time study. Except, I got carried away and became a bit of a qualification tart. I even worked in education for a number of years – lecturing. 

But all the time I was never content. I knew there was something missing, just didn’t know what. Until I discovered writing. 

I wasn’t one of those people who wrote from being a small child. I did read though. I’ve always been an avid reader. And it took me a few years of thinking about writing before I actually started. But now, I wouldn’t do anything else, and I never get bored!

I moved to New Zealand (a beautiful country) from the UK twelve years ago, with my husband and two children. After working at a university for three years I left to work in our motel and devote more time to my writing. I wish I’d done it sooner! Two years ago we moved to the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Another perfect place to write. 

In my spare time I love going to the movies, watching TV, walking on the beach, and playing with our gorgeous Labrador.

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