The Cheat Sheet
SARAH ADAMS
(Book 1 in the The Cheat Sheet series)
Synopsis:
Is it ever too late to leave the friend-zone?
Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.
Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)
Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with...oops, forgot I can’t tell anyone about that!
Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.
How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?
Send help.
XO Bree
Content:
Language: Possibly some instances of mild language.
Violence: While not necessarily violence, there is discussion of past car accident that left a character permanently injured, emotionally neglectful parents, and on-page depictions of panic attacks.
Sex: Several kisses, allusions to sex, brief discussions of rumored "erectile dysfunction," one of the characters has seen the other naked and thinks about it from time-to-time, a character strips down to their underwear in front of another, sexual innuendo, a fade-to-black scene at the end, some discussion of sex and past sexual partners, a character mentions that they are celibate. Both of the main characters appreciate the other's body and think about kissing/being in a relationship together continuously.
LGBTQ: One of the male side characters mentions his boyfriend.
My Review:
PROS:
- Surprisingly, Bree. She was really really annoying at first, but she grew on me.
- Nathan was sweet and cute too.
- Both of the main characters felt developed (not so much any of the side characters). For me, there can always be more character development, but usually rom-coms and contemporary romances have cardboard cut-out characters, so it was nice to have a bit of depth
- It was an easy, simple read, and that's all I was looking for.
- There were a lot of cute moments and I liked the writing style for the most part.
CONS:
- I hate this kind of cover. The color's pretty, at least.
- Every time anyone said "Bree Cheese" I wanted to throw up. Especially when Nathan called her that during romantic moments.
- The first half moved much slower than the second. Bree was also kind of annoying in the first half.
- SPOILER: they end up married by the end of the book, with the reasoning that they've basically been together for six years. It felt rushed and tacked on to wrap everything up neatly.
- The writing could be strange and/or jarring. It didn't detract from my experience much, but I would sometimes re-read a sentence to make sure I understood that random metaphor/simile/other correctly.
- The emotional back-and-forth of their thoughts got old quickly. They both obviously like each other, but both of them are worried the other only wants to be friends, so there's a lot of mutual pining.
- I don't understand why either of them kept dating other people. Or why it took over six years for them to finally figure out they were both secretly crushing on each other.
- SPOILER: they don't win the Super Bowl. And he lost it for them—and the fact that it's completely glossed over! I'm not a football or even a sports fan, but that was super annoying.