*Spoiler free*
After a horrifying public rejection by her crush, Ellie Nichols does what any girl would do: she flees the country. To be more precise, she joins her high school’s study abroad trip to England. While most of her classmates are there to take honors courses and pad their college applications, Ellie is on a quest to rebuild her reputation and self-confidence. And nothing is more of a confidence booster than getting a hot British boyfriend. When Ellie meets Will, a gorgeous and charming Brit, she vows to avoid making the same mistakes as she did with the last guy she liked. Which is why she strikes up a bargain with Dev, an overachieving classmate who she’s never clicked with, but who does seem to know a lot about the things Will is interested in—if he helps her win over her crush, then she’ll help him win over his. But even as Ellie embarks on a whirlwind romance, one that takes her on adventures to some of England’s most beautiful places, she still needs to figure out if this is actually the answer to all her problems…and whether the perfect boyfriend is actually the perfect boy for her.
From the title, this book made me a bit wary. It sounded like it’d be the kind of cheesy that would lean towards cringey for me. But, the cover and synopsis completely changed my thought process. The cover is ADORABLE. It’s brilliantly smart. The characters hanging out on a teacup? Amazing. Plus, the synopsis made it sound hilarious and adorable. A girl flees the country, for a travel abroad program, to escape her embarrassment and hopefully find comfort in the arms of a British boyfriend. I was willing to give it a try!
I am happy to report that this book was the kind of cheesy that had me grinning throughout the entire book. It doesn’t try to be anything else than fluffy goodness, and it’s just downright adorable.
This book is also hilarious. The humor was brilliant and pretty much all the jokes landed.
I did feel like this book was kind of artificial and could have dug a little deeper into the characters.
Ellie is insecure about her interests and worries about everybody judging her for them. She likes fairies and other mythical things. While I get that, it kind of felt like it was added there to add conflict to the story. Ellie also struggles with apply herself, and I felt like that could have been the bigger part of her emotional development. I would have loved for Ellie to find herself through learning that she can do so much more than she thinks she can. I felt like that part of her journey was more backburner. While I liked where her development did go, I felt like it was very surface level.
I also felt like the Will’s development sort of just tapered off instead of coming to a head. I was expecting some big reveal to happen at the end, but that wasn’t the case. I’m not sure why the author went the way she did with his character, I can kind of see the reason, but I think I would have liked something more concrete to happen. I think it would have rounded out his character, what he added to the book, and his journey.
The side characters were also a brilliant part of this book. I loved Sage’s determination and hardworking attitude. I loved Huan’s beatboxing and his easy demeanor. And I loved Dev’s banter with Ellie and his love of art history. While they were side characters, I really did enjoy their emotional journeys and development. That’s weird for me, to love the emotional side of the side characters and not really love it of the main characters haha.
I also kind of wish someone else could have been on the cover along with Will, because it would’ve been a much better representation of the story.
I know I talked a lot about what I didn’t like about this book, but I promise I did enjoy this book! It’s just that my good thoughts on it are described in a few words. This book is fluffy, a trip through parts of Europe, cheesy, adorable, and hilarious. It’s the kind of contemporary that feels like a comfy chair and a hug. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s just adorable.
Hot British Boyfriend comes out Feburary 9, 2021! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy in the meantime!
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