In Real Life by Jessica Love (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Macmillan on March 1st 2016
Genres: Dating & Relationships, Dating & Sex, Love & Romance, Social Issues, Social Themes, Young Adult
Pages: 256
Format: ARC
Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper have been best friends since 8th grade. They talk for hours on the phone, regularly shower each other with presents, and know everything there is to know about one another.
There's just one problem: Hannah and Nick have never actually met.
Hannah has spent her entire life doing what she's supposed to, but when her senior year spring break plans get ruined by a rule-breaker, she decides to break a rule or two herself. She impulsively decides to road trip to Las Vegas, her older sister and BFF in tow, to surprise Nick and finally declare her more-than-friend feelings for him.
Hannah's surprise romantic gesture backfires when she gets to Vegas and finds out that Nick has been keeping some major secrets. Hannah knows the real Nick can't be that different from the online Nick she knows and loves, but now she only has night in Sin City to figure out what her feelings for Nick really are, all while discovering how life can change when you break the rules every now and then.
I may have just pointed you in the direction of your next favorite book… I say that because it quickly became one of mine!
I love the idea of a friendship and relationship that is built solely on knowing each other virtually and this book hit it out of the ballpark.
Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper are best friends, they talk sometimes more than once a day, they skype they text, they call… they have inside jokes and know practically every single thing there is to know about each other… except they have never met in person.
They’ve built this amazing friendship, but have never been able to hug each other or create a wacky handshake because she lives in California and he lives in Las Vegas. But then Hannah decides that she’s not going to spend her spring break hanging out at her backyard pool … she’s going to surprise Nick and finally come clean with all her feelings by showing up in Vegas right before his band performs. Of course, you know how these things go… Hannah showing up goes from surprise to shock and they realize there are some things between the two of them that aren’t quite what they both thought they were. Now Hannah is questioning if she really kn0ws Nick at all.
I sped through this book because I was so entranced with the circumstances that Love had created and the characters were just so captivating. The friendships between Hannah and her sister Grace, and her best friend Lo were so well done. I loved that they were so supportive of each other, but I also loved that their friendship was realistically portrayed… these girls were in Vegas, there was no way they were going to focus solely on Hannah’s issues as much as it irritated me that they weren’t there for her constantly. Plus it really helped show the growth and self-realization that Hannah’s had to go through to get her to a good place.
The romance here is absolutely sweet you guys. This book also incorporates one of my favorite tropes… friends to more. These two fight the good fight, I’m not going to sugar coat it. You will spend most of the book just waiting for the kissing, but it’s all so very worth it when they finally get all the stars to align and work through all the misunderstandings. And there are absolutely misunderstandings that you’ll shake your head and want to yell at these two to just sit down and talk about it already, but since when do teens communicate well? So it all worked for me and made perfect sense even if it was a bit frustrating.
If you’re looking for a fun, sweet, quick read (I read this in less than a day!)… look no further. You need to grab this one and be prepared to absolutely love it! After this, I can’t wait to read whatever Jessica Love writes next!
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