Review: The Art of Lainey – Paula Stokes

Posted June 9, 2014 by Andi in Books, Review / 4 Comments

Review: The Art of Lainey – Paula StokesThe Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes
Published by Harper Collins
Published: May 20th 2014
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Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

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The Art of Lainey is one of those books that all of a sudden blew up in the reading/blogging world. I had heard of the book and thought it sounded cute but I was in no real rush to read it. And then everyone started talking about it and my curiosity grew. Then I saw one more review for it and that pushed me over the edge and I immediately bought it. And I must say it is worth all the hype. It was the perfect summer, adorable story with character growth and interesting characters.

The book is about Lainey, a high school girl that has plans to have a great summer with her boyfriend of 2 years Jason. When Jason dumps her out of the blue Lainey is completely lost and devastated. The epic summer she planned for her Jason is now a thing of the past and she is heartbroken. But when her best friend Bianca suggests that she use their summer reading book, The Art of War, to help her get Jason back Lainey embarks on a journey that involves her weird coworker Micah playing her boyfriend and self-discovery she never imagined. Instead of a summer of epicness with Jason, Lainey is about to embark on what it means to be herself.

I really loved this book a lot. It hit all the right notes and hugged my teenage movie loving heart. Almost from the very beginning it reminded me of the great movie Drive Me Crazy starring Adrian Grenier and Melissa Joan Hart and that made me love it even more. Not to mention the characters. I truly loved Lainey and Micah to pieces. They had this great opposites attract, natural chemistry. Their banter was pretty spot on and some of their dates just made me smile. Not to mention that Micah was completely awesome on his own. But truly the two together were magic.

What else I liked about the book were the changes that happened in Lainey after her breakup. Truthfully I disliked Jason. He was a jerk and the way he just dumped Lainey was heartless. I was not rooting for him at any point in the book as be basically sucked. But I was thankful for him. Because of him I got to see Lainey grow and be her own person which is always a remarkable part of any book. She went from a follower to being who she was comfortable being and I just loved that.

Basically this book was just a great read. It had all the things I love in a fun book and it was a book I didn’t want to end. I loved Lainey and Micah and the potential behind them and I liked how everything worked itself out. If you have seen the hype and thought to ignore it, don’t because you’ll miss out. A must read for the summer.

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4 responses to “Review: The Art of Lainey – Paula Stokes

  1. I have heard such great things about this book and can’t wait to read it myself! I have to admit that I’m nervous about liking Lainey – supposedly it takes roughly 3/4 of the book before she comes to her senses about Jason, which is something I know will annoy me. Hopefully Micah and her relationship with him and also her friendship with Bianca and her own personal growth will outweigh any frustrations I have!
    Great review, my darling!

  2. Oh yay! I am SO glad it’s worth the hype! I really need to pick this one up after all of the awesome reviews I’ve seen for it. I can’t remember if I have it from EW or not. I don’t think I do!!!

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