Sam Cruz's Infallible Guide To Getting Girls by Tellulah Darling

Genre: YA Contemporary
Publication Date: 17th October 2012
Pages: 244
Book Source: ARC courtesy Te Da Media & NetGalley

Synopsis: Why the hell can’t chicks be more like guys?

That question plagues high school senior Sam Cruz. Sam is perfectly happy being a player. He just wishes girls wouldn’t change the game from sex to relationships. It makes him look like an asshole. But when Sam’s best friend, Ally Klinger, gets dumped, she begs him to transform her into someone who can screw around then screw off. No risk of heartbreak that way. It’s Sam’s chance to create the perfect female AND cheer up his best friend. Armed with Sam’s Three Step Guide to Backseat Success, Ally gets the game better than Sam thought she would and before long, Sam has his wish: the female version of himself. Too bad it’s driving him nuts. Told from Sam’s and Ally's alternating POVs, Sam Cruz’s Infallible Guide to Getting Girls is a fast-paced romantic comedy that follows these teens as they navigate the minefield of sex, love, and friendship. 

This book contains strong language, drinking, euphemisms, and lots of “bow chicka wow wow.”

Karen's Thoughts:
These days my book selection usually comes from reading another reader’s review or seeing a recommendation on a blog or mostly by my Goodreads friends.  This has been great in that sometimes a comment or review will catch my eye and lead me to try something new, something in the past I would have bypassed.

After recently reading Easy by Tammara Webber and enjoying it so much I’m now testing the waters with some YA reading … so it’s a fairly new genre to me. There’s something appealing about YA romance, I think its remembering those days of first crushes and first love that leave the spine tingling just a little…and maybe just a few cringes thrown in for good measure.

Being a little *ahem* older than the target audience for this novel there were a few things that probably went over my head but generally I enjoyed this read.

No matter what genre I do enjoy a romance of long time friends to lovers so I was intrigued to read this YA version of the same flavour. 

I’ve been considering a rating to give this story and it’s a little hard because I had an uneasy feeling when finishing as to how I felt about this book but my feelings are more to do with how I felt about the age of the characters and some of the ‘bed hopping’ going on.   Being the mother of young children it has turned my mind to the parenting days ahead when my kids reach this age and I’ll be worried about their relationships and how they  affect everything else in the life of a teenager.

However, the author has done a lovely job with this story and the dialogue was funny and real. There’s some angst thrown in with the romance and quite a few laugh out loud moments. 

"Oh my god!" I wail. "I've got a vullet!" "a what?" he asks. "A vullet. A vaginal mullet. Party in the back business in the front."

There are some entertaining secondary characters supporting the main story.  I really liked Sam, a young 17 year old ‘player’, who has some serious commitment issues, but taking a look at his childhood and the influence of his father you can hardly blame him.  Its nice to see him struggling with the feelings he is now having for his best friend after their relationship moves to a ‘friends with benefits’ situation.

I did find it a little confusing to follow with the change of POV for each chapter, I might have found it easier reading a paper version but my personal preference reading on my Kindle is to not have to flick backwards.

I enjoyed this fast paced and fun YA novel and would recommend it to anyone that likes a book that reads like a good romantic comedy. 

Visit Tellulah Darling's website to find out more about this author and her work.

Once again many hugs to Sheree for inviting me to guest review.