Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: April 4th, 2017
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: Purchase
Format: Paperback
Pages: 388
Summary (from Goodreads):
Classic movie buff Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she’s starting to feel for Porter.
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.
In this delightfully charming teen spin on You’ve Got Mail, the one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.
I decided that I was finally going to pick up Alex, Approximately because I have recently been hit hardcore with ALL the reminders of the boy that I used to talk to online and was just SO in love with in high school.
I was going through my old email that I used to use MSN Messenger for, which is where I primarily talked to this person. I had saved conversations that I was dissecting via email with my friend who spent that school year in Texas. I sent pictures of him to my mom after she moved away and I told her just how SEXY he was. *ultimate face palm*
It also inspired me to to decipher my old, scribbled out journal entries about him, which is a whole new level of cringe. I was just so very head over heels. Oh my goodness.
Anyway, all of that finally inspired me to pick up this book about Bailey, who moves across the country to live with her dad in the beach town where Alex, the boy she has formed an online relationship with, lives. She calls herself an Artful Dodger, meaning she has turned dodging social/confrontational things that she doesn't want to deal with into an art form. So, naturally, she doesn't tell Alex that she moved to his town.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There really wasn't as much emphasis on the online relationship part of the story as I thought there would be. In the beginning, Bailey spends a lot of time scoping out the town, trying to see if she can figure out who Alex is and make sure he's not some kind of creeper. But as she starts to get to know one of her coworkers from her summer job more, she starts to look for and talk to Alex less.
I loved the relationship between Bailey and Porter. They both work in a museum for their summer job. Bailey usually works the ticket booth, Porter is security. Bailey doesn't really care for Porter at first, but he grows on her as they get to know each other more. I also really liked the friendship between Bailey and her fellow ticket booth worker, Grace. They were a fun set of friends.
The story was interesting. I liked watching Bailey and Porter's relationship grow. I liked learning about the traumatic parts of their pasts that they don't really talk about with other people. I liked the conflict with Davy. I liked the family relationships in the story. I just overall adored this story.
The only complaint I have, doesn't have anything to do with the story, but more the writing. In the first couple of chapters, the Artful Dodger thing gets SO repetitive, it started to drive me nuts. Like, the fact that Bailey is an Artful Dodger is so relatable, but like... I got it. I didn't need to hear the term 900 times in like 20 pages. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but repetitiveness in books is probably my biggest writing style pet peeve.
Overall, I really liked this book. I would recommend it if you're looking for a cute, fun, summer-y romance. It doesn't have as much of a focus on the online relationship as I was expecting, which was what I was looking for going in, but it was still so much fun.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There really wasn't as much emphasis on the online relationship part of the story as I thought there would be. In the beginning, Bailey spends a lot of time scoping out the town, trying to see if she can figure out who Alex is and make sure he's not some kind of creeper. But as she starts to get to know one of her coworkers from her summer job more, she starts to look for and talk to Alex less.
I loved the relationship between Bailey and Porter. They both work in a museum for their summer job. Bailey usually works the ticket booth, Porter is security. Bailey doesn't really care for Porter at first, but he grows on her as they get to know each other more. I also really liked the friendship between Bailey and her fellow ticket booth worker, Grace. They were a fun set of friends.
The story was interesting. I liked watching Bailey and Porter's relationship grow. I liked learning about the traumatic parts of their pasts that they don't really talk about with other people. I liked the conflict with Davy. I liked the family relationships in the story. I just overall adored this story.
The only complaint I have, doesn't have anything to do with the story, but more the writing. In the first couple of chapters, the Artful Dodger thing gets SO repetitive, it started to drive me nuts. Like, the fact that Bailey is an Artful Dodger is so relatable, but like... I got it. I didn't need to hear the term 900 times in like 20 pages. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but repetitiveness in books is probably my biggest writing style pet peeve.
Overall, I really liked this book. I would recommend it if you're looking for a cute, fun, summer-y romance. It doesn't have as much of a focus on the online relationship as I was expecting, which was what I was looking for going in, but it was still so much fun.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
