The Natural History of Us - Review

The Natural History of Us (The Fine Art of Pretending, # 2)

By: Rachel Harris

Expected Publication: April 5th 2016 by Spencer Hill Contemporary

297 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--One class assignment. One second chance at love. The school player is all in. Now he needs to win back the sweet commitment girl who's forever owned his heart.

Justin Carter has a secret. He's not the total player Fairfield Academy believes him to be. Not really. In fact, he used to be a one-woman guy...and his feelings for her never went away. Too bad he broke her heart three years ago and made sure to ruin any chance she'd ever forgive him.

Peyton Williams is a liar. She pretends to be whole, counting down the days until graduation and helping her parents at the family ranch. But the truth is, she's done everything she can to get over Justin, and salvation is just around the corner. With graduation one short month away, she'll soon break free from the painful memories and start her life fresh. Of course, she has to get through working with him on one last assignment first.

For Justin, nothing ever felt as right as being with Peyton, and now that fate's given him a shot at redemption, he's determined to make the most of it. And for Peyton...well, Justin Carter has always been her kryptonite

So I really should have at least re-read my review of The Fine Art of Pretending before reading The Natural History of Us. And that's because I didn't remember much about the first book except that I liked it. So that being said, I couldn't remember any of the characters from the first book and I think that would have added to my enjoyment about. Had I known that Justin was the guy who didn't get the girl from The Fine Art of Pretending I would have been even more excited about reading this one. As it was I was medium excited.

I started out kind of struggling with The Natural History of Us. I can't say that's fully this books fault so much as the book hangover I was dealing with from finishing Morning Star by Pierce Brown. That book was just so epic that anything that followed it just wouldn't be as good. I'd say that the first thing that bothered me about The Natural History of Us was the jumps in chronology. I'm not always a fan of "then" and "now" books. I get invested in one storyline only to get snatched out when things start getting good and thrown back into the other storyline. Granted the two are connected, but it left me in a near constant state of frustration. I got over this once the pace of events started picking up.

I also found Peyton to be a little immature. I'm not sure if that was Rachel Harris's writing or Peyton the character. Really I think it was a combination of the two. The phrasing Peyton would use just left me feeling like younger readers may be more suited for this book than me, yet due to some content I'm not sure younger readers would be who I'd recommend this to either. Some examples:

-Oh sure, I daydreamed about him grabbing me up in the cafeteria, unable to deny his feelings anymore, and kissing me senseless in front of God and everyone.

-What I didn't see were pictures of him with any girls. That made me stupid happy.

-In the hospital, I'd convinced myself I'd die a kiss-less virgin.

-The moment that would change me, take my kissing V-card.

-...because watching him with that adorable little boy made my cuteness-meter explode.

-...make-out-newb...

I just really prefer my characters and books to be on the more mature side of young adult than the other side of the scale.

On the other hand, Rachel Harris included a few phrases that I really respected. She mentioned and included God in a positive way. A short prayer for a successful day, a mention of the grace of God (even though slightly out of context), and mentioning God twice in her acknowledgements. God is usually left out of young adult books these days, or if He is included then it's in some negative connotation--like a character that doesn't believe in Him or blaming Him for things going wrong in their lives.

But don't be fooled. This isn't a "Christian book". For the characters to seem so immature, they sure did engage in some adult behavior--even in the "then" portions of the book when they're only 15 years old. Plus I was a little surprised at the amount of language in this book.

The Natural History of Us was enjoyable once I got a good portion into it. I struggled with the jumps in chronology, but that's just a personal preference of mine really. Probably my biggest frustration was Peyton's choice of phrasing that left her feeling a bit immature. But even with the issues I had, I still ended up liking this one. The Natural History of Us gets 3 Stars. Have you read The Natural History of Us? What did you think? Let me know!

Waiting on The Natural History of Us

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Natural History of Us (The Fine Art of Pretending, # 2)

By: Rachel Harris

Expected Publication: April 5th 2016 by Spencer Hill Contemporary

255 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--One class assignment. One second chance at love. The school player is all in. Now he needs to win back the sweet commitment girl who's forever owned his heart.

Justin Carter has a secret. He's not the total player Fairfield Academy believes him to be. Not really. In fact, he used to be a one-woman guy...and his feelings for her never went away. Too bad he broke her heart three years ago and made sure to ruin any chance she'd ever forgive him.

Peyton Williams is a liar. She pretends to be whole, counting down the days until graduation and helping her parents at the family ranch. But the truth is, she's done everything she can to get over Justin, and salvation is just around the corner. With graduation one short month away, she'll soon break free from the painful memories and start her life fresh. Of course, she has to get through working with him on one last assignment first.

For Justin, nothing ever felt as right as being with Peyton, and now that fate's given him a shot at redemption, he's determined to make the most of it. And for Peyton...well, Justin Carter has always been her kryptonite

What are you waiting on this week> Let me know!

The Fine Art of Pretending - Review

The Fine Art of Pretending (The Fine Art of Pretending, # 1)

By: Rachel Harris

Expected Publication: September 30th 2014 by Spencer Hill Contemporary

256 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you're friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

The Fine Art of Pretending looked like a cute and harmless read. The Fine Art of Pretending is pretty much exactly what it’s advertised to be. I mean...makeover, finding yourself, pretend relationships, and more than best friends stories aren’t new. These ideas have been around for a while. And even though they’re mostly predictable, I find myself enjoying them almost each and every time. And with reading the description, that’s not too far off. I do think in high school—and maybe even after—guys can tell fairly quickly which girls aren’t going to be satisfied with quick and casual and which ones are looking for the long-haul, long-term relationships.

I can totally understand wanting to do the makeover and go from tomboy to feminine. I can see wanting guys to see you as a potential girlfriend in comparison to a friend-friend. I can even understand making a run at becoming more popular. I completely sympathize with trying to find yourself. Feeling like you’ve not been the best version of yourself that you can be. And shoot I understand not even knowing what version of yourself you’ve been and what version you want to be. But what I do not understand is wanting to be casual. I do not now nor have I ever understood casual relationships that you can take or leave. What’s the point? I don’t know. Maybe that’s just because I’ve always been a Commitment myself. But I felt like Aly was moving backwards as a character instead of forward for a large portion of the book. Granted, she eventually moves forward, but only after a trip around the world to get there.

Aly herself reminded me of myself in high school. Athletic. A tomboy. More comfortable in tennis shoes, t-shirts, jogging pants, and a ponytail than high heels, tight shirts, skirts, and hair in my her face. She’s friends with Gabie who’s on the dance team, but yet she seemed to have an edge to her. And then there’s Kara who is the typical girly-girl. I liked that Aly was friends with these girls and not just surrounded by boys. Yet, one of Aly’s best friends is Brandon. They’ve grown up together. They’ve been there for each other during some major life events. And Aly even crushed on Brandon several years back, but he just wanted to be friends.

I liked Brandon a lot, but I struggled with him too. On the one hand, it took Aly’s makeover and crazy plan for him to see her. But when he did see her, he couldn’t unsee her. Brandon like a typical high school and college aged male from YA/NA likes his relationships to remain casual. He has a reputation of not exactly being boyfriend material, and that’s because he doesn’t want to be boyfriend material. His excuse of seeing his mother heartbroken after his father’s death felt far-fetched to me. And flawed. He could have a friendship with Aly where he might even acknowledge that he loves her on the friend level, but he couldn’t have a relationship with anyone because relationships end? Yeah. I’m not buying it. If Rachel Harris had stuck to his desire not to ruin his friendship with Aly, I would have bought that more. And all it took was literally a sentence from his mom to change his perspective on that whole deal.

Another slight peeve of mine is name dropping. I feel like name dropping in books automatically dates the book. Brands come and go. And when they’re included in a book to make the character feel “in” with the current brands, then as soon as those brands are no longer popular then the book is outdated. The beginning of the book features an entire list of these, but just to name a few: BMW, Cartier, Charlotte Russe, Chuck Taylor, Clinique, Forever 21, Juicy Couture, and so on and so on.

The Fine Art of Pretending was one of those quick and easy stories that might give you some frustration but pays off in the end by being exactly what you expected it to be. Truthfully, there were times when I was more interested in Gabie and Carlos than I was in Aly and Brandon, and I hope that’s what the companion novel is going to be about. The Fine Art of Pretending gets 3 Stars from me. It was good. It was frustrating. Have you read The Fine Art of Pretending? What did you think? Let me know!