Heartbreakers and Fakers by Cameron Lund
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
From the author of The Best Laid Plans comes another fresh voiced, hilarious rom-com perfect for fans of Tweet Cute and The Rest of the Story.
Penny Harris just ruined her life.
As one of the most popular girls in school, she's used to being invited to every party, is dating the Jordan Parker, and can't wait to rule senior year with her best friend, Olivia. But when Penny wakes up on Jordan's lawn the morning after his first-day-of-summer bash, she knows something went terribly wrong the night before.
She kissed Kai Tanaka.
Kai, her long-time nemesis. Kai, Olivia's boyfriend. Penny can't figure out what could have inspired her to do it--she loves Jordan and she would never hurt Olivia--but one thing's for sure: freshly dumped, and out a best friend, the idyllic summer she pictured is over.
And despite the fact that Jordan seems to be seeking comfort (and a whole lot more) in Olivia, all Penny can think about is winning him back. Kai wants to save his relationship too, so they come up with a plan: convince their friends that they really do have feelings for each other. After all, no one can resist a good love story, and maybe seeing Penny and Kai together will make Jordan and Olivia change their minds.
But as summer heats up, so does Penny and Kai's "relationship," and Penny starts to question whether she's truly faking it with Kai, if he's really as terrible as she always thought he was, and if the life she's fighting so hard to get back is the one she really wants.
MY OPINION: *****
Something about Cameron Lund's writing makes me want to pick up everything this woman has ever written and devour it.
It's so good for no reason. I absolutely loved her other book,
The Best Laid Plans, which was one of the most surprising reads of 2022 for me. When I heard that this one had the enemies to lovers trope, I just knew I had to pick it up.
From an objective standpoint, was it that amazing? Probably not in comparison to some of the other books out there. However, for me personally, this was incredibly entertaining, funny, swoony, and angsty and I loved all the characters and tropes and plot lines.
Our protagonist Penny has always wanted to be popular and be a part of the Mean-Girls-esque crowd. When she was younger, Kai, our love interest, made up the humiliating nickname "Pukey Penelope" and she was afraid that that name would stick with her forever. However, she becomes friends with Olivia, the Regina George, popular mean girl who she's always looked up to.
I found the relationship between Olivia and Penny quite sickening. Olivia so clearly was a shitty friend and manipulated Penny as much as she could. However, Penny was so blinded by her need to be popular and the validation she thought she received from Olivia that she never saw the truth right in front of her. I think we are meant to feel bad for Olivia by the end but I hated that girl and I had no empathy for her. I don't care if she was insecure or whatever because the way that she treated others was unforgivable.
Anyways, the romance between Penny and Kai was beautiful. I absolutely adore the I-loved-you-when-we-were-kids-but-now-I-have-to-pretend-I-hate-you trope (like, it's not a thing but it definitely should be a thing). The fake-dating trope is rampant throughout this book but you could clearly tell that it was never fake for at least one of them. I loved seeing them grow together and start to fall for each other. The third-act miscommunication plot wasn't the best I've seen but it provided the tension and angst that we always love in a rom-com and I ate it up.
What I really liked about this book was that literally none of these high school children were perfect. In a lot of YA novels, they always seem to have at least one character who has no flaws and is just perfect and this one definitely strayed away from that trope. Everyone has their weaknesses and opportunities to grow and I loved seeing that character development for all the different people in the book.
I think I'm back in my YA era. The target audience for this book is definitely like older middle schoolers or younger high schoolers but I didn't care. It made me remember when I used to devour all the YA romances I could get my hands on in seventh grade. I forgot how much I love the non-spicy, closed-door, innocent love stories.
Sometimes if you need a little pick-me-up, a little bookish antidepressant, I'd highly recommend this book and anything else Lund writes. (PLEASE write more, Ms. Lund, PLEASE!).
Main Character: Penny
Sidekick(s): Kai, friends, family, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, cheating, manipulation, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all real to life.
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