[review] Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
The one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.
Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as 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 archnemesis. 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. (Goodreads)
I have heard great things about this book, and while I did enjoy certain aspects of it, I did have issues with a few things.
So, the gist of this book is that Bailey, who is not very good with people, preferring to watch films in her spare time decides to move to California to live with her father. The thing is, the boy she has been chatting to online on this movie forum also lives in town ... which is part of the reason she decides to move interstate. While working at a local museum, she meets Porter who is at first irritating. Eventually, they get talking, start hanging out and sparks fly etc. And in the midst of all this, Bailey tries to track down her online friend. Of course, there is more to the novel - the backstory to our characters, the buildup to their romance, some conflicts and so on.
There were a few things that I did not like -
> Porter’s attitude at the beginning REALLY got on my nerves. He was such an ass, prickly and generally unlikable. Just the way he treated Bailey was not something I was a fan of: he basically embarrassed her in front of a crowd and was not even apologetic about it.
> The final ‘obstacle’ where Porter finds out Bailey is Mink, the girl he has been talking to online for the past 3 months or so was very poorly executed. The whole debacle was dragged on for too long and the reveal came too late in the story. I might have appreciated it more if either had found out maybe halfway through. Porter’s reaction was so immature and uncalled for that I considered dropping the book there and then. I decided against dnfing just because I was so close to the end. He found out that Bailey is Mink and gave her the silent treatment for a few days. When she tried to ask him what was the matter, what she did wrong, he cut her off, didn’t answer her calls/texts and ignored her at work. What? That was such a dick move. Then he turned around and said forget about it, not bothering to enlighten the poor girl about what had gone down even though she insisted to know what was the problem. I just can’t. I mean, in the middle bits of the book I found Porter sweet and attentive and everything I would want in a partner but when we were so close to the end of the book, and he did a 180 ... I was so dissatisfied.
> Last thing, I found the last chapter completely irrelevant and random. I did not see a point to it. I understood that it was supposed to be a conclusion to the whole story, touching on how Bailey becomes a bit more social and Porter getting back into surfing but it just did not sound right. It didn’t flow with the rest of the story and it was poor attempt at wrapping things up.
I admit that I am not much a contemporary reader and so I am hard to please in this department. While it may seem that I really dislike this book, I did enjoy everything else.
Overall, a light and quick read.
Probably 2.5 stars - it was alright, but I did have some issues.
dededos
jbbartram-illu
dailybridgerton
origamiaround
areudirty
vaporwave
