Rhymes With Cupid [Paperback]

Elyse hates Valentine's Day ever since last year when her ex-boyfriend broke her heart and stole her best friend. Unfortunately for her, she works at a mall gift card compete with Valentine cards, chocolates, and singing cupid dolls.

When a cute boy comes into the shop, she encourages her best friend to flirt with him. Belong long, she realizes that the boy in question is her next door neighbor and he has a crush...on her.

Elyse isn't interested in him or any boy.

The more she pushes Dina and Patrick together, the more she notices that something isn't right. Could she be giving love a second chance?

Rhymes with Cupid is a cute read and perfect for this time of year. I love the banter between Elyse and Patrick. Patrick is always getting things wrong, awkward at talking to girls, smart, and very sweet. Elyse is still overcoming her grief, blunders her way through several situations, but just wants the best for her friend. A sweet read.

Alright so it has been a while since I have actually read this book (1 fail for me for not having this review written earlier) so bear with me as I try to recall all the major points. The things that stand out the most in this book were its: 1) sweetness 2) cuteness 3) funniness.... basically you can see where I am going with this. It is everything you could hope for a Valentines Day book to be like. It was so nice, adorable, and innocent; I just loved that about it.

Elyse and her mom have been working hard to stay afloat, just the two of them. Even though her mom was absent for most of the book (lucky girl got to go on a vacation to Cancun, Mexico), you can definitely tell that they have a strong relationship. Elyse passes her time alone by working at the gift store, keeping up with her good friend Dina, ignoring her ex-best friend & ex-boyfriend, while also trying to ignore the fact that Valentines Day is right around the corner. However, nothing seems to be going right. The furnace breaks, raccoons attack the house, ex-boyfriend/ex-best friend show up unexpectedly, everyone else around her brings up the dreaded V-day, and the only one there for her through it all is her next-door neighbor/driving instructor, Patrick. Patrick is super cute, funny, some-what nerdy (in a good way), and in Elyse's opinion, perfect for Dina. Patrick, however, has someone else in mind...her name just might start with an E- and end with a -lyse. The only question is, can Elyse get over the hurt of boys-past to move on to love in the future?

Elyse is a girl after my own heart. She is rough around the edges, a little bit cynical, but deep down she has a heart of gold. She is always looking out for her friends and mom and helps them out regardless of how ridiculous their requests are (panda-themed party... uh no thanks!). Elyse reminds me of myself (and quite a few others I know) a little in that way, always spending too much time taking care of others instead of herself. Dina, Elyse's good friend is the ideal friend in this book. She is sweet, has her little quirks, and while Elyse may think she is the one taking care of Dina, Dina spends quite a bit of time taking care of Elyse. Also I mentioned Patrick. He is my ideal cute, nice, funny, nerdy guy (gosh the best ones are either taken or fictional!). The fact that Elyse overlooks her own feelings for Patrick because she thinks that her friend likes him, shows you just how great this main character is. The relationship between the main characters and everyone else in this book is so believable. It could have been very well written about yourself or a good friend. Elyse's resistance to finding love is something we all face one day. The innocence between Elyse and Patrick was probably my favorite characteristic of the whole book. I love Y.A. lit; fiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, I love it all. I also love feisty little love scenes, I mean who doesn't? BUT it was very nice and refreshing to read a Y.A. novel that didn't rely on steamy love scenes to pique interest in readers.

Rhymes With Cupid is such a cute novel; perfect for those little love story cravings! I really can't wait to see is next for Anna Humphrey.

I was excited to read this book and, in the end, I have rated as 3 stars. The good stuff:

I liked the main theme of the book - hating St-Valentine Day. The vivid descriptions of the sillyness that both the sellers and buyers accept when it comes to this themed day makes you feel as though you are actually immersed in the goings on. I also loved that the main character is so against the whole concept (at least in the beginning).

What I did not like: the pacing of this book is slow and the writing was, at times (read often) kind of silly. The way the sentences were phrased made me feel as though I was reading a low budget type of story, making the entire book feel like a bit of a chore.

Sorry, I wish I could have been more enthused about this one - but I have to say, it is your basic 3 star average kind of book.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars