The Bookworm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts

The Bookworm Crush
by Lisa Brown Roberts
Publication date: Oct. 1, 2019
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating:

This spinoff of The Replacement Crush featuring Amy and Toff is sure to melt your heart.

Shy bookworm Amy McIntyre is about to compete for the chance to interview her favorite author, who hasn’t spoken to the press in years. The only way to win is to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, but that level of confidence has never come easy.

The solution? A competition coach. The problem? The best person for the job is the guy she’s secretly crushing on…local surfer celebrity Toff Nichols.

He’s a player. He’s a heartthrob. He makes her forget basic things, like how to breathe. How can she feel any confidence around him?

To her surprise, Toff agrees to help. And he’s an excellent teacher. Amy feels braver—maybe even brave enough to admit her feelings for him. When their late night practices become less about coaching and more about making out, Amy’s newfound confidence wavers.

But does Toff really like her or is this just another lesson?

The Bookworm Crush is a cute romantic story between a bookworm and a surfer. You see, Amy has had a crush on Toff for as long as she can remember. The only problem is, he’s a bit of a ladies man and is way out of her league. He likes to be in the spotlight, and she likes to be behind the scenes. However, when it appears that she could use a bit of his confidence and swagger in order to win a contest, she enlists his help. Pretty soon their Instagram posts are heating up screens and everyone is shipping them as the next OTP.

I really liked that this book had so many things going on. It wasn’t just a romance. Toff’s dad is getting married to his friend’s mom. He has mixed feelings about this, and even though he tries to act like everything is fine, he has a lot to work through. On top of that, he is training to go pro, but finds himself injured and unable to compete in some huge competitions. Let’s just say Toff has a lot on his plate. On the other end of things, Amy is trying to play it cool by hanging out with Toff, while trying to remind herself that it’s just for the camera. She’s hoping to win the publisher’s contest for the chance to not only meet, but interview one of her favorite authors. For someone who has always taken a backseat on her joined book blog and vlogs, it’s a lot for Amy to be in the spotlight instead of behind it.

One thing I think I liked about it was that Amy has to break down a lot of the bookish lingo to Toff. I’ll be honest… I didn’t even know what OTP was before reading this book. I have read a lot of review where people have used that and “shipping” (which I once had to look up because it made no sense to me in the context it was used). So, I was glad to see that the author didn’t throw a ton of acronyms at us and expected everyone to know what it all meant.

I feel like a third of this story is about romance, a third is about family, and the other third is about self-discovery and acceptance. This story wasn’t just one-dimensional. It had a lot to offer and I really enjoyed my time while reading it. I will admit that I haven’t read The Replacement Crush yet, although it’s been sitting pretty on my Kindle for longer than I’d like to admit, I do plan to go back and read that soon. It’s not a necessity by any means, but I would like to see Toff and Amy before their story became a thing.