Blog Tour: How to Break a Boy by Laurie Devore

Today on WinterHaven Books I am kicking off the blog tour for How to Break a Boy by Laurie Devore!!  For my stop I am sharing my review with you!

How to Break a Boy by Laurie Devore

Publisher: Imprint

Release Date: Jan 31st, 2017

Purchase: Amazon

Keep your enemies close, but your friends closer.

Olivia Clayton has mastered the art of tearing others down to stay on top. She and her best friend, Adrienne, rule their small southern town like all good mean girls do--through intimidation and manipulation.

After Olivia suffers a family tragedy and catches Adrienne sleeping with her boyfriend, Olivia is over it. She decides to make a change--but it's impossible to resist taking Adrienne down one last time. Up to her old tricks, Olivia convinces golden boy Whit DuRant to be her SAT tutor and her fake boyfriend. But when it starts to feel real, Whit gets caught up in Olivia and Adrienne's war.

Olivia may ruin everything she touches, but this time she won't go down without a fight--not if it means losing Whit.

And definitely not if it means losing what's left of herself.

“If the Heathers had had smartphones.” ―Kirkus Reviews

My thoughts:
How to Break a Boy was my type of contemporary novel!  It wasn't soft and dreamy, it was tough, dark and a little scary which worked for me.

In a nutshell the story is about Olivia and how she lives her life in the shadow of her partner in crime friend Adrienne.  These two together were a high school students worst nightmare.  They were ruthless, mean, and always out to get somebody even if you just make eye contact wrong you are on their list. When Olivia's brother dies, she changes and begins to think maybe this mean girl lifestlye isn't what she wants anymore.  Leaving isn't always easy though and so begins her journey to find herself without popularity, her brother, and her toxic friend.

It was painful to read quite a few places in this story.  So many times Olivia could have done the right thing, but she stays under Adriennes thumb and causes chaos for so many people.  I won't lie I wanted to slap her so many times throughout this book, but her saving grace was that she little by little saw her errors and wanted to correct them.  It took awhile, but she slowly grew a backbone and for that I am grateful.

My favorite character in this though was Claire.  She was a kind of secondary character and I thought she was amazing.  She got caught up in the mess of Olivia's fight with Adrienne and I felt sorry for her, but I liked her positive attitude which helped guide Olivia.  It wasn't always easy for her, but she didn't let things tear her down.

My other favorite character was Whit which won't surprise you if you read this book.  He was definitely a shining character throughout and my heart broke for him when things turned bad.  He was an innocent bystander, but he definitely caught the brunt of the fight and I can't lie it ticked me off.  He didn't deserve what happened to him and I was shocked at the extent Adrienne went.  He handled it better than most though and I have to give him credit for standing his ground.

My one problem with this story though was that I wanted more of a conclusion with Adrienne. I don't think she should have been able to walk away so easily and I know that her world changed somewhat, but it wasn't enough for me.  I wanted her to suffer more honestly.

I thought this story was going to be more of a revenge story, but it turned out to be more of a saving story and I liked it.  There were frustrating scenes and I wanted to punch a few people, but you know high school is tough and this shows just how tough it can be.  I know this is extreme, but peer pressure is out there and I've seen a lot of bad things so if you think about it this really isn't that extreme.  I'm glad the author chose to show the darker side of school and I can even understand why she chose to let things be at the end.  Nothing is ever tied up perfectly in a bow and this story shows that.  I'm just glad a few characters ended up where I hoped they would.

Dark story with shinning moments that held me captivated till the last page.  Can't ask for more than that!

3.5 snowflakes

About the Author
Laurie Devore was born and raised in small town South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. She now lives and works in Chicago, where she misses the charms and contradictions of the south every day. In her spare time, she reluctantly runs marathons, watches too much TV, and works a "y’all" into every conversation. How to Break a Boy is her debut novel.