Lisa Brown Roberts

True love can't be strategized. After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart. But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission. Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.

The Replacement Crush

"A smart, charming teen romance." —Kirkus Reviews After book blogger Vivian Galdi’s longtime crush pretends their secret summer kissing sessions never happened, Vivian creates a list of safe crushes, determined to protect her heart. But nerd-hot Dallas, the sweet new guy in town, sends the mission and Vivian’s zing meter into chaos. While designing software for the bookstore where Vivian works, Dallas wages a counter-mission. Operation Replacement Crush is in full effect. And Dallas is determined to take her heart off the shelf.

Sven Test

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Would I finally get my happy ending or was this going to be an ugly-cry ending?

Vivian is a book blogger, book nerd and Star Trek geek. She has every book lover's job: working at a book store, owning a successful blog, and holding book club meetings. Her mom is an author who writes Mystery novels and is the owner of the book store. Viv had a great summer with Jake. Unfortunately, when classes start, he "dumps" Viv by appearing with another girl in his arms. This is when the Replacement Crush mission comes to live. She wants someone she can crush on, but not develop feelings for. Suddenly, a new student arrives and Viv's mission may just go down the drain.

"Guys shouldn't become an obsession," [...] "Think of them as sprinkles on the donuts of life. Fun, but not necessary."

I wasn't sure if I would like Viv. For someone so young (in her teens), she was very...obsessed when it came to guys. She blamed it all on her hormones so she needed a "cure" for them. I also found her to be a bit shallow. I'm happy to announce that Viv had a major growth in character that could be seen through the story. She had help from her friends and Dallas, the new student, but she realized her mistakes all on her own and took responsibility for them.

I'd hurt too many people, pretending I was the star of the show and others were just minor characters without real feelings.

Dallas, also known as Vespa Guy (he rides a Vespa), is the new guy in town and all the girls take notice of him. He's also a nerdy guy, just like Viv! He meets Viv at school, but they spend lots of time at the book store since Viv's mom hired Dallas to set the book store in the 21st century (or 20th century). Viv wanted so badly to ignore Dallas. She wanted to be unattached and not have feelings, but Dallas made it impossible. He's a great guy who's so kind to his family and little sister. Dallas' intentions in the beginning had me confused because I wasn't sure if he liked Viv, but his feelings for her started to blossom and I was so shipping this! The romance is so shippable, innocent and oh-so sweet!

Something needed to happen to refocus my hormones, and fast, because right now they were way too focused on Vespa Guy. And his mysterious tattoo.

Viv's mom was amazing! I could see so much of my mom in her. She's very responsible over her daughter, always watching out for her, but at the same time, she's Viv's friend. Their relationship was so beautiful to read and her mom gave awesome advice. Also, her mom's a mystery author so reading about ways she should kill someone off had me laughing, especially if a person had hurt Viv. She really had her daughter's back.

"So many ways to die, so little time to write about them."

The friendships in this story had me grinning so hard. I need to start with Jaz. I don't think I've ever read a character similar to Jaz. She's so unique, it's not even funny. At the same time, I think we all have a Jaz in our lives. She's out-spoken, bold, loud. She's also that type of friend that you tell to not look at your crush, and she'll make a big show of staring. But she'll be there for you no matter what and I loved that about her. She knew Viv's RC mission wasn't a great idea, but she supported her friend and even gave her ideas.

Toff is Viv's step-brother and their relationship was the highlight for me. They have been best friends since they were kids and their friendship has only grown over the years. They are so close and count on each other a lot. Toff is also a unique character. He's cocky, but in a good way. He loves to joke around a lot. But when things get serious, he'll be the guy you want to call. I was so happy to see Toff being there for Viv when she needed it the most and he did a great job at supporting her.

Overall, The Replacement Crush is a light, page-turner, feel-good story that will have you grinning so much, your cheeks will hurt.

I received an eARC from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

María Belén

2.5 stars

A cute and funny book. Even though Viv was too immature for my liking. Still, it's an okay book

Sumayya

A very light read, definitely the one that takes you out of reading slump 😓... It is about a teenager girl Vivian, who after being dumped by his childhood crush... Feels devastated and in order to get out of the misery comes out with the "Replacement crush".... And then begins the whole adventure... Bonus points for amazing characters and the protagonist who loves reading has a book blog and Mom who is an writer and owns a bookstore... 😃😃

Lynn Braden

Vivian Galdi ends her summer being dumped by the boy she thought she was in love with, so as school starts, she nurses a broken heart and a bruised ego. She decides that it is time to take a more logical approach to finding a boyfriend and calls on the most logical character she knows for help, Mr. Spock from Star Trek. At the same time, Vivian meets Dallas, the new boy at school who begins helping set up a database for her mother at their bookstore. Dallas meets all of the requirements Vivian has set for Operation Replacement Crush except that she is much too attracted to him, so even though he is the one she wants to be with most, she can't stand the thought of getting her heart broken again. 

The Replacement Crush is an entertaining YA romance that uses quotes from Star Trek episodes and movies at the beginning of each chapter. Also, Vivian often converses with the voice of Mr. Spock in her head, adding another amusing element to the story. For the most part, the first half of the book sets up this idea of making a list of criteria and then following it, while searching for a partner very well. However, the last half of the book gets a bit excessive with the drama and includes events that seem over the top, but overall, The Replacement Crush is an enjoyable YA romance that the target audience should really enjoy.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Vivian, the daughter of a bookstore owner, has lived her life surrounded by books. She even has a book blog where she reviews books... romance books, for the most part. She keeps this part of her life pretty quiet though, as the idea of reading romance books comes with its own insinuations in her beach town. Most of the other students are surfing and hanging out at parties, while she's living it up in her mother's store, head always stuck in a book. (She's totally my kind of girl!)

After Vivian is heartbroken after a recent breakup (if you can even call it a breakup), she comes up with a list of potential replacement crushes. In making this list, however, she avoids anyone that give her a "zing". Basically, anyone that she's attracted to. This includes the new, sweet guy in town, Dallas. Vivian can't deny her instant attraction to Dallas. But with fears of being hurt again, she refuses to acknowledge these feelings in any way. This is where the fun begins.



Okay, I'm just going to put this out there... Dallas is MINE!! He's my new book boyfriend. I fell for him, and I fell HARD! Bam, right on the ground. Game. Set. Match. I'm always a total sucker for sweet, nerdy guys, and Dallas was no exception! (Just think Max from The Start of Me and You. I know, right?!) I adored how he interacted with everyone around him, including silly, lost, emotional little Vivian. She was such a dork herself, and I adored her to pieces. These two were totally adorable and I couldn't help but want to smoosh them together. 



AGAIN!!! Lisa Brown Roberts has AGAIN made me fall in love with her characters to the point that I CAN'T stop thinking about them!!! I've read everything written by Lisa thus far, and I've loved every single one. Guys, if you're not reading Lisa's books, you really should look into them. They're such light, adorable and sweet stories that are perfect to read between much more serious ones. I use them as a bit of a refresher after reading an intense read, and they're just perfect for this!! An author you won't want to miss if you enjoy contemporary YA as much as I do!!

 


(Thanks to Entangled Teen for the review copy!)

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