Title: Keeping the Distance
Series: I Heart Iloilo, #1
Author: Clarisse David
Publication Date: February 06, 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Add to: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository
No bets. No fake relationships. Just a very real one that has to be kept under wraps.
Seventeen-year-old Melissa wants to dye her hair cotton candy pink and focus on her ukulele instead of Physics. But she can't. As the daughter of a Catholic school principal, living up to her model student image 24/7 is a must. Something's about to give under all the pressure. She only hopes it isn't her.
Getting involved with a troublemaking basketball player is the last possible thing she needs...
Lance is used to getting what he wants. With a pretty face he uses to full advantage and his role as co-captain of the basketball team, the easy way is the only way he's ever known. Until the day he notices the prim Melissa he's known forever is actually hot and decides to ask her out. He has no idea he's about to learn the lesson of a lifetime.
Not getting what he wants might exactly be what he needs.
Let me just say that this book was cute AND sweet, but it also has a tiny bit of angst in it which I happen to like. The hate to love trope is one of my favorite tropes in stories because of the tension between the two main characters and the exciting feeling of reading both of them finally realizing their true feelings for each other.
Lance got a crush on Melissa and he's determined to show her that he likes her. Too bad that his ways of showing her is either through teasing or getting them both in trouble, sending them to the principal's office. Melissa, however, wasn't having any of it. Not only is she a role model student, she's also the daughter of the principal. She has an image to keep and she can't have Lance be in the way. It was torture enough to be keeping a good image despite her wanting to throw it away. She didn't need a him to be an addition to this dilemma in her life.
Their teasing and bickering were fun to read and I swear I snorted out loud at the quote below.
"There's something wrong with my phone."
"What?"
"It doesn't have your number in it."
SMOOTH. Hashtag Hugot.
I love that conversation between Lance and Melissa's father where Lance stood up for her and made a huge point that it should be her decision in the end. How true it that. Mel's dad depicts a lot of parents being protective over their kids to the point that they have this picture perfect image of them set already, and said kid should be doing the most to be that image in order to meet the parents' expectations. It's actually pretty sad and it hurts because this is reality for a lot of kids who are too scared to voice their honest opinion to their parents in case of disappointment.
To the minor characters, I love Jace and Cam. They're the kind of friends you'd want to have in your life. I also love how Jace likes to keep things neat. As someone who likes to be organized and be neat, it's nice to read about it because I can relate. There's also Lance's sister, Julianne, who seemed to be Lance's cheerleader and she's pretty sweet to Mel.
Overall, Keeping the Distance was a fun read that tackled not just romance, but also friendship and family, and it left me with a smile on my face.
0 comments:
Post a Comment