[Everything But The Truth by Mandy Hubbard]

"Everything But the Truth"
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Series: If Only #6
Pages: 288
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Date Published: November 17th, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury US Childrens
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via NetGalley) for honest review

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Summary:

If Only . . . she wasn't pretending to be someone else! The If Only romance line continues in this fun rags-to-riches romance.

Holly Mathews' mom is the new manager of a ritzy retirement home, and they just moved in. But having super-rich retirees as her only neighbors isn't a total bust, because the gorgeous, notorious Malik Buchannan is the grandson of a resident. Just one problem: when they meet, Malik assumes Holly is there to visit her own rich relative. She doesn't correct him, and it probably doesn't matter, because their flirtation could never turn into more than a superficial fling . . . right? But the longer she lives in his privileged world, the deeper Holly falls for Malik, and the harder it is to tell the truth . . . because coming clean might mean losing him.

For anyone who has dreamed of their own Cinderella story, this romance shows that when it comes to true love, the best person to be is yourself!

-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Everything But The Truth,

So, I have a whole lot of truth for you. (See what I did there?) I have to admit that I'm not your biggest fan. Though I will say that I thought Malik was an interesting character, nothing else really did it for me. I wish I could say I had different feelings, but I don't. I do on the other hand think that there will be a large group of teens that have a different opinion on things, so that's good. 

-The White Unicorn

So guys, this book didn't do it for me. The pacing was weird, the main character seemed like she was 15 instead of 18, and there was just way too much silly drama for me. That being said, I think this book will have it's audience, that audience just isn't a girl in her late twenties. 

Let's start with the good. I actually really liked the romantic lead. Malik was a character I could actually get behind. I think he could have been developed a bit more, but I dug what Hubbard let us see of him. I also liked a lot of the secondary characters in this book. In all truth, I liked Holly's BFF more than I liked her. Her story was more interesting. That's all I'm saying. Also, I liked that the setting was in a retirement home. It made for lots of laughs.

But then we have Holly herself and the mess that was her storyline. I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy it at all. It had it's really cute moments, but our leading lady's storyline was really cheesy. To the point of eye rolling. I think if Holly would have been younger, I could have bought the lengths and the lies that she went to to keep her guy, but Holly is supposed to be a graduated eighteen year old, and I couldn't buy it. She acted like she was fifteen, and had no idea how to handle things. She's actually in her dorm room in the last chapter, and it was almost laughable. This girl had no life skills, which made this book unbelievable for me. 

So if you're looking for a corny, cute, mindless read that will make you laugh on occasion, this is the book for you. But if it doesn't sound like something you'd like, I'm sure there's someone younger around who will dig it. 

Rating:

  2 Unicorns = It was okay, but something didn't work for me!