How Not to Fall in Love

Books | Young Adult Fiction / Coming of Age

3.5

(88)

Jacqueline Firkins

A hardened cynic and a hopeless romantic teach each other about love in this swoony and heartful romance that's perfect for fans of Tweet Cute and The Upside of Falling. Harper works in her mom's wedding shop, altering dresses for petulant and picky brides who are more focused on hemlines than love. After years of watching squabbles break out over wedding plans, Harper thinks romance is a marketing tool. Nothing more. Her best friend Theo is her opposite. One date and he's already dreaming of happily-ever-afters. He also plays the accordion, makes chain mail for Ren Festers, hangs out in a windmill-shaped tree house, cries over rom-coms, and takes his word-of-the-day calendar very seriously. When Theo's shocked to find himself nursing his umpteenth heartbreak, Harper offers to teach him how not to fall in love. Theo agrees to the lessons, as long as Harper proves she can date without falling in love. As the lessons progress and Theo takes them to heart, Harper has a harder time upholding her end of the bargain. She's also checking out her window to see if Theo's home from his latest date yet. She's even watching rom-coms. If she confesses her feelings, she'll undermine everything she's taught him. Or was he the one teaching her?

Teen Romance

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More Details:

Author

Jacqueline Firkins

Pages

336

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published Date

2021

ISBN

0358467144 9780358467144

Community ReviewsSee all

"A fun and quick read!"

Jonathan Kent

"This cover is pretty ugly but inside is a YA romance that fits among the others. It's no Instant Karma or Charming as a Verb (or Rachel Lynn Solomon or Tweet Cute, or you know, any of the books and authors I've liked more strongly these past two years (I'm reminding myself they exist and there's actually a lot of them)). It's very Better Than The Movies, Five Ways to Fall Out of Love tier (books I don't care at all about for the record). And the male MC is like exceptionally geeky and the female MC is a pretty cliche protagonist and the story does the choosing between the best friend and this other perfect boy thing where it's kind of cheaty and unnecessary. But. The two MCs are cute together, what can I say? I didn't hate this at all. And the author's narrative about teenage relationships and sex seems healthy enough.<br/><br/>(Side note this is like the one time ever I thought two protagonists were about to have sex and went no please no not now. I'm usually like just have sex already. This is actually an unrelated tangent with nothing to do with my previous statement (this book is definitely not anti-sex or anything) but gosh my poor nerves)"

Emily

"Love this book♡"