I like the inclusion of football and the overall concept of the book. It just lagged at times and didn't hold my attention. Fair amount of cursing and I felt like the Prom bowl aspect could have been played up a lot more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read and review Say No to the Bro by Kat Helgeson. The story is told through the alternating points of view of Ava and Mark. Ava is the daughter of the new high school football team coach and Mark is the quarterback. The school holds a Prom Bowl fundraiser each year to raise money for Prom. Girls are chosen to be bid on and Ava is on the list as the wild card. She doesn't want any part of the Prom Bowl, but her dad wants her to be supportive of their school. The Prom Bowl is a school supported activity, but when crazy parties are thrown under the Prom Bowl name, things get out of hand and come crashing down. Strong characters and tightly woven plot make the book interesting and hard to put down. I read it straight through. 5 stars for a story with food for thought and realistic fiction that shows hypocrisy and integrity.

Okay…to be perfectly honest I read this back in April and I’m having a hard time remembering everything. The notes that I wrote down for this, though, are as follows: “I’m not really buying their relationship. I feel like it doesn’t fit with who I think the characters are.” From what I remember of the book, all of a sudden the two main characters were dating and I was like, “Okay, that’s random.” Like, not random plotwise, but random because it didn’t feel genuine. I also remember not really liking any of the characters–they all just seemed really selfish to me.

First off, what's so cool and romantic about forcing girls to parade around so boys can judge their worth and literally buy them as prom dates? Somehow this is flattering? And when the protagonist expresses disgust at such an arcane practice she's told by her peers "you could be prom queen" as if that's every girl's dream and totally makes up for months of indignity. Even her father tells her to "be a team player". The whole concept really put me off.

Ava is forced to start over in a new high school after her parents' divorce. She thought she would just fly under the radar, until she is named as the wild card in the Prom Bowl. The Prom Bowl is a time honored tradition at Patterson High, where senior girls complete challenges, and are bid upon by the senior boys.

This book started off as a very adorable YA romance. Ava describes herself as not a traditional beauty, and perhaps curvier than the classically pretty girls. Therefore, she is shocked, when Mark, the attractive star quarterback of the football team, shows a genuine interest in her. These two were adorable together, and I greatly enjoyed watching those first romantic sparks between these two. They were both such likable characters, and I hoped their plot to sabotage Ava's chances in the Prom Bowl were successful.

"It's Tradition."
"Oh, what are you, the Fiddler on the Roof?"

Then, the story took a turn. The focus was less on the romance, and more on issues. One thing that took center stage, was this concept of when a tradition goes bad. Do you go along with something that is "tradition" even if it's destructive in nature? Hazing freshman, buying prom dates -- these were traditions at Patterson High, and it took an outsider to call attention to these issues.

Helgeson gave us a great hero and heroine, and a compelling story filled with lots of great messages: being true to yourself, swimming against the current, not blindly following the crowd, beauty coming in all shapes and sizes. This was quite an enjoyable read, but I still wish we would have gotten a little bit more at the end. I am an epilogue kind of girl. I abhor open type endings, and I just wanted a wee bit more from Helgeson, so I could have a little closure.