Ooh. I liked this! When I first requested it on NetGalley, I was a little hesitant. The story centers around Olivia; unlike everyone else, she has no plans for summer, having been rejected from NYU’s screenwriting program. So her plans are to stay home, binge-watch horror movies, and chat with an online friend, Elm. But then Olivia is forced by her parents to work at a ziplining company over summer, and there he is. Elm. or Jake. Olivia recognizes him from the photo he sent her. There’s just one problem: when Elm had asked for a photo of her, she sent a photo of her beautiful best friend, Katie.

It’s that last part that I was scared about. I’m tired of reading books where the main girl is oh-so-gorgeous but doesn’t know it. That was definitely in this book, to some extent. But the way it was written wasn’t as annoying as all those other books. Instead, Olivia’s insecurities were explained and fleshed out, and what was typically an annoying trope to me became something I could really relate to. I was prepared to roll my eyes and be irritated at the lies and the cliches—but I didn’t.

The plot for this reminded me a lot of Alex, Approximately (also a book I liked), but overall the pacing of the book flowed well. I definitely liked how the story was not JUST about the romance—the story also talked about thinking about the future, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and remaining confident and persistent in the face of rejection. As someone who has already been through the college application and admission process and is constantly reminded of the looming dread of having to search for a job, it was great to read a book that reminded me of how I was able to get through obstacles in the past.

There were some scenes in the book that were a little over-dramatic, which is probably the only reason this book isn’t a full five stars. In the beginning, the fact that Olivia didn’t have summer plans was made out to be a dramatic, shameful secret—which was unnecessarily dramatic, in my opinion. Some of the arguments between Olivia and Katie were also kind of theatrical.

The writing style was very typically YA, but I’d definitely still recommend this to any YA readers—especially those who aren’t tired of the “anonymous online friend” cliche. Happy Messy Scary Love is coming out May 2019, so keep an eye out!