I requested this story because I thought I would like to comp it to something I wrote myself but it ended up being too close so I didn't finish it because I didn't want to mix ideas. I'm sure the story is so fun and the writer is talented, I just won't be able to post a review. I apologize.

Cute, funny, YA book that allows the readers to join main character's journey of self-discovery, This book is the perfect cozy novel to read on a cold night with a cup of hot chocolate.

Really fun book! Enjoyed this story of a girl finding herself and learning what true love looks like. AWESOME girl friends, too. This book turns so many tropes on their heads and I'm here for all of that!

Camryn is so relatable. I loved this contemporary love story and how everything came together in the end.

I related to this story so much because of my own personal story, but it is not unlike many other girls who are in a relationship with someone and give their all into it only to be heartbroken in the end or be stuck living a lie. Camryn is definitely a character that many will understand and I think this story is very realistic and honest. Some people will want to rush into something in hopes that it will heal things, but it’s not always the case. This book was also a very light read so if you want a story about finding Mr. Right, pick this up!

A light cute cozy book that was more of a self-discovery of the main character then finding the perfect boyfriend. I enjoyed that it was a traditional romance with a realistic ending.

"I was done with the past; it was time to go after my future."

What a sweet read! When Cam's longterm boyfriend suddenly dumps her, in public in front of everyone, she is completely devastated. After wallowing for a bit she quickly comes to the conclusion that instead of being sad she will just get back at him. And so begins her search for finding the perfect next boyfriend to rub in his face.

I really loved the growth of our main character! She went from being so unsure about who she was to turning into a confident woman. What she thought was the worst thing to ever happen to her turns out to be just what she needed. Her friends play a huge role in this and I loved reading their dynamic! They were all so supportive of each other but not afraid to tell it how it really was. This story had a lot of humor, heart, and was just a fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed!

• Want to read a book about strong friendships, relatable characters and self-discovery? Pick Finding Mr-Better-Than-You by Shani Petroff up! 💙
This was such an adorable read. I enjoyed reading the book with all my heart. The book has been released already, and I want all of you guys to read it, because it's truly beautiful. ❤
The book's storyline might feel like nothing new, but believe me, this book will exceed all your expectations about it. The book doesn't revolve around romance, btw. The story starts off with Cam's breakup with her long-time boyfriend, but swiftly transforms into a story about her re-discovering herself with the support of her wonderful group of friends.
• Our main character, Cam has such a bubbly and bright personality! I loved reading about her so, so much. She's a little (or a lot) stubborn too, which might make her character unlikable at times, but you'll get used to her determination for getting the things she wants, and even love her for it in the end. I related to her so many times, specially with her love for rom-coms! Her character development was really noteworthy. It made me really proud to see how she learnt to put herself first without holding herself back for others in the end.

• My favorite part of the book was definitely the friendships. Cam had such a strong support system ~ her friends picked her up whenever she needed. They even acted like a mirror to show the path leading to her truest self.
• I'm really impressed with Shani Petroff's writing style. She made the book so easy to read, while delivering inportant messages for young people along the way. Really looking forward to reading more of her books!

Finding Mr. Better-Than-You should have been titled SHORTY DON”T NEED NO MAN!

I love rom-coms so much. I have seen The Proposal so often it’s a little outrageous. And this one is a new favorite of mine.

It’s a really quick read but it’s got super important themes. Cam was in love with her boyfriend. Loved supporting her boyfriend. Loved being with her boyfriend. Until he broke up with her. Considering the fact that they had been together since freshmen year, she was understandably upset. All throughout the book, Cam builds a brand new relationship though.

With herself.

She was one of those people that, without meaning to, let themselves get consumed with their partner. She had her friends and what she liked to do but continually put her boyfriend ahead of all of that.

Cam and her friends tried to get her another boyfriend but it was one bad luck situation after another. All along the way, Cam and her friends started to get back to themselves and I that was the real romance. It was absolutely perfect, the way that Shani Petroff constructed the story so that it was seamless and absolutely truthful. It was the perfect romance. The most exquisite love story to ourselves.

What a refreshing story. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Camryn and her group of friends and watching them navigate the complicated emotions that break ups and senior year can bring.

Having been through a very public break up my senior year of high school (eons ago) I immediately related to Camryn and her very emotional meltdown. The scene was so well written I was cringing right along with the rest of the crowd.

While the plot revolves around finding the next potential boyfriend for Cam, really it’s about coming to terms with her own failings and learning to find her own voice and interests. The friendship between Cam, Grace, and Terri is one for the ages. The tough love and support that Grace and Terri provide is so vital to Cam’s growth. Friendship without a little turmoil is impossible, I really enjoyed the way the resolution wasn’t an easy one.

Petroff does an excellent job writing well rounded characters and realistic, not over the top, teenage angst and emotion. I recommend grabbing a copy of this story and prepare yourself to laugh, cringe, sigh, and reminisce about the days of high school and trying to choose a future for yourself at only 17. You won’t be disappointed.

This was a very different novel than I was expecting. It took until they broke up for me to really be invested. Cam was a bit obsessive for me in the beginning. But after that I really enjoyed it. Cam coming into her own and really finding what she needs was the best part.
Stick with it until they break up and you will really enjoy what comes next.

Finding Mr. Better than You is a young adult contemporary by author Shani Petroff. It is part of Swoon Reads line, which I have had great success with in the past, so whenever I see a book that I am interested in by Swoon, I always jump on it. Their books tend to be super cute, funny and have a sweet romance. Finding Mr. Better Than You was a great read, but it did surprise me in the romance department. I love a good revenge story, so this book had two pluses before I even picked it up! But I was expecting an epic-ally sweet romance, and Finding Mr. Better Than You was not really a romance. There is some romance, but the main feature of this book was really the friendships. Finding Mr. Better Than you was a great book featuring really strong high school friendships, and this was a great coming of age, and finding yourself type of book. It was satisfying in a different way than I initially thought it would be.

In Finding Mr. Better Than you we meet our main character, Camryn. I found Camryn to be super relateable. Camryn has a long term boyfriend, and like many of us were guilty of in high school or with our first boyfriends, we changed our habits, our schedules and/or likes and dislikes to match the likes and dislikes of her boyfriend. So when her longtime boyfriend blindsides her with a breakup, she is understandably pretty lost. But instead of wallowing, Camryn decides getting revenge will be much more fun. There is a fake romance in this story, but it is not done in the typical way.

As I said earlier, the friendships ended up being my favorite aspect of Finding Mr. Better Than you. I loved how supportive Camryn’s friends were. I wish we saw more friendships like these in young adult fiction. What I loved about Finding Mr. Better Than You was watching Camryn figure out who she was before she started dating her boyfriend, and who she wanted to be. It was a really great coming of age story for Camryn. If you are a fan of stories featuring excellent friendships, then Finding Mr. Better than You is a really sweet story you won’t want to miss.

3.5 stars. This had a rocky start for me because I did NOT like Cam at all. I prefer characters who know their own minds and have some strength and sass to them. At the start, Cam was all about the boyfriend. She had given up her extracurriculars so she could be wherever he was. She pestered her counselor all summer to change her classes because she "wasn't going to spend her senior year without at least one class" with the boyfriend. The early chapters had all sorts of red flags for me. And it wasn't because the boyfriend was abusive or dictating those choices - that was just how Cam responded in the relationship.

I'm glad I pressed through because that seemed to be the whole point of the book - watching Cam find herself when the boyfriend she built her life around dumped her. But it took awhile - she did a lot of the same things in her next relationship, and it was frustrating to watch. But in the end she found herself again. She remembered how it felt to do things that were true to her personality, and she started choosing her own path instead of yielding to the path of the male voice in her life.

This is not really a romance, although I think readers could think that going into this. The title made me expect a new relationship in the end. There are hints at a future possibility, but in the end this is really about Cam and not about a romance.

***Actual Rating: 3/5 Self-Caring Stars***

Judging from the cover (yes, I do that a lot), Finding Mr. Better-Than-You does look like the kind of books I usually enjoy savoring, if not devouring from the moment I get my hands on it. Thus, color me shock when I realized this book wasn’t what it seemed.

To be honest, I was half expecting there to be at least a little romance between the main characters, because wasn’t it what the book title was suggesting??? Much to my surprise, this book actually took the advantage of “finding Mr. Better-than-You” to seek self-proclaimed and aimed at bettering oneself.

That being said, even though there weren’t nearly enough romantic, sweet moments in this book for me, I still managed to finish reading the rest of the book. I’ve got to admit that this book let me down…just a wee bit…but I did appreciate how strong and courageous the female main character, Camryn, was. She was able to piece back her broken heart and rotten high school life together mostly by herself and with a little help from her friends. She was such a positive role model, who bore the magic to empower women and to some extent, made the world all the more better. 🙂

Anyway, Camryn was indeed a figure worth looking up to and I hope everyone would still give this book a shot. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll end up loving it!

***Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours and the author for the review opportunity.***

Many readers will see themselves or someone they are close to in this novel. Sometimes we are blind to what is in front of us and only see our reality. I think that is one thing I struggled with while reading this book. To deny who you are to please others just frustrates me.
It was a relief when Camryn finally stopped relying on others to determine who she is/was. The author did a good job giving Camryn back her confidence and appreciation of her own self-worth. It was a hard-fought journey but worth the trouble.

So good!

Camryn has been dating Mark since forever, they are always together, she cheers him on his games, studies with him, they even plan on going to the same college.

And then in the first week of senior year, he breaks up with her, in a kind of bad way.

Her entire world crumbles away. She has nothing left. And then her guidance counselor informs her that she has no extracurricular and she needs those to get into the school she wants.
She wants to get revenge, dating someone better than him and shoving it in his face.
The only trouble she is losing herself in the relationship again.

It’s one of those stories everyone should read. It’s about not losing yourself in your relationship and not losing sight of what you want, not giving it all up for what your boyfriends/ girlfriends want.

Loved it!

Finding Mr. Better Than You by Shani Petroff is a book about discovering yourself or rediscovering yourself, however you would like to look at it. This book is a fairly quick read that you are able to dive right into.



Camryn, otherwise known as Cam, is in her senior year of high school. All she has focused on is getting into her dream college. All goes wrong with she finds out she doesn't have enough extracurricular activities to get into her dream college and then her long time boyfriend breaks up with her in the middle of a crowded diner. Then the video of the break up gets posted online. Cam decides that she is going to find someone better and work harder to get into her dream school.



Don't let this book fool you. This book is more about Camryn finding herself than to actually finding her next boyfriend. I found that Cam's journey in trying to make her ex-boyfriend jealous is quite comical. She ends up learning so much about herself along the way. I really enjoyed her characters. This book definitely had some really funny moments and some really sweet ones. I really loved how the book was more focused on Cam learning more about herself than anything else.

**Disclaimer: I was given a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Title Finding Mr. Better-Than-You

Author Shani Petroff

Release Date January 14, 2020

Publisher Swoon Reads

Description from Amazon

Camryn has been dating Marc FOREVER—since freshman year! She dropped out of volleyball to go to all his games, switched her schedule around to be in his favorite class, and has been busting her butt to get into Columbia so they can go to the same college. So when Marc suddenly, and very publically, breaks up with her a week into their senior year so that he can date the new transfer student, she’s absolutely devastated.

But why be sad, when you can get even? Inspired by her favorite movies, Camryn decides that the best revenge is a Senior Year well lived, starring a boy who is ever so much better than her ex. With a little help from her friends, Cam is going to have the Best. Senior. Year. Ever.

Initial Thoughts

I was really excited to sign up for this tour. I love a good revenge story and this sounded like so much fun. It gave me all kinds of Mean Girls vibes and I love that movie.

Some Things I Liked

Mean Girls vibes. As stated above, I had a feeling this book would have some parallels to the hit comedy and I was right. From the main character who loses herself along the way to finding herself, to the art show this book gave me so many similar feelings to a movie that I’ve seen like a hundred times.
References on references on references. I loved that Cam’s favorite activities are watching rom-coms and reading. This made so much excellent room for this book to reference so many things that I love too. I love when the characters I’m reading about like the same things I do.
Finding yourself. This is a book that I wish I had read when I was Cam’s age. I had no idea what I wanted to do, what my interests were, or who I was at seventeen. Let’s be fair, I still don’t totally know and I’m twenty-seven now (but, I have a much better idea 😉). I loved reading Cam’s story of self-discovery and I think it’s important for anyone who’s ever felt lost.

One Thing I Didn’t Like

Romance on the back burner. At its core, this is a story of the main character finding herself. Romance was a theme, but it wasn’t the central plot. While I understand why that was the case, I missed the romance element a bit.

Series Value

I’d like to see more of what Cam and her friends are up to in the future. However, the resolution of Cam’s story in Finding Mr. Better-Than-You, tells me that this is probably the end of Cam’s official story. That being said, I think there is a ton of spin off potential for other side characters in this book.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this book. I missed the swoon-y romance factor a bit here but overall, I thought the story was well done and evoked a ton of feelings from my own high school days. The themes represented in this book are some that everyone has felt at some point in their lives and being able to connect with the characters made it that much more enjoyable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

Flawed by Becky Bird – if you like cute, contemporary romance stories, definitely give this new release by Becky Bird a try.
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord – if you like adorable, contemporary stories about finding yourself, give this new release by Emma Lord a try.
What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter – this book isn’t out yet (look out for it in April 2020), but if you like the social media-centered romance and the secrets the main characters kept from each other, try this upcoming release.

When I picked up Finding Mr. Better-Than-You, I figured it would be a cute little romance about a teenage girl who gets dumped by her boyfriend and goes off searching for the guy who's going to mend her heart. She's essentially looking for her OTP (one true pairing). And I expected a fluffy little romance. In reality, this is more of a light-hearted contemporary and I'm kinda surprised that I enjoyed it. I seek out romances. But there was so much more to Finding Mr. Better-Than-You than just a romance.

What I enjoyed most about this book was that Camryn, though somewhat misguided in her love quest, is a strong girl. Yes, she's upset when her boyfriend dumps her (publicly, I should add), but she doesn't just roll over and give up. She decides she'll get over him by finding someone new, hoping that someone will turn out to be her OTP. And, though her plan is as I said, misguided, at least she has a plan.

Camryn's love of rom-coms was a perfect addition to Finding Mr. Better-Than-You. I absolutely love any romance I can get my hands on so having a main character that practically knows them all by heart and adores them the way I do was great! I absolutely loved her character.

Cheerleaders. I have to bring this up because in so many books and movies, the popular cheerleader is evil. I loved that this wasn't the case in Shani Petroff's book. When Marc dumps her in the diner, it's a cheerleader who comes to her aid. When she's standing alone in the lunchroom, displaced from Marc's table, it's a group of cheerleaders who take her in. This book took the stereotype and turned it on its head. It also gave more characters that I could relate to, instead of a few typical "evil" cheerleaders.

This book was so cute, y’all! It was nice to have something like this after reading some really heavy books.

Cam is an easy character to relate to. Like her, I am a people pleaser and that sometimes makes me loose myself a bit, which is exactly what happens with Cam. She is so focused on making her boyfriend happy and being there for her friends, she stops trying to find her own happiness. Not that being a supportive friend is a bad thing! It’s not! At all! But not at the expense of your own identity. I think that is a very easy trap for some people to fall in and I was so happy for Cam finding her own way by the end of the story.

Also, I was happy to see that this is a story set in high school that doesn’t automatically vilify the cheerleaders. I was not one of the popular kids when I was in school, but I also knew several cheerleaders and they were very nice girls. I really appreciated having characters like Avery and Nikki break that stereotype. Avery was probably my favorite character in the whole book because she didn’t think twice about reaching out to someone who was hurting and trying to help.

Ultimately this is a story about friendship and about finding out what you want in life. I always worry when young girls focus so much on having a “relationship” or having a “serious” boyfriend when they are in school. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but not when it holds you back from realizing your own potential.

This was such a sweet story that I thoroughly enjoyed.