Undeniably young and precocious, Martin has delivered a charming coming of age romantic comedy that I wouldn't be surprised if the screen rights were optioned for Netflix soon.

Thanks to the Netgalley for providing an eARC of Five Ways to Fall Out of Love in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book before the official cover was even out, purely because the description sounded original and just the right amount of emotional roller-coaster. I was right up until the point where I thought this would be a light read.

Aubrey Cash, a senior in high school, has made it her mission to be romance-free due to her family history, and a recent inexplicably fall-out with a boy. She starts finding ways to fall out of love, and keep it that way through her day-to-day life (hence the title!). Obviously, she knows that getting in a relationship is bound to happen, especially because her best friend could not be any more different in the love department and keeps trying to get Aubrey to double date with her and her perfect boyfriend.

Enter Holland, a perfect gentleman and maybe the guy without any critical flaws. Except he's Webster's cousin, the guy who broke Aubrey's heart and her new nemesis. Treating it like a scientific experiment, she bets on her relationship with Holland. And the plot thickens when feelings get mixed up and eventually someone has to get hurt.

Aubrey's cynicism in love resonated with me, as I have thought like her for many personal reasons. I understand that having parents be evidently out of love, does not impact the same to everybody, but Aubrey's views in love are valid. Some people prefer to prevent heartbreak than deal with it.

Whilst reading the chapters, I held my heart more than once, as even though I understood her walls being up, it still hurt as a reader that someone so young could be so careful because what she has been going through. The moments that really got to me where in the life skills class (if you know, you know), and how two people who are right for each other are not necessarily together because love is that complicated. Ultimately, Aubrey's growth is what impacted me the most and how she did it all on her own, which I appreciated. She could have easily changed because she got into a relationship with somebody, but that feeling would only be temporary.

I am excited for everyone to read this and see what they think about it. This is one of the best books I have read this year, and we are midway to it.

”—if it hurts this much to lose someone you haven’t handed your heart to, how does anyone survive losing the one you have?”

I thought that Five Ways to Fall Out of Love was actually a pretty sweet and fun YA read. It was the perfect mix of coming of age and navigating young love, while still having that real world angst vibe to it. Aubrey doesn’t believe in love because she’s watched her parent’s marriage slowly implode over the years. Add that to the fact the one guy she’s felt that deep connection with, rejected her in a super embarrassing way no too long ago. She’s a complete skeptic when it comes to the whole love deal, and FWtFOoL is sort of following Aubrey as she let’s her skepticism go bit by bit. She’s learning and growing, while still staying a little reluctant to fall.

I will say that there is a smidge of a love triangle in this one. It felt real to the high school experience, considering feelings are fickle at any age, but especially when they are newer. I know that some people might take issue with it, so I wanted to mention it. That being said I think it’s clear from the author’s writing where the story is headed from the start, so the other relationships didn’t really bother me at all. Love and life is a journey, and all journeys have stops until you reach your destinations. I loved that family relationships and regular friendships were explored in this book too. How someone’s insecurities and anxieties can impact those around them and their relationships. It’s just an easy read, but there are some good thoughtful bits in this story.

All in all a good YA read. I think this one would be a good read for older teens, and even adults who enjoy popping back into those high school angst feels.

I might as well get this out of the way now: cynicism makes me sad. Profoundly so, in a way that few other things can. So a book about high school séniors (sore spot, since I lost half of my senior year) with a cynical protagonist was bound to get me down. And it DID. I felt a little :( while reading this. But it was compelling and well-written, so I have to give it credit for that. It’s one of those books you have to be in the mood for, I guess.

Sadly I just could not get into this one as much as I had wished. I was initially arrracted to the premise and I adore the enemies to lovers trope....but for me the only character I actually liked in this book was Holland... poor poor Holland. The story is essentially about Aubrey and Webster, best friends who became enemies after a disastrous homecoming incident and only reconnect when they become lab partners and Aubrey starts dating Webster’s cousin Holland. Things get MESSY. I can honestly say I did not like Aubrey or Webster and found that they continuously kept hurting each other through the book and I just didn’t really like them together. Maybe this romance is for someone else but it just did not work for me.
*thank you netgalley for sending me a arc! *

I really liked the beginning of this book and overall it was okay but I just really found Aubrey to be a pretty unlikeable Heroine. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Five Ways to Fall Out of Love in exchange for an honest review.

Guys. I was so ready to be able to be like "Ha! Look! I can give straight-led feel-good contemporary high ratings! But a few chapters in to loving this I found out one of the halves of the main couple is bi so... opps. Look, I have a type and I'm owning it, okay?

Anyways, this was so cute! Tropey? Yeah. Of course. But I think that's the selling point here. Five Ways to Fall Out of Love gives us a cynical perspective character who's given up on love. We have miscommunications. Enemies to lovers. Will they won't they. It's a beautiful mixture of all your fav YA fluff tropes and it was such a fun, light read.

Also, our perspective character manages to be awkward & dog loving & overly-relatable to 'quirky' teen girl readings WITHOUT her or any other character bashing on her entire gender to try and make her seem special? Imagine that.

So I really enjoyed this book, although I wanted to shake some sense into Aubrey on several occasions. Her self-sabotage was obvious to everyone but herself, and cause her so much more turmoil than she needed to suffer. That said, I still enjoyed the story and seeing her grow as a person. Plus Webster makes a pretty good boy-next-door.

If you love friends to enemies to lovers you will love this. It’s rare to find a book where you like all the characters but I’ve found it! Never dull and I finished it in one sitting. Also loved the bisexual love interest.