Wasn't really my style. Although the character development and plot was good, it just wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to sit through and read the whole thing. DNF at 25%

This is a cute YA book about main character Lara who goes away on vacation and comes back to her 3 best friends all boyfriend up, and she’s left alone single. She struggles with the new feeling of being alone as the only single friend and also with newfound attraction to James, her former frenemy that she now thinks is cute. I thought this story was super cringe and cliche and didn’t have me hooked for the most part. Maybe someone younger and less expectant would have enjoyed, but I almost had to DNF.

What a cute little romance read. It was fast-paced but still very interesting and cute. It is an easy read for anyone to pick up. I enjoyed how diverse the book was! I loved how the author threw in some Tagalog words in the novel. Being a Filipino, I always enjoyed reading books that have my representation.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that wants a fast-paced teen romance!

'How To Be The Best Third Wheel' by Loridee De Villa 4 star
The book follows Lara who came back from vacation and her whole friend group found boyfriends from her enemy's friend group (James ). Which led James and her to be the only ones alone.
At first, I was not too fond of the writing style, it was boring and over-explained everything but it grew on me and so did the story itself. The best friends and their boyfriends along with James helped me develop feelings for this book, I had strong emotions toward them which pushed me to finish the book in a day. In the beginning, they felt generic and like a copy-pasted version of every girl's friend group like the smart one and violent one, etc. The main character also struggles with very relevant problems but they aren't looked into, they are just mentioned and not much is done with them. The story was okay, it wasn't great but I still felt attached to it. Although I didn't like the ending, it felt open and the last three chapters of the book were unnecessary, it would have been so much better without them. All in all, I liked the book, even with its cringy moments it was still enjoyable.
Thanks, NetGalley for the arc.

This book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the writing style, was not a huge fan of the main character, and found the entire thing to be a bit disappointing and entirely forgettable. The premise was good, but the execution could have been better. If you’re looking for a short, predictable, and lighthearted ya contemporary romance, this might fit the bill. Just keep your expectations low.

This bois was just not it for me. It was unnecessarily long. I did not like the main character, why would she be upset with her friends for having boyfriends! Not the nook for me

This is a high school romance about being the one left out of all the relationships and finding your place in high school and with your group of friends.

"James looks at you like you're his world."

Can I just say, in my opinion, the best authors always come out of wattpad. Lara is ready to have the best senior year ever with her three best friends. But she comes back to school after being gone for the summer, only to learn that all her friends have gotten boyfriends, leaving her out as the iconic third wheel. Of course, Lara isn't about boys, since school is already time consuming, so she doesn't mind as long as she can still have fun with the girls as much as she can. But, as the girls start to flop on her for their boyfriends, Lara starts to wonder if this friend group is falling apart faster than it should be. There were already doubts about whether the girls would still be friends after high school when they're all going off to different places, but it seems like they're already drifting even before graduation. Like that isn't enough stress, Lara's still confused about her life after high school, and what path to take in order to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor. Her anxiety is already at some high levels when university application deadlines start approaching and she still hasn't figured out where to apply. On top of all this, her arch nemesis, James, who she's known since childhood, just won't leave her alone after he also becomes the excluded third wheel in his friend group. To make matters worse, James' mom asks Lara to be James' tutor, and since she can't say no due to his mom being a second mom to her, she's forced to tutor James. The two have constant prank battles and bickering that will make you laugh like no tomorrow. But OF COURSE, as the two spend more time together, Lara realizes that it's James who calms her down during her most stressful times, and who actually understands her more than most people can. But how can she tell her worst frenemy that she has feelings for him, when chances are he might not even be in the same country next year? Also, will telling James she likes him ruin their dynamic forever, especially if he doesn't feel the same way? Can I just say, I love the Filipino representation from this book. GO READ IT!

I found the cover, title, and blurb interesting, hence I requested this book. But the number of characters and style of writing really got to me. I didn't understand what was meant by the author and couldn't grasp any of the events. I DNFed it about 20% through.

I received an e-ARC of this book through its publishers and NetGalley. All opinions in this review are solely mine.

This book wasn't really for me. It was ok but not great. I think I'm just not the target audience. It's a YA romance and I do enjoy some of those but in this one, I really didn't find the main character very likeable. She was rather whinny and annoying. Though the ending wasn't quite what I expected. Overall an OK book but not wonderful.

Honestly, this book was kind of funny. The third-wheeling scenes got me laughing and were completely spot on, but this book was just too YA.. The romance was cringey, and the end ruined the novel for me.

A disappointing read for me.
I usually like delving back into YA once in a while, but in this case it was just too obvious and standard for me. Instead of memories of times gone by and problems lived, it was very predictable and a lot less funny than I had hoped or than the title suggested.
That said, a teen may well enjoy it, but as an adult read it's not captivating enough.

I did not finish this book. It just did not old my attention the way that I was hoping that it would, It was one of those books that I forgot that I had to read, And I tried to get it done before the due date and couldn't finish.

this was a cute YA read that i read so quick. i definitely saw myself in the characters, even as an adult now. I liked the cultural representations and getting to see how important family was to them. This book was a lot of fun and would be a quick read by the beach.

Back into the halls of high school after summer break Lara's world is rocked when the realizes that her three best friends have all coupled up with three boys in their grade. This leaves her as the odd woman out and fending for herself against James, he lone boy of his group of friends. James and Lara have known each other their entire lives. Lara doesn't particularly like James and doesn't really want to spend any alone time with him. She is able to avoid him for the most part, until his Mom recruits her to tutor James. Lara is faced with James, who is quite good-looking, and her own feelings about him.

This is a cute read with some comical parts that made me chuckle. Lara's friends were kinda flakey which made it really feel like high school. I'll tell you right now, I was not a fan of the ending. I wasn't having it. 😂 I am fairly certain I even yelled "NO!" because I was that put out.

Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the Advanced Readers Copy. How To Be the Best Third Wheel by Loridee De Villa is available for purchase now if you're into a cute YA read!

How to Be the Best Third Wheel was such an amazing book. It was laugh-out-loud hilarious but also dealt well with mental health issues, including anxiety, as well as body- and image-issues.

Synopsis: Lara comes back from summer break in the Philippines to find out on the first day of school that all three of her best friends have gotten into relationships over the summer, leaving her as the seventh wheel. Lara tries to navigate her new standing with her friends, all while tutoring James, her constant rival and thorn in her side.

I had such a wonderful time reading this. Lara is hilarious, and I love her relationship with James, how they’re always at each other’s throats but how they also get each other like no one else does. I really enjoyed learning about their backstory. I loved how confident Lara could be and how protective she was of her friends. I also really enjoyed all the secondary and side characters. They all had distinct personalities, which is not something that is easy to achieve in writing side characters. I even loved the teachers, even though they had such little time on the page. I was able to really immerse myself in the world.

The humor was so much fun. I laughed out loud so many times. Even the author’s note in the beginning was hilarious. I highlighted so many of the funny lines, it ended up being practically half the book. But the author also expertly balanced the humor with serious discussions, including discussions on mental health. I also liked that she addressed the ridiculousness of expecting 17-year-olds to have their lives figured out, as we use the number of internships and jobs and scholarships to whether someone deserves to be successful or not, and that’s really so much pressure on anyone, much less a teenager. It made me think about it a lot, and I hope it will help teenagers realize that they don’t need to have life figured out.

I also liked how Lara struggled with trying to figure out what it meant to be true to herself and what was the best thing to do for herself, and not forgiving people just because they’re sorry. I liked that she realized that you don’t have to immediately forgive someone, and you have a right to remain angry if that’s what you can handle right now. You don’t owe anyone else your forgiveness.

I was really anticipating putting this in my favorites of 2022 book list, but then there was the ending. I think it was well-written. I think it was a totally justifiable route for Lara and James to take. However, it was not the ending that I was expecting or wanting, and while it definitely showed Lara’s character development, it really changed how I thought about the novel. I wish it had had some more closure, with an epilogue maybe. So while I think it was well-written and that a lot of people will like the ending, that part wasn’t for me, and lowered my anticipated rating of five stars down to four stars.

This book was a DNF (did not finish), it failed to keep my attention and I couldn't really connect to the story so I stopped reading after the first 50 pages.

This book wasn't a great fit for me as a reader. That being said, there were still things I liked.
De Villa does a great job of showing bicultural characters living their everyday lives where the plot isn't focused on any sort of trauma related to their culture or identity. I loved the incorporation of Tagalog, and the general representation was great.
This book also played on some fun tropes, including an enemies to lovers plot.
I found many of the characters realistically flawed such that they were relatable, but I struggled with inconsistent characterization. I would have liked to see more conversations and resolution with Lara and her friend group. I did enjoy the portrayals of Lara's family dynamic; the emotional connection between these characters really shone the most for me.
This book features a more leisurely pace.

As someone who is always the 3rd wheel, I loved this book simply based on the title alone. The YA feel of the story made it a fast read, and while it wasn't earth shattering & followed the plot of most romcoms, I still thought it was adorable!

I loved the cultural representation within the book, as well as the importance of family within the story.

If you're looking for a fun easy read, this is it!

This book fell back heavily on early 2010s plot devices, like the “not like other girls” vibe of the main character. It was disappointing to see that make a comeback in 2022.