Thank you NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Get ready for a google docs rant review kids, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

Never thought my rating of a book could change so much throughout reading it until I read this one, How To Be The Best Third-Wheel. AKA another reason why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (because sometimes books with pretty covers turn out to be boring and a waste of your time!). I picked up HTBTBTW, thinking that I would read a fun rom-com about third wheeling and it delivered that, and it delivered even MORE of that and not in a good way. This book was so unnecessarily long, that I just couldn’t stand it anymore and started skimming the last 100 pages. Though, I must say, it did have a great dedication:

“To my love life- thank you for being so nonexistent that I had to write this.”

This book is about Lara Dela Cruz (what even is that name-) going on a vacation to the Philippines and returning back to school only to find out that all of the members of her girl gang have boyfriends now. Instead of being a normal person and a good friend, she treats them like shit for having boyfriends (????) and then plays the victim. I had an unpleasant experience with those kinds of people, so it was quite fun to read about (ironically I requested the book because I was third wheeling at school after my friend had a new boyfriend)!!!!! I just wanted to hit her with the back of the thickest book I own in my bookshelf. I know that it sounds malicious and weird but I really, really hated her. She was just this selfish, whiny and ungrateful 16 year-old who was not even close to being mature (or even pretending to be mature, for heaven’s sake). I’m not a psychologist but from what I saw in tv shows, homegirl has serious abandonment issues. She is too dependent on her friends and she probably thinks that she puts them first or something.

“I never told you anything other than the reasons that I don’t like you, let alone how to build me the perfect desert.”

Then there was the love interest, James who was just there. That’s all I have to say about him or else I would have to stop writing this review and start meditating to remain calm :)))))))))))))

“Selflessness and sacrifice don’t have to be weaknesses. Sometimes they’re our greatest strengths.”

The sense of humour (sorry the LACK OF sense of humour) in this book got on my nerves. Imagine reading a 300 something paged book about a girl with horrible gen z humor. You’d think they would stop making gen z references and “jokes” for at least a little while and be serious for once, but guess what? They don’t. Nope.

“Words threaded in a pretty sentence can be as easily broken as a bracelet held by a single string.”

Also her being: “nobody asks me out" GIRL WHERE IS YOUR #SELFLOVE??? AND PLEASE STOP DEFINING YOUR SELF WORTH WITH THE LOVE OF OTHERS. Then she’s all, “I hate him”, “He is awful”, “He is my mortal enemy”. Stop it. He is not your enemy and this is not an enemies-to-lovers book. Just stop it. I got too much second hand embarrassment from this book. I wanted to dig a whole and just hide in there until this cringe-fest was over.

“Even if we got stuck in the middle of nowhere, it would still be the perfect date because I’d be with you and being with you puts the brightness of the sun to shame.”

The fact that Lara/the author kept changing the topic, was unbearable. I have an annotation saying “how tf did we even get here?” because the mc kept rambling and ranting about every. little. detail.

“At least if you freeze, you’ll die cute. You’ll thank us later when your ghost looks pretty.”

To be honest, Illa and Lola Nora prevented me from giving the book 1 star, because they were the only wholesome characters who minded their own business. And the mc still managed to be jealous of their relationship while being the one who put distance between them herself. She can’t even be happy for her sister Illa and is, I quote, “bored” when she listens to her problems and her desperate plea for relationship advice because, oh, didn’t you know? The whole freaking world revolves around Lara. This review is getting too personal thanks to my awful former friends, fuck you guys <3

“I realize that it’s up to the third wheels to fix the problem and restore balance to the universe.”

Apparently you can blame someone you like that doesn’t know that you like them for breaking your heart. Well, that’s new. The guy doesn’t even know you exist and you’re like “ugh he is awful for not accidentally bumping into me/looking my way/sitting behind me”. I’m not exaggerating, here is an example of said situation: “I’m mad because he didn’t remember that I don’t skate.” and it's not just an "I'm mad at you, you idiot :D" type of situation, she went full-on crazy just because the poor guy didn't remember that "sHe DoEsN't sKAtE". Plus, I don’t know why but they talk to their teachers disrespectfully and playfully and the teacher’s respond like gen z teens. Is that what intimate teachers sound like or are they literally just written by a toddler?

“His smirk transfers via audio waves now; what an impressive technological revolution”

This book basically had the same old Netflix rom-com movie plot where the cool guy falls for the nerdy girl who was already obsessed with him. It was so predictable that I had a note saying that “blah blah blah would probably happen anytime now” and ten pages later, it happens! I’m not trying to be harsh or anything, just stating the facts and sometimes truth hurts.

“I hate him more than Katniss Everdeen hates President Snow”

Everyone was so problematic like they actually locked two of the couples who had just broken up and forced them to “kiss and make up” just for the sake of “saving their relationship” which was literally none of their business. No one should meddle in someone else's relationship. And Lara? STOP SAYING “SHIZBALLS” AND “FISHBALLS” PLEASE THANKYOUVERYMUCH.

“I’m the third wheel in my own relationship” (can you tell that I couldn't even find nice quotes from the book to add to my review that I'm using random sentences instead to fill the void lol)

On the other hand, for some weird reason, I kind of liked (not enjoyed, that’s a whole other thing.) reading this book when I tried to ignore the irritating main character altogether. I guess I liked the story of her friends more than her own story. To conclude, I did not hate this book because it had potential and because this was obviously the author’s first book and it was brave enough of them to share it with the world. Still, I would not recommend this book to anyone and would like the 7 days that I've just lost back while reading this book please.

This was such a cute YA realistic fiction book. I really liked that it was clean enough for students but still fun for an adult to read. Some of the tough topics brought up in the book were done so in a very nice way, making it normal instead of a stigma. I really enjoyed this one and would recommend it to former students (older readers).

I think my mature readers will enjoy this novel! Lara was a delight and seeing her navigate her relationships was very entertaining. Will be recommending to my students!

I related so much to the main character, Lara. She's smart, she's driven, she's got a great family, but aside from all of that, she's got real fears. Fears about her friendships, fears about her future, fears about her relationships.

I thought the relationship between the MC and the love interest was great because it doesn't always start of great and it doesn't always start of with love at first sight, even if you grow up together. I like the amount of communication that they had between the two of them.

Then, the end. This was a perfect YA ending where it doesn't get all figured out because who does at age 17?

The side characters were okay, eh. It felt like they had no context and at times I forgot they existed. They were described ok but I couldn't keep track of who was who.

All in all, a fun story to read.

How to Be the Best Third Wheel
by Loridee De Villa
4 stars
Lara comes back from vacation and everything has changed in her last year of high school, all her friends now have boyfriends and she doesn't know what to think of it or handle that they all decided over the summer to get boyfriends, or boy fries as she likes to call them. Then to make matters only worse her enemy James starts picking on her and following her to classes, then between her mother and tita Gia, they get her to start tutoring James in math. So no friends and now she is stuck with the most annoying boy she can think of.

This book is cute, it starts right out making me laugh. Lara is funny and has a sassy attitude. The relationship that starts between James and Lara is rocky but it gets better as it goes on. It just kept reminding me how when I was young, When you don't know how to flirt, you don't know how to handle liking someone and getting a massive crush on someone. We all have those guy friends that you use to play fight with and thought nothing of it till one day someone tells you to stop flirting. That is how this book makes me feel. The ending felt rushed way too rushed for my liking. The high school little love and figuring out what you want to do with your life are relatable. It was great to read how teenagers struggle to figure out what they want in their life and for their futures. This book shows the different languages the family uses and translates them which you don't see in many books anymore. I liked how the chapters were named as tips. I need to buy a physical copy now.
Thank you, Net Galley and Wattpad Books for this ARC for my honest review.

Lara returns from summer vacation in the Philippines to discover that her best friends all have boyfriends, leaving her the odd person out. Pressured by her mom, Lara tutors long-time-frenemy James. With her friends otherwise occupied, she spends more and more time with him. They couldn't be falling for each other—could they?

This is the second book I've read by Wattpad Books. The things they have in common are a strong voice, good writing, great storytelling—but they fall short in terms of reader expectations for the genre.

This is meant as more of an observation than a criticism. This is an enjoyable book if you know what to expect:

- This is a bittersweet romance. There's no HEA or HFN—the ending is ambiguous. That's perfectly reasonable for YA, but the publisher describes this book as romance, and it's not.
- There are too many characters. One of the friend couples should have been cut. The number of family members was a little dizzying to me. As a reader, you don't need to mentally keep track of all these people. This is Lara and James's story. Just focus on them. The side characters don't matter that much.
- The inclusion of so much of the Tagalog language became confusing to me because I primarily listen via text-to-speech. Entire conversations took place in Tagalog with the English translations in parentheses. I understand the author's impulse to include this cultural aspect of the book, but it creates a challenge for visually impaired readers.
- The characters seem young to me, more like high school sophomores than seniors. They do mature a little during the course of the book.
- The physical pranks between Lara and James were a little off-putting, which made them not very likeable in the beginning. Again, this tapers off as the book progresses.
-There is some other-woman drama (or in this case, other-girl drama) but no actual cheating.

If you can overlook these things, this is a book worth reading. It's a pleasure to see how Lara and James grow. The ending is gorgeous and heart-wrenching. I hope the author will give us a sequel when these characters are a little older.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book was exactly what I needed to get out of a book hunch. The story follows Lara who has just come back from spending her summer in the Philippines. Lara is a quirky teenage girl who came back to town knowing the world she knew before is gone.

How to Be the Best Third Wheel is a classic rom-com story that follows the life of a group of teenagers before they head in different directions. Overall, I loved how the book captured the highs and lows of dating and what happens when suddenly all your friends get entangled in their own relationships and then start ditching you for their boyfriend and you find yourself alone. Even though I haven't been in high school in some time I could read this book and feel all the raw emotions.

The book had depth and all the characters were really well-sketched with some real issues that teens struggle to go through. I'm glad I read this book, it was a special journey for Lara, about discovering herself and finding what makes her happy the most!

This book was really funny ! So many moments I laughed out loud. I’ve been a third wheel plenty of times we all know how it is 🥲but I don’t like it when the hero is out with people while the heroine “pines” over him. That turned me off real quick but besides that the book was a good book !

“We were never perfect and a lot of times, we are far from it. We’re just two teenagers, trying and failing, hoping to eventually find what’s ours.”

In the best way possible, this book was like plunging headfirst into all the youth, angst, and drama that so characterizes high school. The emotions and turmoil (mostly marked by the constant questioning of one’s purpose and possibly subsequent existential crises) of those years were both pretty spot on in this book and the nostalgia had me reeling in the aftermath of reading it.

Lara Dela Cruz is your typical teenaged high schooler, but with a zinger for every occasion and a low tolerance for all things James Bryer. Good thing her upcoming senior year is meant to be one final hurrah with her three besties and no James in sight. Unfortunately for Lara though, things don’t always happen the way we want them to.

With her best friends all tied down in new relationships, Lara is stuck navigating what was supposed to be the greatest year ever on her own. It doesn’t help that she has to do it with James stuck to her side, as both a tutee and a fellow third wheel. But maybe she’ll find that there’s more to James and her last year of high school than she previously thought.

At its heart, Loridee De Villa’s debut novel How To Be the Best Third Wheel is a powerful read with a diverse POC cast and a young heroine navigating the difficulties of growing up in a world you wish would slow down long enough to include you in it. But as Lara realizes that growing up may mean letting go, she also reminds readers that there is a place out there for everyone. You only have to be patient enough to find it.

Pre-order this book now to make sure you have your copy by May 3!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I started this book and just couldn’t get around to finishing it. I felt like I just couldn’t jive with it as much as I expected to. I did read the ending and I’m a sucker for HEA so this just wasn’t the romance I was fully looking for.

I loved this book. It brought me back to my high school days when I was often the third wheel. It SUCKS!!

The parts that I loved the most were the dialogue with her family, especially her Lola. The dialogue is in Tagalog and the author includes the full translation with it. I've never read any books that did that, and I totally appreciate it. I don't really speak Tagalog, I can understand the basics when spoken, and reading it... I gotta take it real slow to hear the word.

I feel for Lara and how she's losing her relationships with her friends. Some of that made me angry. Lara's cousin, Eliza, was infuriating. I hated how she inserted herself between James and Lara.

The antics with James were a little childish, but then again it's high school. James is such a sweetie though. The way he remembers things about Lara (teary eyed emoji)!

There were a lot of things about Lara that I could relate to, both now and back then in my high school years.

There were some errors, like notes the author made, but it wasn't deleted. I hope it was fixed in the final print.

This is just very, very...young. The characters read young. Their concerns and conflicts are very young. They handle them more like kids than almost-adults. The writing itself is promising but unpolished. There were definitely some funny moments and snappy lines, and I liked the peek into different cultures, but the book was ultimately unsatisfying, though the author definitely has potential.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I found this book to be super cute but extremely predictable and typical for a YA rom-com. I definitely found it relatable. Lara’s problems are the same problems that many teenage girls go through in high school. It was kind of nostalgic because it seems like every problem/minor inconvenience in Lara’s life is life-changing and I remember thinking the same thing at that age.
I loved that the book was set in Toronto.
“Fries over guys”, “all foods before dudes” are my new life mottos.
Rated: 3.00 stars

Read this book if you like: Clean romance, enemies to lovers, cute cheesy stories, Filipino representation

This is a clean teen romance comedy about figuring out where you belong when all the constants in your life begin to change.

This book centers around Lara. She's a highschool student. She returns from her summer vacation in the Philippines with family only to find all of her besties are in relationships. To make matters worse, Lara’s long time frenemy, James, won’t stop bugging her in class and eventually forces her into tutoring him everyday after school.

This book is cute, a little cheesy, and written in a juvenile way. The main character was very immature. The teens actually acted like real teenagers. This book is a really good representation of teen romance. Lots of cliches. Lots of up and downs. It was entertaining. I liked it. I think it's probably more for actual teens though.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Loridee De Villa, and Wattpad Publishers for my gifted copy. ❤

I started this book an never finished it I found I just couldn’t get into it and felt a little childish while reading this specific title.

I wasn't into the main character and struggled reading the story because of it. She was a bit of a know it all and I just didn't care for her personality. When you read a book, you are spending time with characters and there just has to be something likable about a character in a romance.

How to Be the Best Third Wheel by Loridee De Villa, 336 pages. Wattpad Books, 2022. $11.
Language: R (39 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Getting back from summer vacation with the fam in the Philippines, Lara is surprised on the first day of senior year that all three of her best friends got boyfriends. Even worse, the three boyfriends are friends with Lara’s mortal enemy: James. With betrayals stacked on top of being guilted into tutoring James and pressure to prepare for her future, Lara feels more out of place than ever.
The vomit of background information in chapter one introduced the book as amateur writing. With that knowledge up front, De Villa’s silly and ridiculous writing style was able to be more entertaining than annoying – though still in an eye rolling kind of way. Lara’s story feels exaggerated, like it’s not meant to be realistic but just continual funny scenes as Lara tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life.
Lara is Filipino, James is half-Filipino, and De Villa wrote a very diverse set of supporting characters: Jasmine is Chinese, Carol is Indian, Kiera is White, Logan is White, Mark is Peruvian, and Daniel is Black. This diversity is shown on the front cover. The mature content rating is for alcohol use, innuendo, and mentions of sex.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Recommended: yup!!
For a trope-y book that ends up going way past the tropes, for a lighthearted yet fairly deep story, for a whirlwind set over 3 months but feels like so much more than that

Thoughts:
What hit me most with this story was how much more there was to it than I expected. From the silly title and cutesy cover, I figured this would be a lightly angsty YA book about discovering oneself that would probably end in a romance. While that wasn't totally incorrect, there was so much more to it. Amazingly, it never felt crammed or forced to me. It was more like a three-act play, where one arc of the story would resolve and a new one would begin.

Beyond that, there were also so many lines and sentiments that I really enjoyed reading. The kinds of lines I savor. I paused and thought about them and luxuriated in the messages they carried and the thoughts they inspired. One particularly poignant one hit me when a character laments how folks think saying "I love you" will solve all problems people might have, and how that's such bullshit. Experiencing that last ditch effort from a new ex during a breakup, I felt that one.

There is, of course, no lack of silliness in this one. Even though it grows into heavier topics and more serious angles, there's a wonderful levity to it all. I adore books with chapter titles, especially when they're as good-natured as these, formatted with each chapter listing a rule to follow in order to truly achieve the title's promise to become the best third wheel. One of my personal favorites was "Tip Twenty-Seven: I Really Have No Advice For This One." The situations the characters deal with require some suspension of disbelief at time, but I was fine with it. Most rom-com style stories have to contrive some absurd circumstances at some point in order to get to the best bits, right?

In the nature of details, I like that all of the Tagalog is written out entirely with an English translation after worked into it naturally. It's a nice bilingual adherence and a true show of love to the culture and the characters. No one feels alienated by not understanding portions, but that aspect of the story retains its shine and is allowed to feel authentic instead of shoehorned in for a checkbox or personality trait.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

Read if you like:
-Romcom
-Reading Diversely
-Young Adult Books
- Being the Odd man out storylines

Overall, this is a book I would have loved so much more if I was younger I think and in the target demographic but feel as though YA may not be a fit for me as much as it used to be, as I was looking for maturity that just simply couldn’t be there because of the age of the characters and their life experiences up to date.

As the author said be ready for cringe, loss of brain cells from facepalms, and relatable moments from when you were a teen or if you are now a teenager falling in love.

This was a cute, enjoyable story. It was sweet, funny, a little cheesy, but altogether a nice teen romance that I finished pretty quickly. The story follows Lara as she comes back from a summer vacation to find that all three of her best friends now have boyfriends, and I think it captures that feeling of being a third wheel in a relatable and funny way. She's a bit of an anti-romantic, but she's got her own slow building romance full of tropey but adorable moments. I love that the story put an equal emphasis on sweet as well as slightly satirical romantic moments, fun and impactful friendship moments, and warm and cozy family moments. I felt like I was able to get a full look at Lara's world and really get in the experience with her, and there were so many great relationship dynamics. The book is definitely a little cheesy, and there were a few times that characters said or did things that felt a little unrealistic, or like it would take a really big coincidence to happen in real life. Like the fact that basically all of the boys in one friendship group perfectly matched up with all of the girls in another friendship group. Despite that, I still found the story really cute and think anyone looking for a quick, sweet teen story will enjoy it.

I loved Lara as a character. Her sense of humor is great and there's a lot of funny commentary as she is narrating that I really enjoyed. She's a little sassy and snarky, makes great references, and is definitely overdramatic but in a way that's fun. She definitely feels like a teenager, the kind you want to shake your head at but also love to death. In addition to romance and humor, I also found her relatable in her feelings about being a senior in high school and that scary stage in life where everybody expects you to know exactly what you want to do next. Definitely a great protagonist.

I also liked the elements of diversity and culture in the story. In addition to Lara having a diverse friend group, Lara is a Filipina-Canadian character, and we get to see her family's culture in many ways throughout the story. The book has a lot of dialogue in Tagalog, along with translation so that readers get to understand, but also get a real picture of what conversation can look like in bilingual families. I loved seeing Lara's relationship with her grandmother (her Lola) and her parents especially.

Overall, this book is perfect for anyone wanting a sweet, clean teen romance. Definitely a little corny, and a few moments of having to suspend disbelief. But it's a fun story that has a great depiction of ups and downs of first loves, friendships, and family.