Review: How To Make Out by Brianna Shrum

Sixteen-year-old Renley needs three thousand dollars for the math club’s trip to New York City, and she knows exactly how to get it: she’s going to start a how-to blog where people pay for answers to all of life’s questions from a “certified expert.” The only problems: 1) She doesn’t know how to do anything but long division and calculus. 2) She’s totally invisible to people at school. And not in a cool Gossip Girl kind of way.

So, she decides to learn to do . . . well . . . everything. When her anonymous blog shifts in a more scandalous direction and the questions (and money) start rolling in, she has to learn not just how to do waterfall braids and cat-eye makeup, but a few other things, like how to cure a hangover, how to flirt, and how to make out (something her very experienced, and very in-love-with-her neighbor, Drew, is more than willing to help with).

As her blog’s reputation skyrockets, so does “new and improved” Renley’s popularity. She’s not only nabbed the attention of the entire school, but also the eye of Seth Levine, the hot culinary wizard she’s admired from across the home-ec classroom all year.

Soon, caught up in the thrill of popularity both in and out of cyberspace, her secrets start to spiral, and she finds that she’s forgotten the most important how-to: how to be herself. When her online and real lives converge, Renley will have to make a choice: lose everything she loves in her new life, or everyone she loves in the life she left behind.

Review: oh this was such a cute read. I absolutely flew through this one and read it in basically one sitting, that's how much I wanted find out how things were going to unfold for Renley and her friends! This book reminded me of a lot of teen romance movies and would make a great movie itself. It is very much a coming of age and self-discovery novel and I really enjoyed watching Renley as she made her way along the steep learning curve towards not quite adulthood but away from childhood that;s for sure!

I really loved the characters in this novel. I could definitely picture where they fitted into the social hierarchy of the American High school and they definitely met a few of the stereotypes I have leaned about growing up watching these teen films in the UK. Renley was an easy character to like, even when she wasn't always making the right choices. That is because we all have our faults and I liked her better because she was fairly open about those faults, she felt bad about them and knew that she needed to speak to someone about them. 

I have to admit, I totally fell in love with bad boy Drew. I know I wasn't entirely supposed to because we also have Seth to swoon over in this book but I just loved what a decent human and what a good friend Drew was throughout this novel, I really hope I get to hear some more from him soon! April fits into the role of best friend so well. She is the slightly rebellious girl that still attends math club and still knows how to do the right thing, and therefore I could really identify with her (I'm the teacher that ran math club with the tattoos and the coloured hair) so I would really like to find out what happens to her as well!

I liked the storyline, parts of it were slightly predictable, but reassuringly so, and I really like the fact that it features a blog and someone trying to make money off of a blog too. As I say, this really was a coming of age story with some seriously romantic parts to it as well. I think that if you are a fan of contemporary/romantic fiction then you will definitely love this one and I can't wait to read more from this author soon!

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