Review of One of the Guys

One of the Guys

By Lisa Aldin

About:

Tomboy to the core, Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and burping contests over manicures. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a "lady" while the guys move on without her. 

Then Toni meets Emma Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her friends as a pretend date. Word spreads of Toni s connections with boys, and she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine s Rent-A-Gent Service. But the business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends--the same guy who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love."

Source: Goodreads

My rating: 4.4/5

My Thoughts:

This story is about a girl called Toni (short for Tonya) and her three guy best friends. It's the last summer before senior year and she feels like their friendship and closeness is slipping away. In a last ditch effort to keep them together she devises a prank on their principal the night of their failed monster hunt. The prank goes wrong and as a result she is enrolled into an all girls school in an effort to be more ladylike.  

 Unfortunately being a girl is completely foreign to someone like Toni and she misses her best friend terribly. To make things worse, things have changed between their group, she can feel then slipping away and Ollie swaps her because of the prank that messed his life up too. Toni won't give up, she is adamant on doing anything to keep her group together. 

 One of the Guys appealed to me because drifting friendships is a problem we've all faced and its refreshing to see it being so honestly portrayed in this book. Toni doesn't want things to change with her friends but the fact of life is that change is inevitable.

I love the dynamics of Toni and Loch's relationship and even though Toni is in denial and wants things to go back to his they were when they were children she can't pretend that there's something more between them and it terrifies her. 

Ollie is such an idiot. I hated his character. He blames Toni for the prank but no-one forced him to participate. Take responsibility for your own actions you twit!

In conclusion, a sweet and at times sad story about growing up.

Zed (:

Favourite Quotes:

I hate time. It can really screw things up. 

I know things change. She doesn't have to tell me that. Once upon a time, I had a father. Now I don't.  If that's not living with change, I don't know what is.

At the same time, Micah and I reply, "We're not crazy in love with each other." A pause. We both point to each other and shout, "JINX!"

"Yeah. Maybe." I look away. It really won't. What's done is done. I sip my soda, depressed. I miss the guys, but I'm done trying to mend those bridges. They don't see me as the tomboy with skinned knees anymore. I don't see them as the guys who would never hurt me.

If I say it out loud, will it lose its meaning? Is love more powerful when it's a secret.

"I love you too," I blurt out. His mouth hangs open. I've stunned the poor guy. "Sorry," I continue, facing him again. "I just wanted to say it before I forgot to say it. I've said it so many times in my head that I guess I thought you knew. I love you. I love you, Micah."