Review: My Best Friend’s Boyfriend by Lauren Ellen Kennedy

The Plot

My Best Friend’s Boyfriend by Lauren Ellen Kennedy is about a teenage girl, Erica, who, after a clumsy embarrassment at her college’s Halloween party, finds out that the boy that she’s had a crush on for months actually feels the same way about her.  However, this boy, Jake, happens to be the older brother of her best friend, Sally.  The book follows her flourishing relationship with Jake as well as her declining friendship with Sally.  When Sally confides in Erica about a family secret, Erica must decide what she cares about the most: the trust of best friend or the trust of her boyfriend.

Good points

The book is short (135 pages) with large font so it only took me a couple of days to read.  It was a good distraction from the usual chunky novels that I read.

Bad points

Perhaps I’m being picky – it was only 135 pages so it was never going to be that ambitious – but I felt that My Best Friend’s Brother lacked substance, was quite repetitive and needed livening up a bit; overall, the main topics were 1) Erica and Sally’s relationship and 2) Erica and Jake’s relationship.  Also, Erica is depicted as innocent, emotional and often ends up crying in Jake’s arms when things aren’t going perfectly for her – the stereotypical portrayal of a teenage girl.  Plus, when the two of them fall out on occasion, Erica’s misery almost borders on being Bella Swan-esque (sorry Twilight fans).  This, in my opinion, doesn’t bode well for the reputation of female protagonists.

Summary

My Best Friend’s Boyfriend was a neat, little novel which breaks up the usual 200 pages plus pattern of today’s novels. However, the story line left me rather unsatisfied due to the simplistic plotline and characters.

Rating = 2 stars.

Additional points

N/A