Stefanie's Thoughts: Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock

Jenny meets Chance for the very first time when she is assigned as his partner in their Junior Oral Communications class. But after they rescue a doomed assignment with one clever lie, the whole school is suddenly convinced that Little-Miss-Really-Likes-Having-A’s and the most scandalous heartbreaker in school have been best friends forever. It’s amazing how quickly a lie can grow―especially when you really, really want it to be the truth.

With Jenny, Chance can live the normal life he’s always kind of wanted. And with Chance, Jenny can have the exciting teen experiences that TV shows and movies have always promised. Through it all, they hold on to the fact that they are “just friends.” But that might be the biggest lie of all.

ARC provided by Raincoast Books/ Swoon Reads

Hi everyone,

I feel like I haven't blogged in quite some time and that's when I realized I haven't. Life basically got in the way and I haven't actually been reading that much and when I was it was a bunch of non-fiction books I picked up from the library or me trying really hard to work on my re-reading challenge.

One of the few new fiction books I did read was Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock. We all know how much I love a good relationship-starts-off-by-hating-one-another-and-they -eventually -grow -to- stand- each- other- and- maybe- even- end- up- loving- one- another-stories (was that I bit too much, I apologize). These two are initially set up because they are forced to work on a project together and this just brought back so many memories I have of being partnered with someone who I knew wouldn't do any of the work, but because I didn't want to fail, got a solid A while doing nothing. I loved this concept because it really forced Jenny and Chance to be stuck together and forced to have small talk just to get their assignment done, so of course this one was going to be one of my favourite books ever, right?

Not so much, which hurts me to say.

The relationship felt so forced and I didn't buy it or how quickly Jenny and Chance went from not speaking to one another (I got the impression they barely knew the other one existed despite going to the same school together for quite some time. I get not talking, but I knew everyone in my grade back when I was in high school and I didn't talk to everyone), to the entire school believing they were indeed best friends. Um no, that doesn't make sense at all; it felt like overnight everything changed. I mean maybe the entire school was being Punk'd or something: Like surprise, Jenny an Chance were secret friends the entire time! PLOT TWIST! I actually think I would have rather enjoyed that.

I understand that teens are mostly in their own little words and don't care about other people besides themselves and their inner circles, but I feel like somebody would have said something. It didn't really feel like a genuine school setting to me. I mean, wouldn't it make sense that Jenny's actual real best friend say something or even question her about it? Nope, it was like Kasey (I believe that is her name. To be honest she felt like she was added for convenience of Jenny having a friend) was okay with everything that Jenny told her. Robot friend maybe?

There's one thing Jenny does that felt so completely out of character for her, but I'm not going to say what it is; you'll have to read it yourself to find out!

What also really bothered me,  was at times I felt Chance did not act like a 17 year old or that Jenny would randomly use dialogue that wouldn't be said by her. It was almost like the author morphed the two together and took characteristics from each. Chance would go from describing the wallpaper in Jenny's bedroom, to Jenny randomly dropping the F bomb.

What I did enjoy was how the chapters alternated between Jenny and Chance; I thought this brought a great insight into what each was thinking at all times and not just how the main character perceives the other one as.

I also enjoyed how this book was able to bring back so many memories of being back in high school. I can't say I had the same experiences as Jenny at her age, but it brought me back to the somewhat shy but had an attitude teenager I was.

I can see how this book some readers will love and others won't; you gotta enjoy how books can do that to people!

2 out of 5 stars.

Until my next review,

Stefanie

P.S. I hope everyone is having a great summer!