Friday, November 12, 2010

Real Live Boyfriends--E. Lockhart

Title: Real Live Boyfriends
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2010
240 p hardcover, 224 p ARC

This book will be published December 28, 2010. But I read an ARC that I WON FROM E. LOCKHART. That's right, peeps. I won an ARC. But fear not, that won't affect my review. 

We last left Ruby Oliver in The Treasure Map of Boys when she finally recognized her true feelings for Noel and was rewarded with a real live boyfriend. We pick up in Real Live Boyfriends with Ruby blissfully happy with Noel. But this is Ruby we're talking about, we know blissfully happy doesn't last forever. And sure enough when Noel is visiting his brother he suddenly turns into a pod-robot lobotomy patient. Ruby's one chance at true love is shattered, she's fighting with her mom, her grandmother dies and her dad gets depressed. And yet this is the best Ruby Oliver book to date!

I've gushed about Ruby before as well as about E. Lockhart, so you know I'm not just saying this because I think that maybe, just maybe, she might actually read this review since I won the book from her. Ruby is one of those characters that we just want to root for. She's funny even at her worst moments. She's real. She makes mistakes and then makes more mistakes trying to fix those first mistakes. Through it all she keeps her sense of humor. Sure, she's boy-crazy and she's searching for true love but she keeps her own identity, she stays true to herself, and never turns into one of those empty-headed need a boy to complete me type of girls. She even breaks up with a perfectly reasonable boy because he's not the one she really needs and in the end she's not willing to sacrifice herself and settle for less than true happiness.

If you've read the first three books, Real Live Boyfriends is a MUST- READ. If you haven't read the first three, you've got some time. Get on it now and you'll be all ready for the December release!

I was not compensated for this review other than winning the contest for my snarkiness and receiving the book. 
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I'm an Amazon Associate now. If you click on the Amazon links & buy anything I might make a tiny bit of money.

3 comments:

Jamie said...

Ooh yay for winning! I like funny characters and Ruby sounds like an interesting one! Sounds like a good one! Good review!:)

Anonymous said...

Yikes, did she break up with Noel or Gideon or neither? I need to read this ASAP.

Goddess Librarian said...

You'll have to wait until you read the book! :-)

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