Review and Giveaway: Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot

  Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot
  Publisher: Butterfly Books
  Publication date: October 17th 2012
  My rating: 4 stars

 

 After a car accident--an event he considers a prank gone bad--pop star, Hunter Kennedy is forced to hide out with his aunt in small-town Colorado. He’s supposed to rest, heal his scars and attend high school in disguise until the press dies down. But he only wants to get back to work.

Worse, the girl who’s been assigned to make him over into a geek is a major geek herself. Vere Roth is a chattering pixie, a blushing tornado and a complete social disaster. He’s never met a girl who’s never-been-kissed, believes in romance and thinks Hunter’s a 'nice' guy.

Funny thing is...Hunter is nice around Vere because she’s his first real friend. He also can’t seem to stop sharing his secrets or keep her out of his heart. Knowing he’d never deserve a girl as sweet as Vere, he resigns himself to the friend zone, and helps his new bestie with her own makeover.

She tortures him daily for ridiculous guy advice on how to snag her life-long crush. A guy Hunter thinks is totally wrong for Vere, and sadly, one who has taken note of Vere’s transformation.

When Vere asks her best friend for some kissing advice, Hunter can’t resist...

And that’s when things get out of control...

High School Romance, first love, sweet romance.

Aww…just so flipping cute and beyond adorable!  When a gorgeous god-of-a-rock-star falls for a spazzy, adorkable girl, you have all the makings for an utterly sweet romance! 

Hunter Kennedy has just finished a six-week stay at a mental health facility after a night of vandalism, drinking, and pill popping.  He also cut himself but according to Hunter, he was never serious about taking his own life.  Things just spiraled out of control during a desperate bid to piss his mother off, and get her attention.   Well, he has her attention now and it’s bought him all kinds of down time in the little Podunk town of Monument, Colorado.  He’s to stay with his aunt under disguise, and attend high school with the Roth children, Charlie and Vere, the only ones in on the deception.  Hunter is horrified at the thought but plays along, thinking the sooner he makes his mom happy, the sooner she’ll let him get back to his real life.  So he plays along, even embracing the uber dork disguise.  What he doesn’t count on is the total relief of anonymity or his fascination with ultra-spaz-extraordinaire: Vere.

Hunter’s dork get-up may be a disguise but Vere’s is the real-deal.  Add to that is the fact that she goes completely mental when faced with any male, especially Curtis, her long-time crush.  Surprisingly, Vere is not that intimidated by Hunter and soon they strike up a friendship.   Vere makes the success of Hunter’s disguise her personal mission, schooling him in all things awkward to complete and perfect the image.   In exchange, Hunter agrees to help Vere get over her extreme shyness around the opposite sex, and come up with a plan to win Curtis, once and for all.   

You see where this is going, right?  So beyond cute!  At first I found Vere to be very naïve, and sort of over the top with her crazy reactions to Curtis, but that quickly changed as I read on and totally fell for her.  This girl was Queen Spaz, but in an entirely endearing way.   She was a breath of fresh air and the perfect friend for Hunter.  Hunter was ultra hot and famous, but he wasn’t impressed with his persona.  I liked that he was so over the mindless adoration he received from fan-girls.  The idea of him falling for a normal girl was completely believable when you got to know him because of that.  Most people believe it would be amazing to be idolized and desired like that, but this story really showed how unappealing the reality would be. 

I love it when opposites of the social spectrum are forced together and the sparks fly!  The magnetic pull between these two was obvious throughout the story, and made for a heck of a build-up!  Here’s a tempting quote:

He laughed low and ran a finger along the top of her mouth.  His touch sent shivers of sparkles down the back of her neck. “You have heart shaped lips in a heart shaped face.  Has anyone ever told you?  This one—this top lip alone—could drive a guy out of his mind?”

Swoon!!

Such a cute love story that the “vanilla queen” in me was completely satisfied when I came to the final page!  I loved Almost by Anne Eliot so I was so excited to pick this up.  I'm happy to report that Unmaking Hunter Kennedy does NOT  disappoint.  On a side note, isn’t that cover just to die for?!! Perfect for the story.  

The awesome Anne Eliot has generously offered a SIGNED copy of Unmaking Hunter Kennedy to one lucky reader!!  The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL. Just scroll down and fill out the rafflecopter below.  The only requirement is that you follow the blog.

 

Bio: I write full time, and I'm all about fate, destiny, and how it feels to fall in love. My favorite thing to write is a first kiss. 

I've worked as an online marketer and develper for Towrrecords.com, FOX TV, and UNM Engineering. I love to teach writing workshops and work with adults, kids and teens who enjoy learning about 'story' and who want to write or learn about story structure and the craft of writing.

I'm blessed with an Italian-Canadian mom and an Irish-American dad. This means my summers are full of huge family reunions, food, yelling and too much travel. When not pining for Tim Horton's to open in Colorado, I ponder Joseph Campbell. His work has inspired me to study story structure and how emotion within a story can move people through time and across cultures. Emotion is the key to everything. I owe JC for keeping me on a journey through world mythologies, folk tales, and the collective unconsciousness while I search for my own bliss in stories.

I'm a member SCBWI, RWA and Pikes Peak Writers. I'm so proud of these hard working writer's groups!

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