Monday 4 February 2013

Review: Adorkable by Sarra Manning


Adorkable

Adorkable by Sarra Manning
Publisher: Atom
Publication date: May 24th 2012
My rating: 4 Stars

 
 Welcome to the dorkside. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Jeane Smith's a blogger, a dreamer, a jumble sale queen, CEO of her own lifestyle brand, and has half a million followers on Twitter. Michael Lee's a star of school, stage, and playing field. A golden boy in a Jack Wills hoodie. They have nothing in common but a pair of cheating exes. So why can't they stop making out? This novel is about an unlikely relationship, but it's also about roller derby, dogs on skateboards, dogs on surfboards, dogs doing any form of extreme sport, old skool hip hop, riding your bike downhill really fast, riot grrrl, those boys you want to kiss but punch in the face at the same time, dyeing your hair ridiculous colors just because you can, stitch 'n' bitch, the songs that make you dance, the songs that make you cry, being a bad ass, cake, love, death, and everything in between.


Adorkable was witty and sweet romance, between two total social opposites.  It’s always such fun reading about opposites clashing, and then falling for each other in spite of their differences.   

Jeane Smith and Michael Lee couldn’t be further apart in their social spheres.  She’s the queen of dork and bizarre, and he’s the popular king of normal.  Jeane’s proud of her dorkdom and looks down on anyone mainstream.  She’s a popular blogger with her own “life-brand,” Adorkable, with a huge online following.  Both Jeane and Michael look down their nose at each other.  Unfortunately, Michael’s girlfriend, Scarlett and Jeane’s boyfriend Barney fancy each other and soon their common problem thrusts their lives together in an unexpected way.  There is nothing but animosity between Michael and Jeane, but for whatever reasons opposites attract, they are suddenly stealing passionate kisses whenever and wherever they can.

Michael and Jeane want to keep their “snogging” (Brit speak for kissing) to themselves for fear of outside opinions.  Plus, they barely like each other.  But after spending time together, they begin to see another side to one another, and they just click.  Well, they more than just clicked.  They sizzled and burned!

This romance had me laughing and smiling all the way through.  Michael was a sweetheart.  There were moments when I’d get mad at him for mentally calling Jeane a bitch, but then he’d turn around and do something heartfelt and lovely.  The same with Jeane, she would act like a witch, coming off so judgmental sometimes, but then she’d explain herself, and it wasn’t anything like you thought.  I couldn’t stay mad at her.  Plus, when you see how sad and lonely her life was, the fact she still functioned was a miracle.  These two had a passion and intensity with each other they didn’t share with anyone else:

Jeane was the ninth girl I’d kissed but her kisses were nothing like the other eight girls’ kisses. She tasted sweet and salty and she kissed like her life depended on it. She kissed me like I was going off to war or it was the end of the bloody world.

I had loads of fun with this story, and part of that was all the Brit speak:  jumpers, snogging, stroppy girls, blathering, and jumble sales.   I now have a hankering for Haribo, which I’ve found out from my lovely Goodreads friends is a type of jelly/gummy candy. 

Sarra Manning’s writing style was clever and entertaining and I plan on reading more from this author soon. 









23 comments:

Tanja - Tanychy said...

Oh I'm putting this as my summer-read! :) I love these sweet and witty stories while I enjoy in the sunny day. PS. She is a blogger, now I'm more than curious. Great review Rachel :)

Vegan YA Nerds said...

This review made me smile! I have wanted to read this for so long and I really should get on it, STAT! I really like opposite couples, too!

Shirley said...

Awwww this one sounds absolutely ADORABLE!<3 I love books about two opposites who start off despising each other but end up falling for each other! heheee Can't wait to read this :)

Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

You mean you guys don't have Haribo?! Phew! At least ONCE we have something you don't. This sounds totally cute and I love the sound of the romance. I bet I too will have fun reading it.
Thanks for the lovely review, Rachel!

Unknown said...

This looks so cute! I love witty, sweet romance stories and having it between two opposites are always fun. I'm glad they explain themselves after they're mean because I tend to mentally slap my characters if they get out of line when I read ;) I'll be adding this to my TBR pile, GREAT review! Loved it :)

Sunny @ Blue Sky Bookshelf

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

I really loved this one, I'm glad you did too :)

Mel@Thedailyprophecy said...

This sounds like fun! :) Something I would read when I'm very busy with school. Thanks for sharing!

Mel@thedailyprophecy.

Jenny said...

This sounds AWESOME Rachel! I have to admit I have a fondness for Brit-speak - it just makes me smile every time I read it:) And yay for antagonistic relationships! Those are my very favorite along with best-friends-to-lovers, so this seems like an all around win to me.

Random side note: where are you in ICED? I'm dying to fangirl with you:)

Jessica@Booked Up! said...

I really enjoyed this one, and am glad you did too!

I also felt so sorry for Jeane when I found out how lonely she was in her little empty flat. And Michael was lovely, especially when he brings her chinese food! The Twitter conversations they had together were adorable!

Rachel, Haribo are AMAZING! It's a pretty odd coincedence that I'm actually stuffing a bag of Tangy Haribo into my face as I'm typing this...But yeah, you'd love it!

Thanks for your wonderful review, Rachel! :D

Wendy Darling said...

So freaking cute, right? I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Rachel! ADORKABLE came as a nice surprise to me, too. I am really looking forward to reading more books by this author, I love her narrative voice. So fun that you ladies did it as a readalong as well.

Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

Sarah Elizabeth said...

This sounds great! humour and romance! love it ☺

Leanna Elle said...

I have a total addiction to Haribo Starmix. So good!

This book sounds SO CUTE! I love the sound of the romance! I'll definitely check it out soon. Thanks for the great review! :)

kit said...

You can't beat a bag of Haribo. :) I like the sound of this book - seems like a nice, fun read with plenty of chemistry!

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

I like that this is an opposites attract laugh out loud romance. I need one of those! Rachel please stop convincing me to buy more books!

Beverley said...

Opposites attract...always such a beautiful basis for a book. Sometimes it seems unrealistic but fiction is for losing yourself in places where anything can happen so I love storylines like that anyway! Jeane sounds very vivacious and full of life and I'd really like to meet her, I'm not entirely sure I'd embrace her judgemental side though :/ And Michael seems pretty awesome too!

OHMYGOODDDDDD!!!! HARIBOS!!!!!!!! They are so amazing and so, so good!!!! They are the best... EVER! Great - now I'm craving some XD You must try them when you get the chance!

Anyway, fabulous review, Rachel!

Renae @ Respiring Thoughts said...

I'm not really someone who tends to enjoy cheesy romance, but I do like the premise of two opposite flashing and forming a bond, and it sounds lighthearted and cute, so I'll be sure to keep this in mind for the rare occasion where I'm in the mood for something along these lines.

Sam (Realm of Fiction) said...

WAIT. You don't have Haribos?! I had no idea! They're only the best. :D

This book sounds like an utterly cute read! I think I could do with something like this right now too. I love opposites attract stories. :) Great review, Rachel!

Keertana said...

Yayy! I am so glad you enjoyed this one, Rachel! I do think I felt a little distant from Jeane at times, because of how unique she was, but it all came together so perfectly. It really was just an adorable read and I'm thrilled you had so much fun with it! Great review, dearest! :)

brandileigh2003 said...

Love the title, and a light and funny read sounds great.
Happy reading,
Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

Livvy said...

Oh your review made me chuckle, Rachel. Your reference to snogging being the Brit word for kissing and the fact you don't have Haribo astounds me! I thought everywhere had it... Amazing sweets. Particularly the tangifastics. You should get somebody to send you some IMMEDIATELY! :P

I'm glad you enjoyed this because it's something I want to read. Lovely review! :)

Henrietta @ Leisure Reads said...

Opposites attract, right? ;)

This sounds really fun! Jeane seems so different than Michael and I think I'll enjoy finding out what's going on between them. Thanks for sharing, Rachel!

Jess said...

I love Sarra Manning so am glad you enjoyed this and plan on reading more from her :-) You have to see if you can get your hands on some Haribo very yummy and popular here in the UK!

Anonymous said...

Love your review! I love a good opposites attract romance, and add in the adorkable blogging aspect and I'm all over this. :-)

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