The Book of Luke

The Book of Luke
Jenny O'Connell
April 2007
Reading Level: YA

Summary:

Emily Abbott has always been considered the Girl Most Likely to Be Nice -- but lately being nice hasn't done her any good. Her parents have decided to move the family from Chicago back to their hometown of Boston in the middle of Emily's senior year. Only Emily's first real boyfriend, Sean, is in Chicago, and so is her shot at class valedictorian and early admission to the Ivy League. What's a nice girl to do?

Then Sean dumps Emily on moving day and her father announces he's staying behind in Chicago "to tie up loose ends," and Emily decides that what a nice girl needs to do is to stop being nice.

She reconnects with her best friends in Boston, Josie and Lucy, only to discover that they too have been on the receiving end of some glaring Guy Don'ts. So when the girls have to come up with something to put in the senior class time capsule, they know exactly what to do. They'll create a not-so-nice reference guide for future generations of guys -- an instruction book that teaches them the right way to treat girls.

But when her friends draft Emily to test out their tips on Luke Preston -- the hottest, most popular guy in school, who just broke up with Josie by email -- Emily soon finds that Luke is the trickiest of test subjects . . . and that even a nice girl like Emily has a few things to learn about love.

Review: 

This book can be described using two words: fun and flirty!

You can tell by looking at the cover that this is a quick and fun read. Emily's plan is completely idiotic. Making a reference guide for guys? Obviously this is gonna blow up in her face. This book is completely predictable from beginning to end, from the creation of the book to the huge blow up, finally leading up to the fairytale ending.

So why bother reading? Well, it's the fun and flirty aspect I mentioned earlier. This is the perfect beach read, and the characters really make the book. Emily is a snob who thinks she knows everything, so you hope and hope that the wonderful and sexy Luke will teach her a lesson and that she'll stop being so self-centered.

Really, if it weren't for the characters, this book wouldn't be half as fun. But in the end you start to like Emily, and Luke is sexy throughout so it's a win-win situation for everybody.