Book Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Book: Alex, Approximately
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: April 4, 2017
Number of Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 Stars
Tags: #COYER, Contemporary, YA, Summer, Romance

Goodreads/Amazon

Synopsis: The one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.

Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is a whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.  

-MY REVIEW-

"That's the thing about being an evader. You have to be flexible and know when to bail before it all gets weird."

Well, I was a Target one day, so naturally I went to the book section. That was when I saw this beautiful thing. As you can tell, IT HAS A STUNNING COVER. I knew a little bit about it, but not much. Mainly that people enjoyed it. So, ladies and gents, this was 100% a cover buy. And it worked out! Yay! I love when that happens. :)

In this book we follow Bailey, who just moved out to California with her dad. Bailey is an evader, she doesn't like to hang around situations that could get uncomfortable. Well, introduce an awful summer job, and you have an evader's worse nightmare. That, plus Porter, one of the security guards where she works, and you have an...interesting summer.  

I adored our main characters! I really connected with Bailey. We both try to stay out of uncomfortable situations, so I was really able to agree with her "evader tips." I really enjoyed watching her grow as a character, and learn to be more trusting. And Porter, while he was difficult at first, I thought that he turned out to be a total sweetheart in the end.

I really liked how the story focused on Porter and Bailey's relationship, not Alex and Mink's. Because the story wasn't about their online relationship. It was the one in real life that mattered. I really liked that we knew that Porter was Alex. If Bennett had made it a huge secret, I probably wouldn't have liked the book as much. But this was a new and pretty exciting twist on a YA trope that has been really overused. 

Over all I really enjoyed this book.  With great characters, plot, atmosphere, and an easy to read writing style, this is definitely the book that you want to read to say goodbye to summer.