Review: Fool Me Twice (Mandy Hubbard)

Title: Fool Me Twice
Series: If Only, Book 1
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Told: First Person (Mack), Present Tense
Content Rating: Teen (sensuality, skinnydipping, mousetraps)
Format Read: ARC (publisher)
Find On: Goodreads
Summary:

Last summer, Mackenzie and Landon were the perfect couple. And then he dumped her and broke her heart. Fast forward a year and they’re back at their summer jobs at Serenity Ranch and Spa. And Mack and her best friend Bailey are spending their time fantasizing about making voodoo dolls and playing childish pranks on Landon.

Lucky for Mack, the perfect opportunity presents itself. Landon takes a nasty fall and suddenly he’s stuck in the past—literally. His most recent memory is of last summer, when they were together, so now he’s calling Mack pet names and hanging all over her.

The plan is simple: keep Landon at arm’s length, manipulate him so he’s the one falling in love, and then BAM, dump him in the most epic revenge plot in the history of everdom. There’s only one teensy problem: Mack can’t fall for Landon a second time.

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Review copy provided by publisher for an honest review. Thank you, Bloomsbury!

Series: This is the first in the If Only "Series," a new teen romance line from Bloomsbury. They have announced at least three titles so far, each written about different characters and by different authors. I don't think they will have anything to do with each other, and therefore can't imagine they have to be read in any order.

Writing: The flow was a little off for me, some of the sentences kind of unstructured, but it was a quick read thanks to the simple plot. The description, especially when it came to the horses and ranch life, was very detailed, and the dialogue was fun and witty and very well done.

Setting: Serenity Ranch and Spa, located in the desert part of Washington State (I'm still reeling that my green heaven has a desert area). We spend most of the time in the ranch part, and I learned a lot about horses and rodeos and life on a ranch, which was interesting.

Story/Romantic Relationship: When ex-boyfriend Landon gets amnesia and thinks he and Mack are still dating, she and her best friend Bailey decide Mack should get him to fall in love with her and then dump him, thereby giving him a taste of his own medicine for the humiliating and painful way he dumped Mack the previous summer. Oh, and they decide to pull pranks on him too, since that will teach him, even though (A) he sometimes won't even know he's being pranked, and (B) he won't understand why they are pranking him. But as Mack spends more time with Landon, she gets to know him better than she ever did and ends up falling for him all over again. But is he in love with her? Or will this turn out to be a repeat of the previous summer?

This story had its fun moments, like some of the pointless pranks, but I just couldn't root for the romance. Landon dumped her in such a cruel way that I couldn't forgive and can't believe that she would, no matter how much they had in common. How she could trust him after that, especially with the whole ex-girlfriend thing at the end... (Sorry, no spoilers.) Through the entire story I wanted her to turn out to be strong, to stand up for herself, and not end up with him - but predictably she disappointed me. I was so glad it was such a quick read, otherwise I would've been upset for investing more than two days in the story.

Characters: Mack had no strong sense of self, which was probably how she so easily fell for and forgave Landon - he "defined" her or whatever. If they hadn't been going to the same college in the fall, I know she would've altered her life to attend his college so as not to be parted from him. She was a disappointing main character, and her lack of resistance to his hotness alone was embarrassing. I despised Landon from the moment of the dump scene description, and no matter what he did, no matter how hot he was or how cute he acted, I just couldn't trust him - and it floored me that Mack could (especially with the whole ex-girlfriend thing at the end!). Just...ugh. Bailey was a great friend and Mack's voice of reason ... until she got all sappy herself and let Mack wander off and get sucked back in. But I guess Mack had to learn how to live without a voice of reason sooner or later, why not now?

Conclusion: It sounded like such a fun and flirty premise, but once I found out how Landon dumped Mack I was rooting for them not to be together. Basically, the entire book. Sadly disappointed.

Rating: 

2 out of 5 Scribbles