May 21, 2012

Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin {Review}


Publisher: Walker & Company
Publish Date: February 1, 2011
Source: Library
Fans of romance don't need to look any further than the fauxmance brewing between teen idols Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers -- known on their hit TV show as Jenna and Jonah, next-door neighbors flush with the excitement of first love. But it's their off-screen relationship that has helped cement their fame, as passionate fans follow their every PDA. They grace the covers of magazines week after week. Their fan club has chapters all over the country. The only problem is their off-screen romance is one big publicity stunt, and Charlie and Fielding can't stand to be in the same room. Still it's a great gig, so even when the cameras stop rolling, the show must go on, and on, and on... Until the pesky paparazzi blow their cover, and Charlie and Fielding must disappear to weather the media storm. It's not until they're far off the grid of the Hollywood circuit that they realize that there's more to each of them than shiny hair and a winning smile.


On the one hand Jenna & Jonah’s Fauxmance was cute and fun, but on the other hand, it kind of infuriated me at times much like our two protagonists did to each other.

The cute and fun:
It was fun watching Charlie and Fielding/Aaron have epic word sparring matches as well as kind-of-sort-of flirt with each other.

I ended up really liking Fielding/Aaron. He became this really well-rounded, multi-dimensional character even if he was weirdly hung up on Charlie. I liked that for a while, like a normal teenage guy, he was showing interest in other girls too. I think I probably would have liked the book a lot more if it had been wholly from his point of view.

The annoying:
I get the whole haters-turned-lovers plotline, but these two were just so cruel to each other sometimes it was hard to read. And then, just when you think there’s hope, that they’ll finally just jump each other and get over the angst, they just rip each other a new one instead. Most of it seemed pretty uncalled for too. Like they’re having this nice moment and then one of them just says something cruel out of the blue. I wanted to reach in the pages and shake some sense into them.

It also felt to me like Charlie didn’t really grow and change at all. She just kept on being a jerk to Aaron and then got what she wanted in the end anyway.

The Nutshell: Jenna & Jonah’s Fauxmance had its cute moments, but I don’t think I’d recommend it overall. I found it infuriating at times and others I was just left scratching my head going “what just happened?” If you like the people-who-hate-each-other-become-lovers thing then you’ll probably actually like this one, but it didn’t really work for me.

Pages: 240
Series: No
Rating: Miss

4 comments:

  1. Eek. I've had this sitting on my Nook for AWHILE and have yet to get to it. After your review, I may wait a little longer now. Boo to books that don't live up to your expectations.

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  2. This was pretty similar to how I felt about Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by the same authors. I'm thinking their style really just doesn't click for me.

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  3. I'm finding the names really confusing. So.. Charlie is the girl, and Fielding is the boy, but he's also called Aaron? Just.. why make it so difficult? It took me a couple of rereads of the synopsis, your review, and then looking at goodreads to figure that out. Doesn't make me hope for the book.

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  4. I wasn't a huge fan of Charlie, either. I definitely feel like there was just too much animosity between the two of them for it to end so nicely. It definitely lives in the meh pile, for me.

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