Review- Biggest Flirts- Superlatives #1(Jennifer Echols)

Synopsis

Tia and Will’s lives get flipped upside down when they’re voted Yearbook’s Biggest Flirts in this sassy novel from the author of Endless Summer and The One That I Want.

Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laidback swagger. 

As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn’t interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it’s no big deal…until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardize Will’s new relationship—and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…                                         - Goodreads.com

My Review 

So Will is the new boy at school. Pretty much upon his arrival he meets Tia at a party and the two end up hooking up. However when they both realise that they want different things- Tia, just a casual hook-up and Will, a relationship. Things don’t work out and they end up just becoming friends. There is obvious chemistry between them though, and their constant flirting leads them to be nominated Biggest Flirts for their senior superlative. This comes as a huge shock to both of them….and also Wills current girlfriend.

So, let’s begin with what I didn’t like, so we can end on a high note.

To begin with I found the main character, Tia, hard to relate to.  She had her mind set on not succeeding in life because of the responsibilities which came with it. Which led her to constantly not live up to her potential. I found this incredibly frustrating especially when she is clearly blessed with brains (and beauty). Even with her hobby which she is passionate about, which is being part of the drum line in band, she throws competitions between other members in order not to reach the coveted position of drum captain ( apposition which she clearly deserves based on her talent), because of the responsibility it holds in her mind.

"I always do well on drums. I'm a good drummer. I just don't want to come in first, because first chair is drum captain and has to be in charge."

- Jennifer Echols (Biggest Flirts)

In addition to this, I found that Tia played games in her relationship with Will.  One minute she wanted him, and the next she didn’t (or told herself this anyway). All because of a secret covenant she had made with herself to not date. Which stems from her belief that her older sisters lives have been ruined by men in the past as they have either gotten pregnant, dropped out of school or ended up with abusive boyfriends. I can kind of understand her reluctance to get involved with him based on this but her games just felt juvenile. I felt like if she acted so immature, she obviously wasn’t ready to be in a real relationship anyway.

"So your seeing him again?" Will asked. "You didn't tell me that."...
...Part of me wanted to tell him I was seeing Sawyer, just to give him a taste of what I'd felt like when he'd lain on the beach with his hands on Angelica.

- Jennifer Echols (Biggest Flirts)

Now for what I liked. Firstly there was one redeeming facet of Tia that I really liked. Prior to meeting Will she was a bit of a player. She tended to hook-up with guys a lot, and wasn’t ashamed of it. That might sound like a weird reason to like a character, but I hate slut shaming in books and I think girls should be able to explore their sexuality as much as guys, and Tia owned that.

I thought it was really cool that Will and Tia’s hobby was marching band, which meant it was  the main setting for most of the story and that their passion over the same craft was something they could connect over. I haven’t read any stories before where the characters where in marching band, and I thought it was a really nice touch.

I was also a fan of the supporting character Sawyer. At first I was a little apprehensive about him. I had this feeling that because he was Tia’s friend/ Friend with benefits that he would get jealous of her relationship with Will and try and ruin everything. Not to say there weren’t moments where he and Will obviously didn’t get along. But I felt that in the end he turned out to be a big softy, and if I were to read another book in this series that I would want him to be the focus.

Overall I feel quite alone in not liking this book. But I think that my biggest obstacle was Tia’s character, and the lack of connection to her just made the whole story less enjoyable for me. I have liked this authors books before, and I am willing to give the next book in the series a try, as I had no problems with the actual writing. 

My rating: 2/5

Other Books In The Series