Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Alex, Approximately
By Jenn Bennett
My Rating: 5 Stars
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Paperback, 352 Pages

                                                  

 Summary From Goodreads: 

Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met… and neither of them knows the other’s real name.

When Bailey moves to California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to use her sleuthing skills to find him. But tracking someone down based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex?

From the author of Night Owls comes a story of summer, first love and hidden identities...


                                                                            My Review: 

****More likely than not there will be spoilers for this book in my review, if you have not read it yet, and do not want the book to be spoiled for you, do not read any further. You have been warned. Continue reading at your own risk****

I head about this book forever ago, and I cannot tell you how much I've been looking forward to it ever since that time. Like, SUPER DUPER excited. It was on my list of most anticipated books of 2017.  Everything about it made me go oooh and ahhhhh over it {the cover, the premise, and I love the fact that it was compared to "You've Got Mail" because I have seen that movie about a million and one times with my mom} And I  probably would have sold my soul to Crowley to be able to read it early. Yes, I was that excited for it.

And then when I actually had the book in my hands, I was kind of nervous. Because I had it so hyped up in my head, I was worried it wouldn't live up to all my hopes and expectations. And then when Bailey kept going on and on about how she was an Artful Dodger, and using the words evade, evaders and evasions, I got even more worried! I thought that Bailey was going going to meet up with "Alex" and then get scared that they were getting too close, and use her Artful Dodger Skills to turn tail and disappear with a whole bunch of drama that would give me a headache.

But despite all of the talk about dodging and avoiding, and disappearing and what have you, that isn't what this book is about. Not really. This book was about growing up, and going outside of your comfort zone, and doing things that scare that bajeezus out of you. Learning to trust people even though it's a terrifying thought to put yourself out there. I mean, that's what I got out of it at least.

I love hearing things from Bailey's perspective. She's a character that I can relate to. She's hilarious and cringe worthy, and someone that I could see myself being bffs with.

I love Porter, and his swoony-ness. And his smart alecky-ness. Ugh. He was equal parts endearing and irritating, I couldn't decide if I wanted to smack him or kiss him.

I love the relationship that Bailey and Porter have. They annoy the crap out of each other, and they're ALWAYS bickering and picking at each other. Not so much fun in real life, no, however I thought that it made their inevitable get together all the more satisfying. Like "YAAASSS, Finally! *Queue awful dancing here, because I can't dance to save my life*

I was expecting there to be a lot more drama with the whole reveal of who the secret pen pal was, but I'm not that mad about it. I mean, Porter threw a little hissy fit but got over it pretty quickly. But I absolutely loved it, and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fairly quick, fun read.