DNF Review: The Heartbreakers

I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.

The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak
Series: The Heartbreaker Chronicles #1
Published by Sourcebooks on August 4th 2015
(336 pages) • Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes & Noble
DNF

"When I met Oliver Perry, I had no clue he was the lead singer for The Heartbreakers. Unbeknownst to him, I was the only girl in the world who hated his music."

Stella will do anything for her sister—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD... for three hours. At least she met a cute boy at the Starbucks beforehand. A blue-eyed boy who looks an awful lot like...Oliver Perry. Of course Starbucks guy is the lead singer for her least favorite band. Thanks, universe. But there may be more to Oliver than his world-famous charm, because even after she insults his music—to his face—he still gives her his number. Seriously, what is her life?

But how can Stella even think about being with Oliver—dating and laughing and pulling pranks with the band—when her sister could be dying of cancer?

When did you decide to DNF?

I read 138 pages and then skimmed a little bit to see if anything interesting happened.

Why did you quit?

After 100+ pages I didn’t care about what was going to happen. I can only assume the main character and the boy band singer fall in love, have a fight, and then get back together. I’m cool with the typical YA storyline if I like the characters and feel invested, but I didn’t really feel that way with this one.

The main character seemed to have a sort of “selective” feminism. She called her brother out for using her in a bet as a piece of meat, but she didn’t say anything when the boy she likes is sexist about girls and their favorite movies. She proved him wrong by telling him her favorites aren’t The Notebook and Titanic, but she wasn’t at all insulted that he assumed that. It just seemed weird that she’d yell at her brother for something like that but let the boy she (insta)likes do it without a problem. I’m not sure why this is the biggest thing that bugged me, but I really think it’s the main reason I said “never mind” to this book.

The writing style felt a bit off too. It mostly had to do with the somewhat cliched teenager words/phrases that were trying too hard. A lot of the characterization of the triplets (the main character, her brother, and her sister) was very… forced? I’m not sure how else to describe it. Stella literally dyes her hair and pierces her nose so she doesn’t look like her siblings, which I get, but still…

(I’d also like to say that it’s really bizarre that the tagline on the cover says “Oliver is the lead singer of the world’s hottest band. Stella has no idea.” … when that’s literally not true. They meet each other within the first 20-50 pages and she finds out within a few hours that he’s the lead singer of the band. It’s misleading; you think the whole book is going to be her dating him without realizing who he is. I don’t know why this is so annoying to me but it is lol)

What was the last straw?

I borrowed this through Around the World ARC Tours and was due to send it back in a couple of days. I couldn’t imagine myself sitting there and reading it, honestly. I read those 100+ pages before work and just never felt compelled to pick it up after that!

Any redeeming qualities?

I like the overall concept of the book: that a regular girl can fall for a boy band singer and they can (probably?) end up working well together. It’s a fantasy probably everyone has had at one point or another.

What do you think you would have rated it, pending no crazy twists/endings?

Probably close to three stars? I honestly have no idea if the book was going to end up the way I imagined, but I can’t fathom giving it more than three stars.

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