ARC Review: Call Me, Maybe

Posted January 23, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

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.

ARC Review: Call Me, MaybeCall Me, Maybe by Ellie Cahill
on February 9th 2016
Also by this author: When Joss Met Matt, Just a Girl
(217 pages) • GoodreadsAmazon Barnes & Noble
three-half-stars

Clementine Daly knows she’s the black sheep. Her wealthy, powerful family has watched her very closely since she almost got caught in an embarrassing scandal a few years ago. So when Clementine’s sent on a mission to live up to the Daly name, politely declining isn’t an option. Of course, the last thing she does before boarding the plane is to grab a stranger’s phone by mistake—leaving the hunky journalist with her phone. Soon his sexy voice is on the line, but he doesn’t know her real name, or her famous pedigree—which is just the way Clementine likes it.

Despite all the hassles, Justin Mueller is intrigued to realize that the beautiful brown-eyed girl he met at the airport is suddenly at his fingertips. They agree to exchange phones when they’re both back in town, but after a week of flirty texts and wonderfully intimate conversations, Justin doesn’t want to let her go. The only problem? It turns out that Clemetine has been lying to him about, well, everything. Except for the one thing two people can’t fake, the only thing that matters: The heat between them is for real.

my thoughts pink

What worked
  • I liked the premise of the story, even though it felt a bit contrived. They meet each other because they accidently switch phones at the airport and are stuck with the wrong phone for a few days. They start chatting and eventually it turns into a relationship when they both return home to Chicago.
  • There was some solid banter between those two! I loved their relationship; it felt really natural for most of the book. It developed a bit too quickly (especially at the end), but I did like how quickly they ~physically~ got together. It was real! Plenty of people do that sooner rather than later, and I appreciated that truth.
  • I looooved the book blogging and romance reader elements. Honestly, that was probably my favorite part. She felt a lot of the things that we all feel on a regular basis. I could relate to almost all of her blogging-related feelings and issues.
  • Everything below that I didn’t like about the book is all in hindsight. I really enjoyed it while I was reading – for the most part – and it was super addicting.
What didn’t work
  • It was alllll smooth sailing until a bunch of angst and miscommunication piled up at the end. Seriously, the pacing was quite off. Before all of the miscommunication at the end, she would irritate me by asking him so many personal questions and not really answering any in return. He was an open book for her to prod at, but she kept a bunch of secrets from him.
  • It was kind of weird to me that Clementine didn’t seem to have any friends. There were a few vague references to them sometimes, but they didn’t play any role in the story. It just didn’t feel realistic. Even with Josh’s friends, there was one scene that felt kind of forced.
  • The whole “what do I do with my life” conundrum felt really silly to me based on her position in life. She could have googled “book careers” and had an answer. I mean, honestly, her family was incredibly rich and she loved working at library. Why don’t you open a bookstore or go for a Library-related Masters degree?
  • They moved quickly in a lot of ways, which was kind of okay for me for a little while. Again, I liked how they were quick to bed (sorry not sorry) but the rest of the stuff at the ending was a bit much. View Spoiler »
  • Cut the shit with the fade-to-black scenes. If I’m reading NA, let me get those deets. I do like the idea of a college grad-oriented New Adult, but I do prefer to have some steaminess. There was quite a bit of fading to black, except for one notable sex scene.

feels from friends pink

rating breakdown pink

Plot & Premise
three-half-stars
Characters
three-half-stars
Writing Style
four-stars
Pacing & Flow
three-stars
Feels or Swoons
four-stars
Addiction Level
four-half-stars
Overall: 3.8

8 responses to “ARC Review: Call Me, Maybe

  1. This certainly seems like a cute read! One of the things I would likely find frustrating, though, was Clementine’s reserved, secretive nature while expecting Josh to divulge everything – it’s great that you pointed this out, because it seems to be a recurring theme in New Adult and Adult books recently. And I love your section dedicated to Friends. Great review!

    Olivia recently posted: Review: Jackaby
  2. Sounds cute, but honestly nothing that I’m going to be rushing out to read. I’m having a bit of a hard time getting into the NA genre at the moment. All the books I’m reading seem to be a bit formulaic so I might add this to the ‘eventually to try out… one day’ pile, but either way great review, Lauren! Hopefully your next book will have more wow-factor.

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