Title: The Way to Game the Walk of Shame (2016)
Author: Jenn P. Nguyen
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Extent: 336 pages
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Taylor Simmons is screwed.
Things were hard enough when her single-minded dedication to her studies earned her the reputation of being an Ice Queen, but after getting drunk at a party and waking up next to bad boy surfer Evan McKinley, the entire school seems intent on tearing Taylor down with mockery and gossip.
Desperate to salvage her reputation, Taylor persuades Evan to pretend they’re in a serious romantic relationship. After all, it’s better to be the girl who tames the wild surfer than just another notch on his surfboard.
Before starting this review, I’d just like to say one thing: I really, really, really didn’t like the title of this book. I think The Way to Game the Walk of Shame is about five words too long and a complete mouthful. I also don’t think it’s catchy, despite its rhyme, and I think ‘Walk of Shame’ would’ve made a nicer title. But hey, what do I know! 😛
Okay, now that I’ve got that out of the way, this book is exactly what the blurb suggests — nothing more, nothing less. There’s two main tropes at play here: pretend relationships (my favourite, let’s be honest) and Bad Boy and Good Girl (something I’m kind of meh about). There are no deep, dark secrets, no heavy, tearful family conflicts, no forbidden romance or anything like that.
I don’t mind light-hearted books once in a while, of course, but I found the characters in this book to be quite cliched and completely forgettable. Taylor is an uptight perfectionist with one ambition driving everything else she does: she wants to go to Columbia U and be a lawyer. Evan is your typical Bad Boy who is of course really nice and liked by Taylor’s friend and family without having to lift a finger, though he is guilty of the Not Like Other Girls thing. We also have a Nice Guy (who Taylor ‘Should’ve Been With’ because they were Perfect on Paper) and a Mean Girl (who of course likes Bad Boy and is ‘popular’).
Another problem with this book was the amount of girl hate happening. The aforementioned Mean Girl here is Lauren, who still wants to get with Evan and is unnecessarily mean to all the other girls. Like all typical Queen Bee characters, she’s quite cruel to our protagonist, but in her defence, Taylor isn’t any better:
Was this hostility because [Lauren] didn’t think I belonged here or because she didn’t think I belonged with Evan? If you asked me, she never deserved him. She was clearly an A-rated bitch, while Evan was … well, Evan.
Other characters also throw around sexist remarks quite liberally. This quote below is said by Evan’s best friend Aaron, who only appears whenever Evan needs him and not anytime else — so pretty much a plot-device-character:
“Yeah, but you know how girls can get sometimes. All emotional and bitchy. Especially with each other. It’s probably a good thing that you’re blowing her off then, right? Just in case she goes crazy on you.”
There were some steamy scenes, but I was utterly uncomfortable with the fact that sometimes Evan and Taylor would make out in front of the whole school — as a part of their ‘pretend relationship’ deal — and everyone would actually watch and stare. It just felt kind of unrealistic to me? I certainly don’t mind if people want to make out in public, but I wouldn’t want to have to see it, let alone voluntarily watch it. Maybe that’s just me, though; I didn’t go to an American high school and wouldn’t know what’s a usual occurrence. 😛
When it comes down to it, the plot is predictable and cliched. Everything that generally happens in a contemporary romance YA happens: Girl meets Boy, Girl dates Boy for a bit, ~unwanted feelings~ start to appear, flirty banter, denial, temporary break-up, misunderstandings, etc. There’s some character development, but truth be told I just didn’t really care for these characters.
“You can’t plan everything. Things happen. And that’s okay. You shouldn’t do something just because it’s easy and neat. Because sometimes messy isn’t that bad.”
Nguyen’s writing style was alright — suited to this type of stories, but otherwise unremarkable. Overall, this book was fluffy, light-hearted, and fast-paced, but ultimately forgettable. I really wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re really wanting for some mindless story that you don’t want to think too deeply about (and even then, I think I can actually recommend you other titles). 😛