My Fake Valentine

Holiday High Series, Book 1

By: Kellie McAllen

Narrated by: Sarah Puckett

Mia's star desperately needs polishing. Can a fake relationship with Austin make her shine?

Mia Black is the slightly geeky, kind of smart, but otherwise lusterless middle daughter of a family full of shining stars. Literally, like, movie stars.

Austin is the super cute, uber-popular basketball phenom whose athletic career just took a nosedive when his failing grades landed him in academic probation. Basically Mia's polar opposite.

When Austin impulsively kisses Mia in front of everyone, he begs Mia to play along. Mia knows her reputation could use some help, and Austin is the perfect guy to elevate her from not to hot. All she has to do is help him get his grades up, and Austin will pretend to be madly in love with her.

Fake it till you make it, the saying goes, and Mia and Austin soon realize that opposites do attract. But can their relationship, and their reputations, survive when the whole school finds out they were only faking?

©2018 Kellie McAllen (P)2018 Kellie McAllen

Not my normal genre

High School troubles at its finest. This is a great high school love book. Narration was okay.

Mindchanger

I mostly don’t like audiobooks, but this one changed my mind about them. I loved the book and just hearing it made me happy.
Definitely a 10/10 for me

YA Romance

Mia lives in her famous family member's shadow, always overlooked, untalented, not pretty... She would love to be just like them, but knows she just isn't. When popular jock Austin grabs her in the hallway and kisses her, acting like they are dating, Mia is shocked. Austin is having a bad day- he was just told his grades are so bad he is now on academic probation and his girlfriend was about to break-up with him until he pretended he was dating another random girl he saw in the hallway. Austin can't believe it when Mia offers him a proposition- pretend they are dating so she can get popularity and she will tutor him without anyone knowing. What could go wrong with that?

I did not really care for Austin, he was shallow, called his ex a bitch multiple times which I thought was uncalled for and a big fat cheater- he only felt remorse because he likes Mia, not because he did something terrible and unethical- he even says that he would have used her essay no problem if it wasn't hers, also he was a public groper of boobs and ass

I was confused about Mia's motivation though. If she wanted to be popular so bad why didn't she just tell everyone who her family was to begin with- that is just the same as having a fake relationship with a popular boy to get friends- either way they are not really your friends- it was a lame idea to me.

My favorite character was Mia's best friend Carrie who is literally the best friend any girl could hope for and very forgiving- if I was treated as a cast off like Mia treated her I would not be friends anymore. She rolls with whatever Mia throws at her and is her biggest cheerleader. The girl needs a makeover STAT but has a heart of gold- maybe she can have a book next?

This was overall a very fast fluffy read aka listen too, roughly 5 hours so something you can pick up and read if you are in the mood for an easy teen romance (which does include sex and drinking, heads up if you are looking to recommend this to a younger YA reader).

The narrator did a really good job of creating personalities for both Austin and Mia and I would listen to more narrated be her in the future.

Is there a better superlative than amazing?

My fourth read/listen from author Kellie McAllen. No fantasy this time, instead a real life story of teens and the challenges of growing up in high school. If you’re old enough think of all the Eighties movies in this setting. From the opening pages to the inevitable conclusion this excellent story thoroughly entertains. So well-written with wonderfully engaging characters and a storyline that anyone who lived through high school can relate to. The narrator did a wonderful job with her reading and I’ll definitely be reading more from Kellie McAllen.

Extremely enjoyable

This book is extremely enjoyable. It held my attention all the way to the end.