ARC Review: The Heartbreak Cure by Amanda Ashby

*Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for review consideration. This does in no way affect my opinion, and all thoughts expressed in this review are unbiased and my own.*

Title: The Heartbreak Cure

Author: Amanda Ashby

My rating: 4 hearts

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Pub. date: December 4th 2017

Publisher: Entangled: Crush

Synopsis: How to get over a heartbreak:

Step one: Eat your body weight in brownies.

Step two: Throw yourself into your dreams of becoming a famous writer. 

Step three: Beg your (hottie) ex-neighbor to act as your fake boyfriend. 

Step four: Skip step three unless you’re ready for some serious fallout.

After being dumped and humiliated over the summer, Cat Turner does what any sane girl would do. She asks bad boy Alex Locke to be her fake boyfriend and show the world (and her editor at the school newspaper) that she's fine. Problem is, the more time she spends with Alex, the more she risks getting her heart broken. For real this time. 

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a swoony bad boy who will melt your heart, brownies, and witty banter. One, two, or all three might prove addictive… (synopsis from Goodreads)

I’m currently in the mood for sweet YA romances, which is why I decided to pick up The Heartbreak Cure. And I was not disappointed! I loved reading about Cat, she was funny and relatable, and I also liked Alex. The romance was sweet, and the plot was good, if a little bit slow. All in all, this is exactly what a YA romance should be!

Cat is such a relatable character!

I loved reading about Cat. She was really funny, and there was no boring moment with her. She was relatable, and smart, and loved writing. That alone is enough to make me love her. She made me laugh so often. For me, Cat made the whole book so much better than it would’ve been without her.

I also like Alex.

I’ll admit I liked reading about Cat more. There was just something about her. But Alex is also nice. I liked reading about him. And I loved seeing how much he grew throughout the book. He learned to open up and to let people in, and it was great seeing that happen.

The characters overall where awesome.

Not only did I love Cat and Alex, but some of the supporting characters were also great! Birdie is simply awesome, and I also loved Mackenzie. She could be a bit harsh, for sure, but at the end, you could see a softer side to her. I loved how even one of the supporting characters went through character development – it made it so obvious that the author really tried to make every character important and interesting.

The romance is so sweet.

You can tell from the beginning that there is chemistry between Cat and Alex. And when Cat comes up with her brilliant idea that they should pretend to be a couple, you know it’ll end badly. Alex already likes her, has for a long time, so obviously they can’t pretend to date without mixing feelings into it. But it was fun and interesting to read about.

The plot could’ve been a bit more fast-paced.

I’ll admit, the plot got a little bit boring at times, and I felt like some things got repeated several times. But the other good things made up for most of it. It prevented me from loving it as much as I hoped, but I still really enjoyed the story and reading about the characters.

So, if you like romances that are focused mostly on the characters, this book is for you. Every character plays a big role in the plot, even the smallest supporting characters, not to mention the both main characters are so interesting and fun to read about. The romance is super sweet, so if you don’t mind a slower romance, this book is definitely for you.