A Match Made in High School
by Kristin Walker
Release Date: February 4, 2010
Publisher: Razorbill
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can't get any worse. That's until she marries her "husband": jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona's long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very dorky, very big Johnny Mercer.
Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.
(Summary from Barnes & Noble)
I cannot express the awesomeness that is this book! It was so much fun! I could just read it again, and again, and again. It is just one of those books that makes you feel warm and tingly, it's entertaining, easy to read and fast.
This is one of those times, where you are going to want to make sure you have time to read, because you're not going to want to stop once you've started.
I do have to admit, when I started the novel I was a little skeptical. Right off the bat Fiona gets paired with the popular jock. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. I kept thinking to myself, please don't let this be one of those books, please don't let it! The popular jock falling for the main character is sooooo overdone, and it's completely unrealistic. I'm tired of it. THANKFULLY, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The stereotypical characters where there... but they just weren't you're typical stereotypical characters, you might try to label these characters, but it just won't stick.
Even more so impressing, for me, is that I could not stop laughing. I had tears in my eyes. I was reading this at work on my lunch break and someone asked if they could read that it after me, because I was laughing so hard! (They were looking at me like I was crazy!) The insults, the smart ass comments, the pranks, it was just priceless. In the words of Fiona, it was hi-freaking-larious!
Not only was it hilarious, but it was unpredictable. There was one little snippet that I did figure out in the beginning, but that was the only aspect, everything else I tried to guess about, I was wrong, way wrong. And I loved the story even more so because of that.
Fun characters, even funnier premise, awesome writing, satisfying ending... this was an awesome debut. Can't wait to read more from Walker.