Title/Author: Love and Other Theories by Alexis Bass
Publication Date/Publisher: December 31, 2014/Harper Teen
Series: No
Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelwiess. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.
Rating: 1 stars
From Goodreads:
If you want more, you have to give less.That’s the secret to dating in high school. By giving as little as they expect to get in return, seventeen-year-old Aubrey Housing and her three best friends have made it to the second semester of their senior year heartbreak-free. And it’s all thanks to a few simple rules: don’t commit, don’t be needy, and don’t give away your heart.
So when smoking-hot Nathan Diggs transfers to Lincoln High, it shouldn’t be a big deal. At least that’s what Aubrey tells herself. But Nathan’s new-boy charm, his kindness, and his disarming honesty throw Aubrey off her game and put her in danger of breaking the most important rule of all: Don’t fall in love.
For me, 1 star is basically a hate read. I guess I run the risk of this publisher giving out my personal information if this author feels like finding me for slandering her book or whatever, but it is what it is. The second I realized what was really going on in Love and Other Theories, I was angry. I can’t believe anyone would think marketing this towards younger girls is in any way a good idea.
Don’t be fooled by the synopsis – this is not a cute high school romance story. This is a group of girls who got together and decided they weren’t going to be in committed relationships, especially with high school boys. That’s fine. But it somehow turns into a book about slut-shaming the girl who used to be in their group until she decided to get a boyfriend…because one of the main girls was into that boy at the time.
This group of girls considers themselves to be the “evolved” ones…but Chiffon is trashy and a slut for having boyfriends. I was definitely expecting a more enlightened and realistic view of teen sex and relationships, but this is NOT that. And really? Could she have been given a worse name?
Throughout the whole book, the girls keep referring to their “theories”…
Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless. – James Cash Penney
“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.” – Yogi Berra
These girls are not just formulating theories, they’re actually putting them into practice. So, shouldn’t super-smart Aubrey whose defining characteristic is that she’s GOING TO BARRON (though it’s hard to know how smarty-pants she really is since that’s not a real place)…shouldn’t she know the difference? Shouldn’t she maybe step in and tell her friends what “theory” really means?
Love and Other Theories wants to be about changing, like, the rules of feminism: Don’t get with your friends’ exes. Love and Other Theories says: There’s not a sufficient number of dateable boys in this podunk town, so we’re all free to get with any or all of them, no strings and no hurt feelings. But OF COURSE there will be hurt feelings because PEOPLE HAVE FEELINGS even if you think they’re a slut for having a committed relationship.
Paperback Heart 