Swoon at Your Own Risk: Review

Title: Swoon at Your Own Risk
Author: Sydney Salter
Release Date: April 5th, 2010
Published By: Graphia
Goodreads Rating: 3.64 stars

Synopsis: You’d think Polly Martin would have all the answers when it comes to love—after all, her grandmother is the famous syndicated advice columnist Miss Swoon. But after a junior year full of dating disasters, Polly has sworn off boys. This summer, she’s going to focus on herself for once. So Polly is happy when she finds out Grandma is moving in—think of all the great advice she’ll get.

But Miss Swoon turns out to be a man-crazy sexagenarian! How can Polly stop herself from falling for Xander Cooper, the suddenly-hot skateboarder who keeps showing up while she’s working at Wild Waves water park, when Grandma is picking up guys at the bookstore and flirting with the dishwasher repairman?           

No advice column can prepare Polly for what happens when she goes on a group camping trip with three too many ex-boyfriends and the tempting Xander. Polly is forced to face her feelings and figure out if she can be in love—and still be herself.

Review: To be honest, I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would, but I think it's more something about me rather than about the book. This was a cute read with a swoon-worthy guy, as the title promises, but I just didn't find myself getting too much into it. I've read some very positive, glowing reviews for this, so I think it's just me. I tend not to like chick lit very much unless it's "different" (e.g. I loved Anna and the French Kiss).

Polly was hard for me to connect to. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with her character, I just didn't find myself relating to her, which made the book a bit of a struggle to read. I want to emphasize, though, that this wasn't a bad book, and it wasn't torturous to read, but it really just wasn't for me.

This book would appeal to fans of chick lit and rom-coms, but if you don't read those genres, this one might not be for you. It was cute, with some good lessons about relationships (e.g. don't change yourself for a boy, communication is important, etc.) that some readers may find helpful. Overall, Swoon at Your Own Risk was a fluffy and forgettable read that didn't make it for me.

Grade: C-