by Claire LaZebnik
February 26, 2013
Harper Teen
288 pages
Source: Around the World ARC Tours
Synopsis
Franny's supposed to be working this summer, not flirting. But you can't blame her when guys like Alex and Harry are around. . . .
Franny Pearson never dreamed she'd be attending the prestigious Mansfield Summer Theater Program. And she's not, exactly. She's working for her aunt, the resident costume designer. But sewing her fingers to the bone does give her an opportunity to spend time with her crush, Alex Braverman. If only he were as taken with the girl hemming his trousers as he is with his new leading lady.
When Harry Cartwright, a notorious flirt, shows more than a friendly interest in Franny, she figures it can't hurt to have a little fun. But as their breezy romance grows more complicated, can Franny keep pretending that Harry is just a carefree fling? And why is Alex suddenly giving her those deep, meaningful looks? In this charming tale of mixed messages and romantic near-misses, one thing is clear: Flirting might be more trouble than Franny ever expected. (Amazon Summary.)
My Take On It
Guys, I LOVED this book! I am familiar with the author's previous YA work, Epic Fail, but haven't read it. And I have never read Mansfield Park, the Jane Austen novel on which The Trouble with Flirting is loosely based. But I loved the short description of this book. And I loved that it was a contemporary romance because I was badly in need of one. I had been reading a lot of paranormal and dystopian YA when this book arrived in the mail and it was such a welcome break for me. And The Trouble With Flirting did not disappoint. It was clever, funny, and very romantic. I will most definitely be reading Epic Fail now (another Austen retelling) and any books Claire LaZebnik puts out in the future because if The Trouble With Flirting is any indication, I am going to enjoy them.
The best thing about The Trouble With Flirting is the main character, Franny. I adore Franny and her cynical, sarcastic attitude. Franny is a very no nonsense kind of girl. She comes from a close knit family comprised of her mom and older brother William. Since her parents divorce, Franny's family has fallen on tough economic times. The first few pages of the book cracked me up as Franny compares her families personal wealth with most of her classmates who travel to Europe during the summer and get brand new BMW's for their 16th birthdays.
William is away at college and Franny longs to go to college too. But she knows that an academic scholarship is her only way or she will be facing a mountain of student loan debt. The book begins the summer before her senior year and Franny is looking for a summer job to help her pad her college fund. When her mom arranges for her to go work with her aunt, who is the costume designer for a high school summer drama camp at Mansfield University in Oregon, Franny is less than thrilled. You see Franny used to love drama, she was in all her middle school productions. But in high school she was sat down by her parents and given the talk that drama wasn't a great career choice and perhaps her time would be better spent pursuing more academic extracurricular activities. Attending the camp would be one thing. But sewing costumes for the camp attendees is another. And honestly, Franny doesn't want to be cooped up in a sewing room for the next 6 weeks with a crotchety aunt watching her every move. But Franny is a reasonable and realistic girl so she acquiesces and agrees to to take the job. When she arrives she unexpectedly runs into Julia, an old middle school friend, who is attending the camp. And guess what? Her hot twin brother, the one that Franny had a secret crush on years earlier, is also there. Score!
What is so great about Franny is she is totally self deprecating and reads like your normal teenage girl. Especially when compared to all of the other kids she encounters at the camp. These aren't just your typical drama geeks. This is the cream of the country's high school crop, all the kids enrolled not only had to pay a pretty penny to attend, but had to audition to win a spot. These are kids that are serious about becoming actors, and boy, do they act like it. Over the top personalities, showboating and spotlight hogging is the norm. And in this sea of craziness is Franny, quietly observing from the sidelines. It is such a fun world LaZebnik has thrown us into and I loved witnessing it from Franny's sardonic perspective.
As you can surmise from the summary above, there are two love interests in The Trouble With Flirting: Franny's secret childhood crush, Alex; and the camp's most eligible catch, L.A. native Harry. Oh boy, are these two great characters. And two very DIFFERENT characters. Like Franny, in the beginning I was all Team Alex. Alex was kind, sweet, and such a nice guy. It was easy to see why Franny had such a serious crush on him. But by the middle of the book I was really beginning to see the merit of flirty, funny, engaging Harry. As I said, having not read Mansfield Park I truly had no idea what was going to happen in the story and which guy Franny was going to choose in the end. I'm not going to spoil but I love the way the romance between Franny and both of these guys played out. And I LOVE that Franny, who readily admits to not being as glamorous, as pretty, or as flirty as the other female characters in the story, is the one that all the guys are chasing after. YAY! for nice girls NOT always finishing last:)
I also love the theater setting of the book. This is the second book I've read recently that featured a theater theme and as someone who loved drama (I took Drama I, II, AND III in high school,) I thoroughly enjoyed all the behind the scenes stuff that goes down in the book. I did some summer drama camps when I was younger and this book totally took me back and made me smile as I remembered my own experiences (which,unfortunately, were not NEAR as cool as the ones in this book :)
The writing was just awesome. LaZebnik has a knack for writing humorous, authentic dialogue. Her characters sounded like real teenagers, some are over the top ACTOR teenagers, but teenagers nonetheless. I was totally immersed in the story and unable to put it down, dying to see how it was all going to turn out in the end.
The Trouble with Flirting is a quick read, TOO QUICK, I wanted more Franny, Alex and Harry. It's a standalone, which is refreshing and awesome. But gosh, I wouldn't mind running into these characters again in the future. Maybe in college? How cool would that be? (Pretty please, Ms. LaZebnik??)
So if you are looking for a great contemporary romance; like reading retelling's of literary classics; enjoy books with funny and endearing characters; and love books where a likable protagonist wins in the end you should definitely check out The Trouble With Flirting when it releases next February.
And if you have read Mansfield Park and get a chance to read this one, I would love to hear your thoughts on the similarities and differences between the two. Is the Franny in this updated version more likable? Does it end the same way and what do you think of the ending? I read the crib notes for Mansfield Park after finishing The Trouble With Flirting so I have my own thoughts regarding those questions, but I would love to hear yours!
And hey, Amazon is offering the kindle version of LaZebnik's Epic Fail for a mere $2.99. So go jump on that asap! Here's THE LINK.
Find author Claire LaZebnik here: website/ goodreads/ twitter/ facebook
Read more reviews of The Trouble with Flirting:
Refracted Light Reviews
The Proud Book Nerd
Midnight Book Girl
YA Books Central
The best thing about The Trouble With Flirting is the main character, Franny. I adore Franny and her cynical, sarcastic attitude. Franny is a very no nonsense kind of girl. She comes from a close knit family comprised of her mom and older brother William. Since her parents divorce, Franny's family has fallen on tough economic times. The first few pages of the book cracked me up as Franny compares her families personal wealth with most of her classmates who travel to Europe during the summer and get brand new BMW's for their 16th birthdays.
William is away at college and Franny longs to go to college too. But she knows that an academic scholarship is her only way or she will be facing a mountain of student loan debt. The book begins the summer before her senior year and Franny is looking for a summer job to help her pad her college fund. When her mom arranges for her to go work with her aunt, who is the costume designer for a high school summer drama camp at Mansfield University in Oregon, Franny is less than thrilled. You see Franny used to love drama, she was in all her middle school productions. But in high school she was sat down by her parents and given the talk that drama wasn't a great career choice and perhaps her time would be better spent pursuing more academic extracurricular activities. Attending the camp would be one thing. But sewing costumes for the camp attendees is another. And honestly, Franny doesn't want to be cooped up in a sewing room for the next 6 weeks with a crotchety aunt watching her every move. But Franny is a reasonable and realistic girl so she acquiesces and agrees to to take the job. When she arrives she unexpectedly runs into Julia, an old middle school friend, who is attending the camp. And guess what? Her hot twin brother, the one that Franny had a secret crush on years earlier, is also there. Score!
What is so great about Franny is she is totally self deprecating and reads like your normal teenage girl. Especially when compared to all of the other kids she encounters at the camp. These aren't just your typical drama geeks. This is the cream of the country's high school crop, all the kids enrolled not only had to pay a pretty penny to attend, but had to audition to win a spot. These are kids that are serious about becoming actors, and boy, do they act like it. Over the top personalities, showboating and spotlight hogging is the norm. And in this sea of craziness is Franny, quietly observing from the sidelines. It is such a fun world LaZebnik has thrown us into and I loved witnessing it from Franny's sardonic perspective.
As you can surmise from the summary above, there are two love interests in The Trouble With Flirting: Franny's secret childhood crush, Alex; and the camp's most eligible catch, L.A. native Harry. Oh boy, are these two great characters. And two very DIFFERENT characters. Like Franny, in the beginning I was all Team Alex. Alex was kind, sweet, and such a nice guy. It was easy to see why Franny had such a serious crush on him. But by the middle of the book I was really beginning to see the merit of flirty, funny, engaging Harry. As I said, having not read Mansfield Park I truly had no idea what was going to happen in the story and which guy Franny was going to choose in the end. I'm not going to spoil but I love the way the romance between Franny and both of these guys played out. And I LOVE that Franny, who readily admits to not being as glamorous, as pretty, or as flirty as the other female characters in the story, is the one that all the guys are chasing after. YAY! for nice girls NOT always finishing last:)
I also love the theater setting of the book. This is the second book I've read recently that featured a theater theme and as someone who loved drama (I took Drama I, II, AND III in high school,) I thoroughly enjoyed all the behind the scenes stuff that goes down in the book. I did some summer drama camps when I was younger and this book totally took me back and made me smile as I remembered my own experiences (which,unfortunately, were not NEAR as cool as the ones in this book :)
The writing was just awesome. LaZebnik has a knack for writing humorous, authentic dialogue. Her characters sounded like real teenagers, some are over the top ACTOR teenagers, but teenagers nonetheless. I was totally immersed in the story and unable to put it down, dying to see how it was all going to turn out in the end.
The Trouble with Flirting is a quick read, TOO QUICK, I wanted more Franny, Alex and Harry. It's a standalone, which is refreshing and awesome. But gosh, I wouldn't mind running into these characters again in the future. Maybe in college? How cool would that be? (Pretty please, Ms. LaZebnik??)
So if you are looking for a great contemporary romance; like reading retelling's of literary classics; enjoy books with funny and endearing characters; and love books where a likable protagonist wins in the end you should definitely check out The Trouble With Flirting when it releases next February.
And if you have read Mansfield Park and get a chance to read this one, I would love to hear your thoughts on the similarities and differences between the two. Is the Franny in this updated version more likable? Does it end the same way and what do you think of the ending? I read the crib notes for Mansfield Park after finishing The Trouble With Flirting so I have my own thoughts regarding those questions, but I would love to hear yours!
And hey, Amazon is offering the kindle version of LaZebnik's Epic Fail for a mere $2.99. So go jump on that asap! Here's THE LINK.
Find author Claire LaZebnik here: website/ goodreads/ twitter/ facebook
Read more reviews of The Trouble with Flirting:
Refracted Light Reviews
The Proud Book Nerd
Midnight Book Girl
YA Books Central
As Mansfield Park is my least favorite Austen (and probably the least popular), I was very surprised to discover that LaZebnik was writing a retelling of it but I'm very curious to check it out now especially since it has a theater setting-love those!
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in feeling that way! All I can say is that LaZebnik's retelling is quite different than the original in many ways. Definitely check it out so you can make a comparison:)
DeleteJSYK, Mansifeld Park is AWFUL. As Bookworm1858 says, it's not popular, and there's a reason. I borrowed a copy of this, so I'm glad to hear that you loved it! Means I'll probably like it at the very least!
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like MP is the least favorite of all of Austen's books. I don't want to give too much away, but I really think you will be pleasantly surprised with some of the changes LaZebnik makes in her re-telling, Christina. I hope you'll read it and let me know what you thought afterwards:)
DeleteOh, this one sounds like fun! I love a self-deprecating heroine, and sometimes a theater setting really works. I haven't read this author yet, so thanks for the link to the sale as well. :)
ReplyDeleteWendy @ The Midnight Garden
It was fun, Wendy! I know most people are not fans of Mansfield Park, and that the heroine in that book grates on people's nerves, but Franny was GREAT! Funny, smart, but not perfect. She makes some mistakes to be sure. In other words, very authentic and very easy to cheer on!
DeleteUgh, this is based off of Mansfield Park? I just HATED that book! I've read all of Jane Austen's novels (I went through a phase where I refused to read anything but her!) and that was just the WORST. >.< Still, perhaps a modern re-take would be really good. I mean, ANYTHING has to be better than the original! ;) I love how cute this one sounds, so when I'm in the mood for a cutesy romance, I'll definitely be turning to this. Thanks for throwing it on my radar, Heather! :D
ReplyDeleteWow, so many people cannot stand Mansfield Park! Was it the character of Fanny that you hated? I have not read the book, but I did read the "Cliff's Notes" version on Wikipedia after finishing The Trouble With Flirting, and as I said above, there are DEFINITE differences between Austen's version and LaZebnik's. So don't discount this book, because I do think you will be pleasantly surprised with the changes:)
ReplyDeleteOh, that reply was for you, Keertana!:)
DeleteWow, I am totally in the minority because I love Mansfield Park! It's my third favorite Austen novel (Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility slightly edge it out). I think I'm going to love this! When I read it I'll let you know how it stacks up to the original for me. :-) And thanks for the heads up on Epic Fail!
ReplyDeleteYay! I am actually really glad to see someone from the other camp! I was beginning to worry that people hated Mansfield park so much that they wouldn't give this book a try! Anxious to hear your thoughts after you read it Lauren so DO get back to me on it:)
DeleteI thought Epic Fail was cute.
ReplyDeleteHad to read Mansfield Park in college. In the original, Fanny is kind of dull. But I'm still excited to read this!
I think you will really enjoy this one, Jen. It's quick but has a great deal of awesome charcterization crammed in. And even though the subject matter seems light and fluffy, I thought it had a good deal of depth. It was a very fun read:)
DeleteI read Mansfield Park a few years ago, and I will say that it is a book that is hard to connect to in the present day. Franny is very meek and does a lot of standing still while the world passes her by. I do remember who she ends up with, and it's pretty clear which of the guys is which Austen representative in THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING. I'm curious to see if this story goes the same way (I'm assuming it does). I like that this Franny sounds more modern and her personality has been updated. I think the drama plot is pretty cool, as a major part of Mansfield Park revolves around a production that the characters put on (I also did drama in HS!). Also, Franny spends the majority of MP away from hope, so that also is similar. I didn't love EPIC FAIL, because I am very familiar with P&P, and I didn't think it was a great retelling. But I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't compared them as much. Thankfully, I'm not as familiar with Mansfield Park, so differences won't bug me the same. EPIC FAIL was VERY clean, wondering if this is the same? And I've come to realize that I have trouble fitting "romantic" and "love triangle" in the same sentence, but I'm not going to even comment on that aspect of this book. I have less of a problem with triangles if they are in standalone contemporaries, as long as there isn't endless back and forth. What's interesting about Austen's books is usually there are two guys, and they both SEEM like good choices at first, but subtly you begin to discover that one is a very BAD choice. Anyway, I will definitely pick this one up!
ReplyDelete"away from HOME" and "FANNY." What is wrong with me?
DeleteAlso, I don't think I could fit the word "romantic" anywhere near the original MANSFIELD PARK, so I'm eager to see how this author achieves that! Oh and I'm pretty sure that in the original, Fanny and they guy she ends up with are first cousins. Now that's romantic ;).
"What's interesting about Austen's books is usually there are two guys, and they both SEEM like good choices at first, but subtly you begin to discover that one is a very BAD choice.:
DeleteYES. LaZebnik follows Austen in this regard. And that is all I can say about the romance in TTWF:)
I can tell you that Franny in TTWF is a very different sort of girl than Fanny in MP. I can tell that just from reading the Cliff's Notes version of the story. I really, really enjoyed this book. Please read this one, L so we can chat about it afterwards!:)
Oh, and yes, this book is very clean too.:)
Mansfield Park is my least favorite Austen book. But I don't remember it that well, and now I'm kind of curious to go reread it and then read The Trouble with Flirting, especially since it received such a positive review from you! I wish I was involved in the theatre setting at some point in my life - but at least books are there for us to vicariously have experiences! Wonderful review!
ReplyDeleteI truly loved this little book and it IS different in several ways from the Austen original. I think it would be fun to read both and make comparisons:)
DeleteLoved my days in drama! I never took anything in college, high school was the end of my drama experience, and sometimes I regret that! We have a community theatre where I live and sometimes I think it would be fun to dip my toes in again:)