Review: Girl Meets Boy

     

Title: Girl Meets Boy
Author: Various

Series: None
Pages: 204

Publisher: Chronicle Books
Release Date: March 2012 (UK)
Source: For Review
Rating: 3 stars
100 Book challenge: #5

What do guys and girls really think? Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of "he said/she said" stories-he tells it from the guy's point of view, she tells it from the girl's. These are stories of love and heartbreak. There's the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl, and the flipside, the toxic girl who never learned to be loved; the basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; the gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen. Each story in this unforgettable collection teaches us that relationships are complicated-because there are two sides to every story.

The premise of this anthology is what attracted it to me. I love the idea of reading different perspectives on the same event and I think this is why I love dual narration novels so much. I found it really interesting seeing into the minds of both the characters in the partner stories. Unfortunately, despite loving the premise and enjoying some of the stories, I expected more than was delivered.

From the cover, the book seems like it is going to be light-hearted and fun and to be honest, cutesy. What I got was hard, gritty, diverse stories that whilst well written, weren't what I was expecting. I found it really hard to get attached to some of their characters due to their hard exterior and I wished I had been able to do so.

This being said, when I read a story where I could sympathize with the characters I fell in love. There was one set of stories that I adored. I want it to be a book so I can get more invested in the characters and see how life learns out for them. "Want to Meet" and "Meeting for Real" was beautifully written, with wonderful characters and an interesting plot. 

Overall, I loved some of the stories and some fell flat for me. I was expecting more romance when I went into the book but the grittiness, whilst unexpected, was enjoyable. The book provided a huge diversity in the stories which I highly commend. If you are interested in seeing stories from two different perspectives it is an interesting read but it isn't as light and fluffy as the cover suggests.