Review: Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London

Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London
Publication date: Apr. 14, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Crush
Category: Young Adult - Contemporary Romance
Source: Received from publisher via Netgalley (Thanks!)
Summary: Miles Carlisle is every teen girl’s fantasy. His rugged good looks & exotic British accent have helped catapult his boy band, Seconds to Juliet, to super-stardom. But after two disastrous, very public breakups, Miles isn’t interested in dating just any girl; he wants The One. And the only girl he’s interested in is his best friend’s little sister and off-limits. As a kid, Aimee Bingham had a huge thing for Miles…until he made fun of her for always tagging along. Now that she’s outgrown both him and her pigtails. the prospect of spending two weeks on tour with the childhood crush who broke her heart isn’t exactly enticing. Except now Miles seems interested. Very interested. And no matter how hard Aimee tries to resist him, her crush is definitely making a comeback. But everyone knows that falling for a heartthrob is a backstage pass to heartbreak. (goodreads.com)

The good

Sometimes you just want a cute, swoony book to escape into for a couple hours and Aimee and the Heartthrob delivers exactly that. Aimee thought she had her summer all planned out when circumstances suddenly force them to change. Now she has to go on tour with the insanely popular boy band, Seconds to Juliet, and she is not happy about it at all. It may sound like every girl's dream but she's known one of the guys, Miles Carlisle (nicknamed "the heartthrob") since childhood. He's her older brother's best friend and to her.. well he's a crush who inadvertently broke her young heart. But now that they're meeting again, she can't help but notice how he gorgeous he still is and for the first time, he's noticing the exact same thing about her. In fact, Miles can't believe just how grown up Aimee is and the chemistry between them is undeniable as they reconnect.

We get both sides to this romance and that's part of what made it so fun. Aimee is what I imagine most teenage girls to be like now. Constantly on their Twitter or Instagram, starting up blogs, crushing on guys in boy bands and talking to their best friends on the phone. Although that's not too different from how I was then.. minus the social media stuff (although, AOL anyone?). It was easy to slip into her shoes and imagine how she felt. Even though my high school crushes didn't turn out be superstars, I do remember pretty vividly what it feels like to obsess over a crush and want desperately for them to want you. And when they do.. how do you react? But on the flip side, I loved seeing Miles side of things. He's a guy who genuinely loves music, songwriting and being in the band. And he's not the player everyone wants him to be. He's had his heartbroken more than once. Then Aimee comes along and she's not like anyone he's ever met. We get to see them spend time together on tour, reveling in their feelings for each other, trying to hide it from everyone and figure out if the other feels just as strongly. They just had a lot of flirty, sweet moments (and lots of kissing!) that made me root for them to work out.

(Minor) Reservations

Sometimes all the references to Instagram (or rather "Insta" as Aimee likes to call it) and the attempts to sound really young and cool felt a bit over the top. But then again, what do I know about being teenager right now?

Do I recommend?

I do! It was a really fun read for me and I even found myself sneaking in some reading during my lunch break at work. I enjoyed it!