For Real Review

 

Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong?

When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.

But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?
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Do you fancy reading a New Adult Contemporary where the storyline isn’t all about how broken and damaged the characters are? 

You do?

Well, look no further than For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron. This book is such a cute coming of age read told from twenty year old college student Shannon’s point of view.  Shannon is still a virgin, a “situation” her friends desperately want to help her with, much to Shannon’s dismay.  You see, there just hasn’t been anyone that’s interested her and she’s not about to give it up to just anyone.  So when her friends kidnap her phone and won’t let her leave a club without going home with a guy, Shannon is pretty upset and also pretty stuck until the guy she had a chance encounter with earlier appears out of nowhere and comes to her rescue.  Now, hold on a minute.  I’m not suggesting that Shannon throws herself at an almost complete stranger.  She’s a little classier than that.  In fact, Shannon is awkward to the nth degree and often comes out with the dumbest comments at the worst possible time which makes her quite endearing actually.  Not to mention the fact that she hates confrontation and doesn’t stand up to her friends when they’re being out of line. Oh, and she’s a bit of a control freak.  Jett on the other hand is a breath of fresh air from the usual college guy portrayed in New Adult books.  I LOVE the fact that he’s different and not arrogant or pretending to be something he’s not.  He’s just a nice guy who happens to have some interesting tattoos and sometimes experiments with his hair.  GUYS DO THAT and that’s okay.  He’s also pretty nice to Shannon and treats her with the respect she deserves. 

Anyway, so Shannon’s friends keep hounding her to get a boyfriend and lose her virginity and Jett’s roommate keeps nagging him to get a girlfriend so they come up with the perfect solution.  A fake relationship that keeps everyone happy.  They set ground rules (which they both keep breaking) and before long, it’s all feeling a little bit....real.  BUT because it’s a “fake” relationship, there was no pressure on either of them so they could relax around each other and be themselves which I suppose ultimately, is what helped them fall for each other.  It doesn’t hurt that they were attracted to each other from the beginning ;)

I thought For Real was a really sweet story with realistic scenes, especially the more intimate ones and who knew that virgins used safe words ;)  I didn’t like what Shannon’s friends did to her in the beginning which was stupid, reckless and dangerous but they realised afterwards and apologised.  I was slightly concerned with Shannon’s comment to her friends of “I hope I get raped” which yes, was said in anger but it was still enough to get my shackles up.  Also, do twenty year olds really stick their tongues out?  Y’know, besides Miley Cyrus I mean.  That seems a little babyish but then Shannon was a little sheltered so you can just about believe it.

One of the very best things about For Real is that whilst both characters had some family issues, it wasn’t all about that, and they weren’t portrayed as broken/damaged like a lot of other characters in these kinds of books.   I also really enjoyed the ending and there was no cliffhanger!!  I’m not sure whether this book is part of a series or not but it could easily be a standalone and again, I find that refreshing.  Overall, I enjoyed the story and I’m glad I got the chance to read it.  If you want a cute and realistic New Adult read, then this is the book for you and it's currently on sale. BONUS. 

For Real was published on 14th November, 2013.  To find out more about Chelsea M. Cameron and her books, please click here to visit her website.