Title: The Gamer’s Guide to Getting the Girl
Author: Kristine Scarrow
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5
Zack is a gamer. He’s all for adventure, as long as it’s from the safety of his own couch. Then the girl of his dreams walks into his life—in the mall—and Zack manages to stick both feet in his mouth instead of impressing her. Well, it’s not like he’ll have to see her again, right? His embarrassment can die, along with his dreams.
Except the biggest storm in Saskatchewan’s history has people trapped in the mall. Zack, his best friend, Zack’s dream girl, and a handful of others are trapped while the storm rages outside. The waters are rising, the winds are raging, and soon they realize they aren’t the only ones in the dark mall. Zack finds himself in the middle of a real-life adventure, pitting himself against the storm and the shadowy figures that threaten his group as he tries to win the girl.
I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews for this book, and I guess it depends on your expectations. I was expecting a quick, fun read with a bit of romance against the backdrop of a storm…and that’s exactly what I got. Zack’s a good character: he says the wrong thing without realizing, but he tries to do the right thing and puts himself before others. There’s even a couple of great scenes where he sets an example to some younger guys for how to treat women and people in general. The only thing that really bothered me was the tornado: I’m from Texas. Tornadoes here drop out of the sky without warning. They don’t loom for hours (I’m not talking about a tornado watch, where the conditions for one are good, but I mean an actual tornado is on the ground for hours), as they did in this book, so that was actually a deterrent and pulled me out of the story. But…I’ve never been to Saskatchewan; I don’t know how the weather is there. This is just my own personal weather experience.
Kristine Scarrow believes in writing as a healing art. She’s also a mother, an author, and a proudly hails from Saskatchewan. The Gamers Guide to Getting the Girl is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Dundurn via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
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