Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart


Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart
"Ruby Oliver is in love. Or it would be love, if Noel, her real live boyfriend, would call her back. But Noel seems to have turned into a pod-robot lobotomy patient, and Ruby can’t figure out why.

Not only is her romantic life a shambles:
Her dad is eating nothing but Cheetos,
Her mother’s got a piglet head in the refrigerator,
Hutch has gone to Paris to play baguette air guitar,
Gideon shows up shirtless,
And the pygmy goat Robespierre is no help whatsoever.

Will Ruby ever control her panic attacks?
Will she ever understand boys?
Will she ever stop making lists?
(No to that last one.)"- summary from Amazon

First off, I absolutely love this series and am very sad it's come to an end. I've read this book twice now- once way back in August or something before sending it out on a tour and then again just now after having re-read the previous three. I thought it would be nice to read all about Roo's adventures from beginning to end. It was totally awesome.

These books are some of the best out there, and I never get tired of re-reading them. I always forget to include them on my re-readable list but I've read these books twice (Books 3 and 4) or thrice (Books 1 and 2) and could easily re-read them again. Roo's voice just pulls you in and the pages just keep turning. The stuff she goes through is just heartbreaking to read, but what I love is that she always has a sense of humor about it all. The books don't get melodramatic and even when she's sulking, it's still a bit funny.

This final book just ended really well and Lockhart has a complete fan for life in me (ok, she already did have one in me before this book, but each new book she has just keeps confirming it). Having read the four books so close together, you really see Ruby growing emotionally throughout the books and the books are so realistic and don't pull any punches. They're a bit stream-of-consciousness which I love because I can be a bit like that too at times.

Overall, I just can't recommend this book or series enough. They've just been re-released with all new covers (though I do enjoy the old ones more) so now's the time to dive in to this wonderful series!

FTC: ARC received at June 2010 ALA (last copy!). Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

3 comments:

  1. Oh! How you tempt me!
    I'm kind of waiting for the PB because I have all the other books in PB, and I still need to start with Treasure Map :P

    *sigh*

    Time will tell I suppose, though, to be honest, I rarely can resist temptation.
    :D

    Thanks for the awesome review

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  2. ooh great review! I really must read this soon. I can't wait to see how it all ends. HEA I hope, although I doubt it with Ruby but I'll take well and with emotional growth :)

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  3. I really, really want to read something by E. Lockhart. Right now all I have by her is Frankie-Landau Banks, which I've heard is excellent, but your post reminds me I need to purchase the rest of her books.

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