**I received an ARC from Netgalley. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**
Why I Loathe Sterling Lane by Ingrid Paulson
Release Date: June 6, 2017
My Rating: 4.25 stars
Summary: Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy—academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s Sterling’s fault, and to protect her brother, she vows to take him down. As she exposes his endless school violations, he keeps striking back, framing her for his own infractions. Worst of all, he’s charmed the administration into thinking he’s harmless, and only Harper sees him for the troublemaker he absolutely is.
As she breaks rule after precious rule in her battle of wits against Sterling and tension between them hits a boiling point, she’s horrified to discover that perhaps the two of them aren’t so different. And maybe she doesn't entirely hate him after all. Teaming up with Sterling to save her brother might be the only way to keep from breaking the most important rule—protecting Cole.
I have Feelings™ about Why I Loathe Sterling Lane okay, it's been 5 days and I'm still not over it tbh.
Harper Campbell and her twin brother, Cole, attend a boarding school where Harper is the top of their class (thanks to 537 Rules that she lives by) and Cole is the star lacrosse player. Harper's life is running pretty perfectly until she finds out that Cole is short for the money he promised to raise for a new weight room. And. Legendary Sterling Lane has transferred to their school and seems hellbent on ruining Harper's life; first, he's Cole's new roommate and might be "corrupting" him. Then he insists on Harper writing his notes and his work because of his "illnesses." Sterling is generally the antithesis of Harper's Rules. On top of all this, Harper gets a new roommate, Kendall, after living without one all year.
At first, Harper and Sterling's relationship of pranking and generally irritating each other somewhat unnerved me because it seemed a bit too antagonistic without having a good reason. And Harper was pretty against all girls, especially Kendall, who is the prettiest, most popular girl in their grade. So yeah, I wasn't that into this book at first.
And then the second half happened.
Harper and Sterling's hostile relationship pretty much petered out so that the pranks were more in fun, and Harper starts to realize that Kendall is more than she seems, so there goes the female animosity. She befriends her later and they end up working together on some of the pranks. And!!! Harper defends Kendall's outer appearance of a "bubblehead" to her boyfriend when he makes a flippant comment.
More good things about this book: all throughout it, Harper recognizes a lot of the sexism around her, such as when Sterling is excused from his behavior because "boys will be boys," and when her dad dismisses Harper's worrying about Cole because "girls overreact all the time." She also isn't typically "feminine," which Sterling points out sometimes and she defends her own decisions (although Sterling's comments bother me at times but more on that later).
But the best thing about this book? Four words: Hate. To. Love. Relationship.
Hands down, the romance was my favorite part of this book. Again, it's been 5 days, and I cannot stop thinking about Harper and Sterling. This book was probably one of the best with this trope in it to be honest. I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me. This book is worth it for the ship.
The only thing I didn't quite like was Sterling's sexist comments. Whenever Harper would point them out, he would apologize, but then he would make another one later? I don't know, I just feel like sometimes he didn't really feel remorse about them, leading to not a lot of character development with him.
I really loved this book despite some of its flaws. I really want to reread it, honestly, but I should probably wait till it officially releases . . . but who cares? Anyway, if you like private school books (which I do) or hate-to-love relationships (which I LOVE), you should definitely pick this book up on June 6!
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GIVEAWAY:
Why I Loathe Sterling Lane Prize Pack, including:- A tote bag
- A mug
- Some stickers
(sorry the code isn't working, so check out another blog's post to find the giveaway)
Ingrid lives in San Francisco with her husband and children and enjoys long-distance running, eavesdropping, and watching science documentaries. She has always loved books and writing short stories, but was surprised one day to discover the story she was working on wasn’t so short any more. Valkyrie Rising, a paranormal girl power story was Ingrid’s first novel. Expect another humorous contemporary romance to join the list soon.
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