ARC REVIEW: Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes

Title/Series: Paper or Plastic
Author: Vivi Barnes
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Published: February 3rd 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 352
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!

Vivi Barnes | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Welcome to SmartMart, where crime pays minimum wage...

Busted. Alexis Dubois just got caught shoplifting a cheap tube of lipstick at the local SmartMart. She doesn’t know what’s worse—disappointing her overbearing beauty-pageant-obsessed mother for the zillionth time…or her punishment. Because Lex is forced to spend her summer working at the store, where the only things stranger than the staff are the customers.

Now Lex is stuck in the bizarro world of big-box retail. Coupon cutters, jerk customers, and learning exactly what a “Code B” really is (ew). And for added awkwardness, her new supervisor is the totally cute—and adorably geeky—Noah Grayson. Trying to balance her out-of-control mother, her pitching position on the softball team, and her secret crush on the school geek makes for one crazy summer. But ultimately, could the worst job in the world be the best thing that ever happened to her?

I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!

Everything about this book was cute, sweet and endearing. From the characters, even the crazy ones, to the storyline I am absolutely smitten! It was full of surprises and the only thing I regret is reading it so fast! I picked it up in the morning and was done with it before bed time. And that was with having to stop and do other stuff throughout the day. I was obviously hooked.

Like I said though this book really took me by surprise. I had a feeling it was going to be super cute just from the title and the cover alone. It had already been trapped in my radar so that's not what had me surprised. There's so much more going on beneath the cover than the blurb states. There's so much stacked against Lex and Noah that you had to wonder how anything could even be possible. Stuff that goes beyond simply geeky, loner boy and beautiful, popular girl. They're in different social circles so there's two sets of friends in the way. They come from two different worlds as well and to top it off each of them have very different, but very serious issues at home as well. It's just a huge mess but when the two of them are together all I hoped for was that they'd fight for each other. I'm such a sucker.

I was a bit worried towards the beginning because some of the characters were...well pretty odd once Lex started working at SmartMart. But just as they did with her, after a while they all just sort of become endearing and made me smile. Especially one named Ruthie, who in going for complete honesty here, I figured would be the one character to break the story from me. Instead she ended up becoming, after Lex and Noah of course, one of my favorite characters in the book! I feel like everyone would benefit from having someone with her enthusiasm, positivity and excitement in their lives. Well, at least in small doses!

Sometimes there is just nothing like a really good Young Adult romance. Where it focuses on the romance and the stories of the characters without people falling into bed at the turn of every page. Don't get me wrong I read and enjoy books like that too! It's just nice to switch gears on occasion and read something like this. Lex and Noah's romance was beyond sweet and I absolutely fell in love with them. Sure Lex drove me crazy here and there because of how much she cares about what other people think about her but she always seemed to make up for her actions in other ways. And Noah, oh man, I always feel so creepy that I'm crushing on a character who hasn't quite hit the age where it's legal to drool over him...even if he is fictional! But Noah is totally worth it. He is such a good, good person.

If you're looking for a fun and quick Young Adult read that's sweet and full of heart then I highly recommend this book. The summary doesn't even do it justice. A huge thanks to Entangled for the opportunity to read and review this book!!