One Week Girlfriend (One Week Girlfriend, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Feb 09, 2013 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: tower-team, 4-and-a-half-to-5-stars, 1st-in-a-series, kindle-loan, kindle, abuse, new-to-me-author, realistic-fiction, college-uni, new-adult

So wow and omg with a little bit of WTF on the side.

I could have read this in one sitting, I really could have. It was that good. What a messed book, with some pretty effin messed people. Next book now please! Don't leave me hanging!!!!

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Jan 25, 2013 D.G. rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, new-adult, sports

One Week Girlfriend follows the usual premise in New Adult: traumatized guy meets traumatized girl, angst ensue. This is isn’t the worst of the bunch but I think it was too short to do the story justice.

Drew and Fable come from different worlds. He’s the golden boy football player: handsome, smart, famous, rich. Fable on the other hand is a poor local waitress who’s considered ‘easy’. Her mother only cares about her boyfriends and her next alcohol fix so Fable is mostly in charge of her younger One Week Girlfriend follows the usual premise in New Adult: traumatized guy meets traumatized girl, angst ensue. This is isn’t the worst of the bunch but I think it was too short to do the story justice.

Drew and Fable come from different worlds. He’s the golden boy football player: handsome, smart, famous, rich. Fable on the other hand is a poor local waitress who’s considered ‘easy’. Her mother only cares about her boyfriends and her next alcohol fix so Fable is mostly in charge of her younger brother. Because of her circumstances, money is always in short supply so it’s no wonder Drew’s offer was the kind she couldn’t refuse – he’ll pay her to be his fake girlfriend for a week.It doesn’t take long for Fable to realize that even though Drew seems to have everything, his problems are way bigger than hers. This was probably my favorite part of the story: Fable’s realization that rich people can suffer too and that money doesn’t solve everything. My least favorite part? The author’s “mallet to the reader’s head” approach in revealing Drew’s problem. It’s so obvious that I couldn’t believe nobody else knew about it. People in his life should have realized something was going on – Fable figured it out on her own after less than a week in his company.

Drew’s situation is heartbreaking. His guilt, self-loathing and isolation all made sense to me. I understood why he kept apart from people and didn’t have any close friends. I know people are seldom objective when dealing with their own problems but it stroke me as odd that Drew hadn’t considered therapy. He was smart enough to realize he needed help and given his situation, therapy would have been a good option.

Fable’s character was a bit more nebulous. I really couldn’t understand her motivations as well. She acts like her brother’s de facto parent: she make sure he eats, goes to school, doesn’t stay late, checks out he’s where he’s supposed to be, etc. This shows her as mature, sensible and caring, a loving sister who wants the best for her brother. That’s why her sleeping around didn’t make much sense to me. Not because it was wrong but because Fable wasn’t fine with it and she didn’t seem the kind of person to do self-destructive things just for the hell of it. This was the way Fable justified her behavior:

"…I let guys use me because for that one fleeting moment, when he’s focusing all of his attention on me and no one else, it feels good. It helps me forget that no one really cares."

But I just couldn’t believe it, especially when Fable could see herself in the mirror that was her mother.

Fable and Drew made for a good couple and I could understand why they were drawn to one another. I just didn’t think the story delved enough on both characters for deep feelings to flourish so quickly. But this book is not the end of the story. As expected with the recent rash of New Adult titles, the book ends in a cliffhanger so we know the story will continue. I just don’t know if I’ll keep reading. I’m getting tired of the recent rash of “series” that are short installments of the same story.

Review posted on Badass Book Reviews. ...more

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