My Best Friend Prince Charming | ARC Review

Summary

They were best friends. He’s always wanted more. Will his newfound fame destroy them?

Shannon

Ryker and I have been best friends since third grade. We were the poor kids in the school, but that didn’t matter. We always had each other. And we had big plans to get scholarships and make something out of our lives. But now he’s been discovered by a big time Hollywood film director who wants to cast him as Prince Charming in an upcoming production of Cinderella.

Our college plans have been flushed down the toilet overnight, and now Ryker’s become famous with a ridiculous amount of money coming his way.

Thanks to the paparazzi, girls are swarming him both in person and online. And Ryker seems to love every minute of it. It’s so annoying.

I feel like I’m losing my best friend in the worst way possible, and I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’ve been lying to myself about my feelings for Ryker for a long time.

Ryker

I’ve secretly had feelings for my best friend Shannon for years, but she’s solidly kept me in the friend zone.

When a famous Hollywood director sees me as the lead in his niece’s high school play, he casts me on the spot as Prince Charming in his upcoming Cinderella film. I’m in shock and on top of the world as my biggest, wildest dreams are coming true. I’m finally leaving behind my old life of poverty and moving up in the world.

But now Shannon’s acting super weird and withdrawn. I don’t understand why she can’t just be happy for me. I wish she could see that I don’t care about the fangirls. Shannon’s the only girl I’ve ever wanted, and nothing, not even fortune and fame will change that.

But I’m afraid that all this luck may prove to be unlucky after all. Because if I lose Shannon, will it really have been worth it?

Review

This book was a sweet, YA rom-com that can be read as a stand-alone or with the other Sweet Mountain High books. I had so many emotions and thoughts as I read through this book.

First, right at the beginning of the book, one of the main characters, Ryker, is offered a main role in an upcoming blockbuster movie. I love that he took the time to consider this big decision. In so many YA books where the main character is given an amazing opportunity, they just take it without thought. I like that Ryker took the time to weigh all the pros and cons before coming to a decision. This might be a little unbelievable for a 17/18-year-old guy, but I liked it nevertheless.

Secondly, I like that this book talks about some relationship issues that kids noways experience. Ryker and Shannon, the two main characters, both have a hard past with their parents that’s discussed a bit here. It affects their future relationships, as we see throughout the book. I’m glad the author chose to explore these issues with her characters since I’m sure there are teenagers in the world that deal with these issues IRL and would be happy to see there is help out there for them.

Along with all these things I liked, there were also some things I didn’t. Part of my dislike starts with Shannon. She was so wishy-washy sometimes that it just grew annoying. She deals with a lot of emotional trauma throughout the book which is why she acts the way she does sometimes, but it still bothered me.

As well, the plotline moved so fast that we often didn’t get much description when I felt like I needed it. It seemed like we were constantly moving between places and events with only a few lines of dialogue to hold us over. I wish I could have seen more of Ryker and Shannon’s thoughts rather than just dialogue and storyline. Like when Shannon was acting upset with Ryker, why was she upset? What was she feeling at that moment to make her so upset? I wish we could have seen a little more of that.

Overall, it was a quick and cute contemporary romance read. It was fun getting to go on this adventure with Ryker and Shannon and getting to see Ryker’s quick rise to stardom. Also, it’s a good book for younger ages as it doesn’t contain any swearing or sexual content.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Cindy Ray Hale, go to her GoodReads profile or her website. Want to buy this book? Click here for Amazon.