Tomboy to the core, Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and burping contests over manicures. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a lady while the guys move on without her.
Then Toni meets Emma Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her friends as a pretend date. Word spreads of Toni’s connections with boys, and she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine’s Rent-A-Gent Service.
But the business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends--the same guy who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love.
One Of The Guys, to me, was a coming of age story for Toni. Even though she's a senior, this girl has a lot of growing up to do. A tomboy to the bone, though mostly a lack of manners, Toni has always been one of the guys. There was a prank gone wrong, and now she's going to an all girls school instead of going through senior year with her three best guy friends. From the moment that news is known, things start changing between the four of them and Toni hates it.
Change is never easy. What I feel is the hardest part for Toni, is that she feels that they are all drifting apart. Since her school life and her personal life are kind of slipping out of control, she desperately needs her friends, except that is also not longer the same. All this change is coming to her at once, and it's too much for her. So the opportunity for the Rent-A-Gent-Service seems perfect for Toni, a way she can stay connected with her old friends.
While the story was okay, I felt like things got left a bit superficial and a lot of issues unspoken. In the first chapter I already felt the friendship between these four unraveling, so I would have liked to have seen a stronger connection between them at first before all the drama happened. Or at least let the unraveling happen slower. Also they are seniors, and it didn't quite feel like that, as in I expect more maturity from people that age. To me this coming of age, and all the change, feels more naturally for fifteen or sixteen year olds.
I did find it funny how obviously clueless Toni is when it comes to boys, when she has been best friends with three of them forever. There is of course also the part where Toni discovers that it can actually be nice to have female friends, including a little makeover. Overall a fun coming of age story, with loveable characters, though for me lacking a bit of depth and contains too much clichés.
No comments:
Post a Comment