Make It Count (Bowler University, #1) by Megan Erickson

Source: Received eBook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Kat Caruso wishes her brain had a return policy, or at least a complaint hot-line. The defective organ is constantly distracted, terrible at statistics, and absolutely flooded with inappropriate thoughts about her boyfriend’s gorgeous best friend, Alec…who just so happens to be her brand new math tutor. Who knew nerd was so hot?

Kat usually goes through tutors like she does boyfriends—both always seem to bail when they realize how hopeless she is. It’s safer for her heart to keep everyone at arm’s reach. But Alec is always stepping just a little too close.

Alec Stone should not be fantasizing about Kat. She’s adorable, unbelievably witty, and completely off limits. He’d never stab his best friend in the back…

But when secrets are revealed, the lines of loyalty are blurred. To make it count, Alec must learn messy human emotions can’t be solved like a trigonometry function. And Kat has to trust Alec may be the first guy to want her for who she is, and not in spite of it.

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Review...

I'm a huge fan of the New Adult genre and this book in particular called to me to read it.  And while I really wanted to read this one, I kept putting it off.  The other night, I just wanted to read something I wanted to read.  I had other books that needed to be read but I wasn't feeling it.  So I flipped through my eBooks just looking.  I read the blurb again for this and I opened it to just maybe read a couple of chapter before bed.  Yeah, at 4:44AM, I closed the app and finished.  There was no putting this one down.

Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I so loved that this book (and it looks like this series) deals with characters who have personal struggles.  Kat is suffering from a learning disability but she doesn't know.  I whimpered to think of her going through elementary, middle and high school just thinking she wasn't as good as everyone else.  She worked so much harder and didn't get near as far as those around her.  Getting by with her good looks yet always feeling like she was being judged, she was emotionally fragile.  But what wit, humor and imagination lay behind the image everyone else sees.  Alec sees her, though.  

I love Alec.  He struggled through some personal tragedies growing up but he's got good grades and he's working to make the world a better place because of it.  As Kat's tutor, he's so patient with her.  He recognizes that she has a different learning style and he tries to adapt to that.  And he really doesn't like the way her boyfriend (his best friend) treats her.  But there's more.  He sees her for her.  They are able to share parts of themselves they hide from others when they are together.  I loved their relationship.

Those of you that worry about cheating books, don't worry.  The theme is there but before things happen between Kat and Alec, their status changes.

I loved that this love story had more to it than hot chemistry and a great relationship.  It's not enough that you care for the other person but you need to respect them too.  They need to feel that respect.  

The perfect length, I was very satisfied with this read.  I'm definitely in for this series.  I really want to see what's up for Max next.

If you love the NA genre but hope for a little something more than the average NA book, then this one is a great choice. 

 

About the Author...

My first stories written in crayon-scrawl on loose-leaf notebook paper were about my childhood pet — a deaf cat with dandruff. And after covering real-life dramas as a journalist, I decided I liked writing my own endings better and switched to fiction. My romance novels full of humor and heart are a far cry from those early scribblings about my hygiene-deficient pet.

I live in southern Pennsylvania, with my husband, two kids and two cats. I like a good pint of beer, a greasy bacon cheeseburger, homemade mac and cheese, and a great book with a happily ever after. When I’m not tapping away on my laptop, I’m probably listening to the characters in my head who just. Won’t. Shut. Up.