I am beyond thrilled to be part of the tour for ALL THE RIGHT REASONS (a book I devoured btw). This tour is hosted by TURN THE PAGE TOURS. Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for the review copy!
Bethany Mangle is the author of the young adult contemporary novel Prepped. She was born in Korea and raised in New Jersey in a household full of books, sheet music, and dog hair. She currently lives and writes in Mississippi. Visit her at BethanyMangle.com
BOOK TITLE: All the Right Reasons
AUTHOR: Bethany Mangle
RELEASE DATE: February 15th 2022
PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry
GENRE: YA contemporary
PAGE COUNT: 304 pages
The Bachelor meets Gilmore Girls in this laugh-out-loud young adult romance about a girl who joins her mother on a reality dating show for single parents—only to fall for a contestant’s son.
Cara Hawn’s life fell apart after her father cheated on her mother and got remarried to a woman Cara can’t stand. When Cara accidentally posts a rant about her father online, it goes viral—and catches the attention of the TV producers behind a new reality dating show for single parent families.
The next thing Cara and her mother know, they’ve been cast as leads on the show and are whisked away to sunny Key West where they’re asked to narrow a field of suitors and their kids down to one winning pair. All of this is outside of Cara’s comfort zone, from the meddling producers to the camera-hungry contestants, especially as Cara and her mother begin to clash on which suitors are worth keeping around. And then comes Connor.
As the son of a contestant, Connor is decidedly off-limits. Except that he doesn’t fit in with the cutthroat atmosphere in all the same ways as Cara, and she can’t get him out of her head. Now Cara must juggle her growing feelings while dodging the cameras and helping her mom pick a bachelor they both love, or else risk fracturing their family even more for the sake of ratings. Maybe there’s a reason most people don’t date on TV.
Reasons to read: you get an inside look at what it's like on a reality dating show, cute romance, and mom and daughter relationship goals.
The second I read the synopsis for this book I had grabby hands. Never mind the fact that I was cooking dinner perusing the internet and may or may not have dropped an egg on the floor (THE WORST). Gilmore Girls is the show that got me through the early days of motherhood when I didn't know wtf I was doing and I was home with a tiny human without anyone else to talk to when the husband was at work. So, when I saw this book had GG as a comp title, I knew I had to find a way to read it ASAP.
Cara's dad is a big ol' poop-head. He dropped the divorce bomb on his anniversary and remarried a woman he met at the gym, where he and Cara's mother work and manage. Cara and her mom are just making ends meet and emotionally, they're both almost out of spoons, so when Cara's accidental viral meltdown sends tv producers knocking on their door, Cara and her mother decide the best revenge is to be happy in any way possible.
But once they arrive at the house and meet the single father's, things get a tad messy with a knowit-all girl making Cara's life miserable and a boy named Conner catches her eye. She quickly realized you cannot push someone into love and that sometimes it comes in the most unexpected ways.
I loved all the reps especially the one where the mother is athletic and driven and doesn't take any s&*t. It's nice to see a woman portrayed that way.
The mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of GG, especially how much the two love to eat.
I was invested in this story off the bat and the set-up was great. I knew who the endgame would be, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment. My only qualm is that I wished the end had been expanded on and that we had more time with ___(Leaving that there on purpose to create mystery) to see the relationship really blossom as opposed to Cara seeing it so late in the game. I also needed some punishment for the bully.
Overall, I flew through this book and loved every second of it.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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