Paige is Mitcham College’s Silver Spoon; she can have any guy she wants. Or can she? When her friends bet she can’t get a bad boy to fall for her, she agrees to the wager. Enter Bash Baker; Mitcham College’s cherry popper. He’s the most egotistical, stereotypical jerk in the whole school. Either Bash’s fragile male ego is popped by the formal, or Paige has to give Mia’s nerdy cousin his first … French kiss.
Bash is Mitcham College’s Cherry Popper; he’s popped more cherries than Casanova in all of Venice*. But there’s one cherry his mates bet he’ll never get. Enter Paige Nicholls; the school’s ‘it’ girl. Never one to shy away from a bet, Bash agrees to his mate’s wager. Either Paige’s cherry is popped by the formal, or Bash gives up his title to the nerdy band geek in the year below them.
It’s War of the Romance as Paige and Bash try to seduce the other one without falling for the ruse themselves. Usual tactics don’t seem to be working, so the two of them might need to switch things up. Otherwise they might find they’re the one who’s popped.
*possible exaggeration.
This satirical rom-com is not recommended for younger readers due to mature content. Please be aware that this story is set in Australia and therefore uses Australian syntax and grammar.
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I had mixed feelings on this book. In the first fourteen chapters, all they talked about was “popping her cherry” over and over and over and over again. You get the idea. Also “popping her cherry” was ridiculously redundant. If the author could have used some other synonyms or phrases it would have been better, but she beat that phrase dead. Based on the first half of the book I would give the book a 1 star. It was so painful to get through the first half.
Now the second half of the book I thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe because this is where the story came alive and progressed, versus “popping her cherry” conversation non-stop. I started to warm up to the main characters. It played out like a teen movie but it was really sweet how the hero and heroine opened up to each other. If I could cut out the first half of the book, I would gladly give this book 3.5 stars. It was a cute teen story. If you want to give the book a chance, I would read the first two chapters, then skip to chapter 15.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.
There’s a first time for everything.
Every first is a cherry to be popped, not just sexually. Popping that big ego and pride cherry. Popping the cherry for learning to trust and to love. And the hardest cherry to pop of them all is finding your own truth.
We meet the boys in the first chapter and it’s very ‘Grease’ T-Birds. Danny (which would be Bash) telling his boys about all the chicks he can get. Chapter two is the girls and it is very ‘Clueless’ with Cher (Paige) telling her girls how pathetic teenage boys are.
Casanova Bash makes a bet with his boys that he can do what no other boy has been able to do: pop Princess Paige’s pristine cherry. Fed up with heartbreaking boys, Paige makes a bet with her girls that she can get Bash to fall in love with her so that she can ultimately break up with him spectacularly, popping his huge ego cherry.
Because bets dealing with relationships, sex, and love never backfire, right? Yeah, sure.
As Paige and Bash get to know each other I came to know them as well and realized we weren’t just dealing with crude boys and complaining girls but people with big hearts and lots of insecurities – that goes for their friends as well. It became easy to root for them and want them to be together for real.I
This book was really cute, fun with hints of ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ in it, funny, and heartwarming. Not my favorite from Elizabeth Stevens, but I liked it a lot!
Even though this book is YA and about high schoolers, I feel like it’s a bit mature for that age group to read. I mean, let’s face it, we know that a lot of kids have sex in high school, but still… my opinion is that it’s a bit too much.
Every time I read one of this author’s sweet and fun mature YA romances, I always think that it would make a great teen movie. Popped is no different as I found the storyline to be entertaining and the characters were endearing. This coming of age story features two characters who engage in making a bet among their friends and how in the process, they each learn a bit about themselves. There is a lot of humor involved as Bash and Paige go about fulfilling their side of the bet because what could possibly go wrong? I really enjoyed how as the story progressed as Bash and Paige each experienced a bit of self discovery and matured as characters. The dynamic between the friends, especially the witty banter was entertaining and I loved the humorous exchanges between Bash and Paige. True to this author’s previous works, Popped is full of a fun cast of characters complete with a positive message at the end, thus making it a quick, fun, and engaging read.