Review: Friday Night Alibi

Title: Friday Night Alibi
Author: Cassie Mae
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: July 29th 2013
Source: Netgalley/Flirt

★★

Two stars.

Kelli knows just how to earn herself a steady cash flow (until she gets her trust fund that is)- for a very reasonable fee, she will be the excuse you give to your parents or your friends. Your alibi. Complete stories, full of detail, she will be the perfect "good girl" so parents never grow wise. But that persona- as well as her business- are going to be challenged when she meets college student Chase, a boy like she's never experienced before. What is she willing to risk for love and happiness?

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This isn't a bad book. I just have some problems with it that added up quickly.

First of these issues- this- in my mind- is not in the New Adult category. She may have graduated early, but she is still at a high school mentality. The evidence of this is clear in the dialogue scenes, where there is an abundance of teen speak: OMG, BFF, convo, deets. And she graduated early? I'm in college, and I don't know anyone that still talks that way outside of a frat house. (Nothing personal against Greek life. Just my own experience.) As it was, the "convos" felt a bit forced. I think it's because the town in which it's set is something that I don't relate too. There's a lot of "first world" problems about rich kids that I'm not really sympathetic towards. Maybe it's just a sign of the times, but I don't enjoy listening to the upper class whine about such pointless things.

Another part of this book that made it seem younger was the lack of sex. Now, I can respect clean romance and values in a book. But New Adult in general involves such content- it's what separates it from young adult and is why it's separating to a category of it's own, because it reaches beyond a teenage level to a more mature mindset. This might be young adult or clean romance, but to me the new adult title just doesn't work here.

With all of those unpleasantries out of the way, I really do like the concept of this book. I can't say that enough. Protagonist Kelli is great at her job. She goes into insane details with her alibis, including plot points in the movie she names for a discussion topic, and the color nail polish used at a sleep over. She had a great business model, which is why I think the teen speak was such a disconnect. It didn't give her enough credit as a character.

Between this apathy and the lack of mature situations, this just came off as dull. There was nothing either horrible or amazing about it. In my mind, it was just for a younger audience than myself with different life views. To me, it'll get lost among the other teen romances.

If you are a YA reader who likes clean romance, by all means check this out. I sincerely hope you like it more than I did. But if you're accustomed to new adult reads like Beautiful Disaster or Easy, I think you'll be disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Flirt for the chance to read this title.