Friday Night Alibi

Friday Night Alibi
by Cassie Mae
Flirt, 2013
Reviewed from NetGalley
Format:  eBook
Audience:  15 and Up
ISBN: 9780345548818
Publication Date:  July 29, 2013


Kelli Pinkins has a plan to leave her conservative Christian country club behind and travel, but in order to do that, she needs to make some money.  Enter her Friday Night Alibi business in which she acts as the alibi for other conservative teens that want to go out and get their freak on without their parents suspect a thing.  While Kelli is "out" with her clients, she's making pretty good money and playing a lot of online video games, but when her friend insists she actually leave her house, Kelli runs into Chase, a rather arrogant guy that just won't accept the fact that she doesn't like him-or does she?  Is Chase just the guy Kelli needs to stop pretending to have a social life and actually live a little?  

Yes, New Adult Week continues with another gem full of heavy sighs and dreamy endings!  

I would just like to say, why didn't I run a Friday Night Alibi business in high school?  The idea is actually pretty brilliant if you think about it.  But I didn't know any spoiled rich kids who would be willing to pay to keep their date a secret.  We just snuck around in my town.  Come to think of it, I could have used that alibi a time or two.  

(Mom, if by accident you are still reading this week, I was kidding!)

It was a little difficult for me to connect with Kelli.  She really is the spoiled little rich girl.  Her parents do honestly abandon her most weekends and it does not seem like they are all that attentive, but it really looks like she has everything else.  This is the type of book that randomly drops designer names to make the reader jealous.  

Chase was too good to be true.  I'm just going to toss out the spoilers right here.  Chase does know what it's like to lose this trust fund, because he cashed his in to travel the world with his terminally ill brother and now he is more focused for living for today than living for his family.  His whole character is meant to be charming, but arrogant, stable, but exciting, safe but new.  His relationship with Kelli is just a bit too safe and understanding.  But, it's the fantasy of finding the perfect guy that understands you completely even when you don't understand yourself.

I feel like 50% of the sentences I type in this post could easily be tag lines for Lifetime movies, but the book is that sappy.

Okay, Girls test and Readability Scale.  A fan of Girls is not going to like the innocence of this book.  It's just this side of a clean romance since there is no sex, just lots of making out.  They don't even make it to second base.  Plus, Kelli is entirely protected from any kind of true independence.  She lives in a gated, conservative community and she is entirely the kind of girl that thinks she wants a daring adventure when what she really wants is a movie night with her parents.  Girls fans-pass.

As for readability, this is a tough one.  Since there's only an overabundance of first base action, can it really be called smut?  Then again, take out all the making out and the story is pretty thin.  I don't mind a romance, but I would like it to come with a side of substance.

Remember how I said that NA is creating a whole subgenre of innocent little things wanting to unleash their inner sex kitten?  That's exactly what's going on here.  I would say that Friday Night Alibi has an audience with sweet high schoolers that want to have sex but aren't quite ready.  It's like Twilight's Edward.  Girls want a guy that wants to have sex with them, but respects them enough not to.  That's a tall order, but it is possible.  

Today's book represents the sappy romance side of NA.  I promise to show you something a little more mainstream soon!

Happy Reading!