Special thanks to Skyscape for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

TL;DR: How to Win a Breakup is a fun and fairly angsty YA contemporary romance featuring the fake-dating trope, exes out to best each other, plenty of gaming geeks and an athlete himbo who loves to bake and has a heart of gold. Samaya had a lot of learning and growing to do and although it took a while for her to get there, she does make strides in the end. I loved the friendship she forms with Daniel, who is without a doubt my favourite character in this story! There were some parts that could’ve been stronger and less scattered but overall, this was enjoyable and a perfect summer beach read.

Farah Heron is an author that has been on my radar for a while now because her books always have such eye-catching covers and intriguing synopses. I’m glad I’ve finally picked up one of her books because I enjoyed her writing a lot! It’s fun and easy to read and sucked me in pretty quickly even with all the teenage angst and drama that I usually really don’t enjoy. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a struggle at times to get through because of the drama and angst, not to mention that all the characters were deep in their teen phase and not always very likeable. I do feel like this is one of those YA contemporaries that make me feel like maybe I’ve outgrown the genre but I still found a lot to enjoy while reading it.

In terms of the writing and plot, I think my biggest qualm would be that there were times the story was a little too all over the place and tried too hard to fit too much. This didn’t leave much time to really dive into certain aspects that deserved it and ultimately, made the resolution of these parts of the story feel underwhelming or even confusing.

As a POC, I will never stop loving the fact that we get to see so much diverse representation in books these days and the younger me squeals with joy each time I see a story centred on POC, especially in YA and contemporary romance in particular. This was also set in Canada, which I was not expecting and so that was cool—although, to be honest, without it being explicitly stated in the story, I wouldn’t have noticed that much of a difference. There’s a considerable cast of characters that we meet but most only served to drive Samaya’s story forward and didn’t get much development.

As the main character and POV, I have to admit I wasn’t always the biggest fan of Samaya, especially at the start. She’s quite self-centred and has a sarky, pessimistic, attitude that combined with her teenage fixation on how others perceive her, felt a bit tiring. But I empathised with her situation because her ex is pretty douchey and doesn’t seem to know what he wants throughout the story. Despite her flaws, her POV was still engaging and she does eventually experience growth towards the end and learns to not only be a better friend but to also remove herself from being an active participant in the toxic gossip cycle that only serves to hurt herself and others.

What I think would’ve made this better is getting Daniel’s POV because I ADORED him! He’s a hockey player and a bit of a himbo, as well as an absolute sweetheart who spends a great chunk of his free time helping out and baking sweet treats at the homeless shelter. His big heart, optimism and sunshine personality were a great contrast to Samaya’s moodiness and their fake-dating romance was fun to watch unfold! They had awesome chemistry and I enjoyed their sweet friendship and how much Daniel grounded Samaya and helped her see things in a different light. I loved learning about his backstory too and it really tugged on my heartstrings and made it that much easier to root for him. 💜

Overall, this wasn’t entirely what I expected when I decided to read it and although there was a little too much teenage drama and angst for my liking and I wished certain parts had been resolved better, I still found it an enjoyable enough read!

Have you read How to Win a Breakup or is it on your TBR?

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