Review: The Fine Art of Truth Or Dare by Melissa Jensen

Title: The Fine Art of Truth Or Dare
Author: Melissa Jensen
Published: February 2012 (Speak)
Summary: Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is her French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before.

My Review: I was looking forward to The Fine Art of Truth or Dare for several months before it came out. I loved the title, cover, and summary, and I was super excited for it to come out. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I enjoyed it.

This book had perhaps the most original prologue I've ever read. It seemed all normal and ordinary until the very last line, which made me do a double take and read the whole thing over again, giggling the whole time. BRILLIANT. Unfortunately, the rest of the book did not quite live up to the hilarity and awesomeness of the first few pages, but it was still pretty good.

I found Ella to be a very relatable heroine for the most part, particularly regarding her awkwardness. She had some serious scarring from an accident as a child, and she had some insecurity issues because of it. It was nice watching her grow into herself and her identity without always thinking about her scar. I could also definitely see why Ella liked Alex. He was a nice, funny, smart guy who also happened to be super hot and filthy rich. AKA, Out of Ella's League. But no worries. In the world of fictional romance, this is never a problem.

My biggest pet peeve with this book is spoilery, so skip this next section if you don't want to know. But THEIR FIRST KISS HAPPENS IN A FADE-OUT. As in, it's about to happen, but then suddenly, it's like two weeks later. WHAT. As well-written, swoon-worthy kiss scenes (particularly first kiss scenes) are pretty much my favorite thing in books ever, I was rather peeved at this.

The pace was a little odd at times, and I didn't really like Ella's friends all that much. Although they did have their moments, and I enjoyed their constant games of Truth or Dare. It kind of reminded me of The Truth About Forever (which is my favorite YA book of all time, ergo definitely a good thing). I did like the humor of the book, though. It was consistently amusing but never over the top. But don't take my word for it. I will end with some quotes, and you can see for yourself!

❝Since “Hi, I’m Ella. You look like someone I’d like to spend the rest of my life with,” would have been totally insane, I opted for sitting quietly and staring.❞

❝I couldn’t think of any possible universe where wrapping myself around his knees to keep him in place would be construed as anything other than psychotic.❞

❝The silence went on just long enough to make it uncomfortable. But I wasn’t going to help him with his small talk. I’m not very good at it in the best of circumstances. Sitting almost thigh to thigh with a guy who turned me into a mental pretzel was nowhere near a good circumstance.❞

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