Rating: ⭐️
Received an arc from Net Galley for an honest review.
Expected Release: July 9th 2019
If I had read this a few months back, I might've liked it more but the fact that I put it off and read other, better, books didn't help it's cause.
Summary
Strategy is everything when it comes to gaming — and girls.
Zach is used to living in a world of legendary battles, epic journeys, and life-or-death situations. As a gamer, he is hard-wired for adventure, even though it’s from the comfort of his parents’ couch. But nothing has prepared him for battling the biggest storm in Saskatchewan’s history.
On top of this, Zach has finally met the girl of his dreams, but he finds himself helping everyone else stay safe while his best friend spends time with her. What Zach doesn’t realize is that love always finds its way when you’ve found the right person and are ready to risk it all to save the day.
First off, I want to pick apart this synopsis compared to the book itself. The tag line, strategy is everything when it comes to gaming — and girls, does not describe this book in the slightest compared to the actual story itself. The main character Zachary does not use strategy in gaming or to get the girl in this book. He has one heroic action when it comes to George but that is about it.
Then it says that Zach lives in a gaming world with battles and journeys, but this game has one little, MINUSCULE, bit of gaming in it. At the very beginning when they are in what I assume is a GameStop (i.e. gaming store, has different name in book). They also talk about some games, such as Fortnite, but there is no playing of games or anything of that sort, which was disappointing for me.
The next part discusses how nothing has prepared him for battling the biggest storm in his towns history. Well duh unless you've been in a tornado or a situation where a tornado has truly affected you in some way, nothing will adequately prepare you for facing one head on. Also this was more them taking cover from the tornado and not much else. The tornado is the only part of the book I found the slightest bit interesting. This would've probably been a DNF had there not been a tornado because that is the only thing I looked forward to when it came to the plot.
Next we finally get to the girl. From the moment Zach sees her he believes she is the girl of his dreams. Go figure she's a red head (me too). But how does he even know that?? It bothers me so much that he bases it based on her appearance alone before he even says a word to her. Then when he finally meets her (after their initial encounter) he gets super jealous of his best friend LOOKING at her. Like jeez will you just calm down? If you can't tell I really dislike this main character, and all other characters for the matter because they were all background parts to the non existent plot that revolved around a tornado at a mall.
Finally the part that irks me the most is the last line of the synopsis, What Zach doesn’t realize is that love always finds its way when you’ve found the right person and are ready to risk it all to save the day, LOVE? Where is this love you speak of? You just met this girl and barely know anything about her besides that she likes gaming. Wow dream girl right there for the shallow gamer. Also risk it all to save the day? What is saving the day? Helping the mall security guards usher people around the mall? Telling them about potential robbers who end up being dream girls parents? Getting hit with a piece of metal on the head? Who even knows. The one "saving the day" thing Zach did was help George. That is actually it.
I really really didn't like this book and I think when I first discovered it that I believed it had potential, and it very much did, but this book didn't even come close to the potential I had in mind. I expected a lot more. I would also like to say that this demographic, in my opinion, isn't young adult. I think it could be middle grade but in no way do I think it classifies as young adult besides the fact the boys are teens.
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