Mini Review: Flirting with Maybe by Wendy Higgins

Flirting with Maybe by Wendy Higgins
Release Date: April 1, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen Impulse
Source: Friend's Personal Copy
Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
He was fifteen and she was seventeen.

When sophomore Ryan "The Kid" McPhearson makes the Varsity baseball team, he finds himself submersed into the life of upperclassmen, and falling in love with senior Brooke Bennet. To Ryan she's his dream girl, perfect, Maybe to the outside world a two-year age difference doesn't matter, but this is high school. Everything matters.

Ryan soon realizes Brooke's life is not so perfect. He becomes her closest friend, her safe place to fall when she needs to escape. Ryan seems to be benched in the friend zone with no chance to bat.

Time is both a curse and a blessing. It ushers Brooke away to college, and Ryan into the arms of his first girlfriend. It alters Ryan from a kid to a high school graduate, ready to venture to college himself. But when Ryan sees Brooke again he realizes there are some things even time can't touch.

Though much has changed, one question still remains. Will the things that mattered in high school always stand between them?

         Here's the thing, I love the concept of this novella but I just couldn't love it and enjoy it as much as I know I could have.

Brooke, the main character's love interest, pissed me off with her indecisiveness and with the ways she treated Ryan. Brooke is the kind of girl I normally dislike because she feels entitled to everything: the cool clothes, the cars, the cute boys and etc... Brooke knew all along how Ryan felt about her and she continued to act as if she didn't care. She flirted and kissed him and messed with his feelings with no care of how it might affect him. When he tried to keep his distance from her, she would act like a petulant child and cry about it until he talked to her. That is no way to treat someone you call a friend.

For Ryan's part, I really needed him to grow some balls and move on. I wanted Ryan to have a good time and enjoy his high school career instead of just pining away for Brooke the whole time. It feels like he didn't give himself a chance to really forget about Brooke. He was with his girlfriend, Michelle, even when he didn't like her. He knew he didn't care about Michelle and he still stayed in the relationship, only ending it when Brooke (conveniently) came back into his life. That's a big no-no for me.

Overall, this novella had a lot potential but the character just didn't do it for me. I couldn't help but hate Brooke and I hoped that Ryan would step up and stand up for himself and what he wanted. Unfortunately, I had expected more from Ms. Higgins considering that I really enjoyed Sweet Evil.