Check out our review of Karen Bischer’s young adult contemporary romance ‘The Secret Recipe For Moving On’ – and enter the giveaway while you’re here. Courtesy of Xpresso book Tours!

When Ellie is dumped by her boyfriend, she’s forced to make new friends (while watching her ex swoon over his new girlfriend) in The Secret Recipe for Moving On, a smart and funny YA debut from Karen Bischer.

Ellie Agresti’s not sure anything could be worse than being dumped by her boyfriend, Hunter, the first day of senior year.

But sharing a “life skills” class with him and his new girlfriend, Brynn? AND getting partnered with a “family” of misfits (A.J., the loudmouth; Isaiah, the horse-racing obsessive; and Luke, the tattooed stunt-biker)?

It’s a recipe for certain disaster…until an in-class competition allows Ellie to channel her angst into beating Hunter and Brynn’s team, and she unexpectedly bonds with her own group–especially Luke–in the process.

But as Ellie soon discovers, it will take more than classroom triumphs to heal her broken heart–and find herself again.

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

First things first, this cover is GORGEOUS! It’s also a great representation for the book – The Secret Recipe For Moving On is super sweet, and easy to read. It’s a bit predictable, even based on the title of the book, and follows a lot of similar plot lines as other high school-based romance novels, but none of that made me like it any less. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, and felt like each was written with their own unique tone of voice that was AUTHENTIC! There’s nothing worse than reading a story where adult authors write their teenage characters to use slang words or dialogue that just doesn’t make sense. Not only did each character seem genuine and real, they were all fully fleshed out and stood on their own, and I really admire that in young adult writing.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but this gave me Breakfast Club vibes in the sense that Ellie gets stuck working with a group of “mistfit” kids that she immediately judges based on their appearance, and this group ends up being how she recovers from a nasty breakup during her senior year. I love the full 180 that Ellie did as a person – her family had a monetary loss and she had to see what life was like without all of the things she was used to. She went from dating a guy who was kind of a jerk and tolerating his douchebag friends to finding her own lane in life. I think we’ve all experienced something similar along the way, thinking we’re making a worthy sacrifice for love or friendship only to realize we were doing ourselves a disservice when things fell apart.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ellie navigate her new friendships and this home ec style class, and watching her relationships blossom with her JAILE Family. She was a likable main character that you couldn’t help but root for, and the story had all of the perfect ingredients (pun intended) for a great rom-com!

Rating:

About The Author:

Karen Bischer has written short stories for Girls’ World and Animal Tales magazines and currently works as a copyeditor. She lives in her native New Jersey, where she has never encountered Bruce Springsteen in the wild, but does have a cat named after a member of the E Street Band.

Connect With Karen: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for the chance to win a print copy of The Secret Recipe of Moving On!

Like what you see? Follow Drunk On Pop on bloglovin’!