Sway by Kat Spears
Author: Kat Spears
Series: None
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 16, 2014
Genre: Fiction; Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Romance; Disability; Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
In Kat Spears’s hilarious
and often poignant debut, high school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway,"
as he’s known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting
things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has
few close friends and he never EVER lets emotions get in the way. For Jesse,
life is simply a series of business transactions.
But when Ken Foster,
captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and
all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget
Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following
Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in
love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship
with Bridget’s belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral
palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run
into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while
developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man
really have a heart after all?
A Cyrano de Bergerac
story with a modern twist, Sway is told from Jesse’s point of view with
unapologetic truth and biting humor, his observations about the world around
him untempered by empathy or compassion---until Bridget’s presence in his life
forces him to confront his quiet devastation over a life-changing event a year
earlier and maybe, just maybe, feel something again.
When I first read the tagline Boy Meets Girl. Boy Charms Girl…For Someone Else., I immediately thought of Ten Things I Hate About You, one of my favorite movies, then I thought of Heath Ledger, then I sighed because Heath Ledger, then I picked up Sway because any book that can get me thinking about Heath Ledger is worth reading. Simple. Logic.
Jesse “Sway” Alderman specializes in getting people what they want. Drugs. Alcohol. An A on the semester exam. Done and done, with little to no effort. But when the school’s meathead, Ken Foster, asks Sway to get him a girl…well, Sway’s never turned down a challenge. When he realizes the “girl” isn’t just a “girl” but actually the town’s perfect do-gooder, Bridget Smalley, things get a little more challenging. Especially when he falls for her. Sway starts to change, even earns himself a new friend, Bridget’s younger brother. The only problem is he made a deal, and Bridget’s not his to keep. Will Sway fall surrender to the feelings he never knew he could feel, or will he tap into his steely, unemotional self and tell himself that this is “just business”?
First worry: The undoubtable presence of the dreaded Insta-love (Just add water!). Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad. Even though “Oh, I love you! Don’t leave me! I can’t live without you!” did show up right of the gate, it didn’t bother me that much. It could be because I was expecting it, but I don’t think so. Something about the way the author incorporated dark subjects like drugs and suicide made it, I don’t know, make sense.
Second worry: The lack of plot. I had some reasonable doubts about whether or not the nine word tagline revealed any and all plot the book contained. Would Sway turn out to be a lame, two-dimensional, superficial let-down? Or would actual tell a story worth reading? It turned out the answer would be the latter.
So, the story was good, the romance was good. Any actual complaints? Why, yes, thank you for asking. The only problem for me that almost ruined the entire book was Bridget Smalley. Too perfect, too pretty, too privileged, and waaay too hate-able. No one likes anyone that’s too perfect. And Bridget Smalley was too perfect. Sway was great. He had faults that made him all the more likeable. But Bridget had no faults. How am I supposed to like someone like that? Excuse me, but I’d like to think that guys don’t fall for just the perfect ones. However, I was able to overlook this small problem in the favor of Sway. So in the end, it’s just a tiny complaint, not a game-changer.
I liked it. In fact, it’s one of my new favorites. I would recommend it to any romantic in a heartbeat.
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