Review: Shy Girl vs Popular Boy by Jordan Ford

Shy Girl vs Popular Boy (Forever Love #3)
by Jordan Ford

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
A second-place sister. A first-rate jock. Can the light of love shine through the darkest pain?

Bianca:
Cam likes me. He’s asked me on a date.
It’s kind of unbelievable. He could have any girl he wants, yet his eyes landed on me.
Can this be real?
Do I go for it?
He’s so out of my league. I’m terrified.

I don’t think the other girls like it. Their heated glares are warning me away, and now my twin sister’s in trouble too. Stacey won’t tell me what’s wrong, but she’s acting weird and I’m worried that her boyfriend has hurt her. I need to get to the bottom of it. I’m all she has left.

Can I really make this thing with Cam a reality?
I want him so badly, but I promised Stacey I’d stick with her no matter what.
How do I protect both sides of my heart?
How do I choose between love and loyalty?

Shy Girl vs Popular Boy is the third story in the touching Forever Love YA contemporary romance series. If you like sweet high-school settings, sisterhood bonds, and sensitive takes on real-world trauma, then you’ll adore Jordan Ford’s rollercoaster journey.

My Review

I received a free copy of this book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I am really enjoying this series so far and happily started the third book in this series. I really like how this series follows this whole family of characters and from book to book the focus shifts a bit to different characters. It’s a romance story, but it’s so much more. It has heartbreak and hope, pain and love. And it’s such an addictive read that makes me want to keep reading even with the more difficult moments.

Shy Girl vs Popular Boy shifts the focus to Bianca, Cam and Stacey. Bianca and Cam are slowly falling for each other. And Stacey is still trying to run away from her grief. I really liked Bianca and Cam’s romance, they’re so sweet and cute together. Cam is just a genuinely nice guy and I like how sweet he is to Bianca and wants to make sure she knows how beautiful and special she is to him. He does miss how Bianca struggles to fit in with his group of popular friends at times, but I think that will be a topic for the next book.

They slowly grow closer together and in this book. But while Bianca is slowly falling for Cam, she also is worrying about Stacey, something has happened and Stacey won’t tell anyone. So she’s torn between those happy emotions and worry for her sister.

Stacey really goes through something really difficult in this book. From book 1 it was clear she was needing an escape from her grief and that sends her into the arms of a guy who might not be good for her. She so didn’t deserve what happened to her in this book and it’s so sad and heartbreaking seeing her have to deal with this. It was beautiful when she finally opens up to Beck and he is there for her like a parental figure. He might not have wanted that role, but he is handling it in an awesome way. And now I am so curious for the rest of the story, it feels like she’s gone trough this hardship now and hopefully this paves the way for a sweet guy to show her love. There’s even a hint of who that guy might be. And I want to see her get through this and find her happiness.

So this book is all about the twins. It was nice to have those happy moments of Bianca and Cam’s romance to cancel out the darker and sadder moments of what Stacey is going through. But in a sense it all ties together well too. I liked how we see how these twins care about each other and also how Cam plays a role in the whole situation and how he is there for Stacey as well now that he’s falling for Bianca.

And while this book ends in a good place, I just can’t wait for the next book. Bianca and Cam’s romance clearly only has just started and they still have things to deal with. Like Bianca’s low self esteem and body image struggles and there’s also a bit of set-up with some girls who don’t like her. Then there is Cam’s home situation and while I get he wants to hide that from Bianca, but I hope he opens to her about it. Then there is Stacey who has gone through a lot and I just want to know how her story continues and how she’ll find love.

While the focus is on Bianca, Cam and Stacey, just like in the previous books we also see bits of the other characters. I like how Harper and Thane still play a role here as well. It’s fun to see how they interact with each other and slowly become more of a family. Thane is Cam’s best friend so there’s plenty of him around. It’s fun to see Harper and Thane from the other characters point of view now. There isn’t as much about Willow and Oscar in this book as they aren’t as close to the twins, but that makes sense. I also like how we see Beck be there for Stacey in this book. It was awesome.

To summarize: This was another great installment in this series. There is filled with heartbreak and hope, pain and love. I like how this series is written form multiple point of views and different characters take the spotlight in different books. This book focuses on Bianca, Cam and Stacey. Bianca and Cam are slowly falling for each other and their romance was so sweet. It’s clear there is still more to their story, but this book ends in a good spot. Stacey is going through something really difficult in this book and it was so sad to see her have to deal with this. I am really curious to see how her story continues. We still see plenty of Harper and Thane as well, even though we don’t get their points of view. And I like how Beck really is there for Stacey in this book. It was an awesome read and I can’t wait for the next book to see how this series continues.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads, Bookbub and Amazon.