ARC Netgalley: Just a Little Crush by Renita Pizzitola

My rating: 3 stars

Synopsis from GR:
Brinley Dawson doesn’t drink, she studies—and despite the accusations of her alcoholic mother, she’s still a virgin. But if Brinley’s life is so put together, why is she freaking out to be going to college with the gorgeous, green-eyed jerk she kissed on a stupid dare in high school? Ryder Briggs can have any girl he wants . . . and the rumors say that he does. So why, after publicly embarrassing Brinley four years ago, is he suddenly acting like he’s interested?
Ryder never forgot Brinley. In fact, those perfect seven minutes permanently raised the bar for what a kiss could be. The truth is, Ryder doesn’t dare get too close to anyone. He knows how that worked out for his parents. But when his roommate takes a shot at Brinley, Ryder can’t contain his jealousy. Now he must do the hardest thing he’s ever done: forget about sex and convince Brinley his feelings are real.

Brinley isn’t sure whether she believes Ryder, but for the first time, her body isn’t playing by the rules. Then she discovers that she’s an unwilling part of a cruel game, humiliating her all over again—and Ryder might be to blame. Has Brinley’s little crush turned into a huge mistake . . . or has she found the one guy worth trusting with her heart?

*ARC courtesy of Netgalley and Random House Publishing*

Just a Little Crush is a sweet story if not a little predictable!
After about four pages I already knew what to expect of it and that could be both a good or a bad thing: it depends on what you're looking for. Since I started this book hoping for some 'downtime', I sort of appreciated its predictability. In other circumstances, I'd have probably enjoyed it less.

That said, the book is well written and the characters are quite likable. Usually, I find that a woman who's still a virgin at 20 years old is not very believable, but Brinley put it off with naturalness. Even her intimate relationship with Ryder grew in a slow but natural pace, I liked that!
As for the male character - Ryder - I liked him a lot. He's not the asshole we were told he was; he is instead quite sweet and loving toward Brinley.

One reason I enjoyed this book is the low level of drama in it, all things considered. As usual, in these cases, actually talking about what's going on could help a lot to avoid big misunderstandings. Well, nobody's perfect ;)
In the end, I enjoyed the ride and I recommend it for those readers in need of some relaxation. And that shouldn't be read as a bad thing: sometimes these types of books are exactly what I'm looking for!
At last, I'd like to thank the author for the chance of reading for free a copy of her book; I hope she appreciated my honest opinion about it.

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