ARC Review: Anything You Want by Geoff Herbach



Title: Anything You Want
Author: Geoff Herbach
Series: N/A, Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date:  May 3rd, 2016
Pages: Kindle, 320
My Rating: 1.5 Stars
Expect a bundle of joy—er, trouble—in this hilarious, heartwarming story from the award-winning author of Stupid Fast Geoff Herbach

Taco's mom always said, "Today is the best day of your life, and tomorrow will be even better." That was hard to believe the day she died of cancer and when Taco's dad had to move up north for work, but he sure did believe it when Maggie Corrigan agreed to go with him to junior prom. Taco loves Maggie- even more than the tacos that earned him his nickname. And she loves him right back.

Except all that love? It gets Maggie pregnant. Everyone else may be freaking out, but Taco can't wait to have a real family again. He just has to figure out what it means to be a dad and how to pass calculus. And then there's getting Maggie's parents to like him. Because it would be so much easier for them to be together if he didn't have to climb the side of the Corrigans' house to see her...


  I was given an ARC by the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. 
  Have you guys heard of the Geronimo Stilton series? I read it as a child and this book sounds just like that. Mind you, this is supposed to be a young adult novel. Reading this book, I realized that I have a huge problem - I am incapable of not finishing a book, even when I want to throw it already. I'm glad that I read this to the end though, because the character had major growth.

  Taco is a junior high school student who tells himself that every day is the best day. So when his girlfriend Maggie became pregnant with their baby, he viewed this incident with a lot of enthusiasm and "responsibility." But because of the lack of parental supervision, more shit goes down the drain and Taco is forced to rethink everything.

  Despite being a junior, Taco sure does sound like a grade school kid. The way adults treat him also hints at him being a kid, but he isn't a kid anymore. The way he sees the world, how he doesn't have a clue about some things, is just so unrealistic for his age. At first I thought that Taco must have some form of mental disability, but when I checked the synopsis, there was no mention of anything. Also, where I expected a funny book, what I got is a book that is trying too hard to sound funny. To add to that, the word "dingus" is used several times every few pages.

  Although Taco did take responsibility in the end while managing to sound like his actual age for a few pages, that still was not enough to salvage this book for me. After all, that tone just didn't fly for me throughout the book. Overall, I just didn't get what I thought I would get from this book.


1.5 trying-too-hard stars


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