Title: I Hate You, Fuller James
Author: Kelly Anne Blount
Release Date: March 2, 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★★★
Thank you to Entangled Reads for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!
Synopsis
I hate you, Fuller James.
I hate your floppy hair and your lopsided grin and those laughing blue eyes that always seem to be laughing at me.
I hate that you’re the most popular guy in school and I’m still the girl who sneezed and spit out her retainer on someone at a middle school dance. It’s just such a cliché.
I hate that I’m being forced to tutor you in English and keep it a secret from everyone. Because otherwise it might put our basketball team’s chances at winning State in jeopardy, and even though I hate you, I love basketball.
I hate that it seems like you’re keeping a secret from me…and that the more time we spend together, the less I feel like I’m on solid ground. Because I’m starting to realize there’s so much more to you than meets the eye. Underneath it all, you’re real.
But what I hate most is that I really don’t hate you at all.
Review
I have been in such a YA contemporary romance mood and I Hate You Fuller James perfectly filled that need. It was a quick, light read with some sappy but romantic moments.
➽ Wren – The straight A student who has her future all planned out. She’s worked hard and is ready to leave behind the constant bullying of high school. Her only escape is her love of basketball that she shares with her grandfather. Everything is going decently until Fuller James, basketball star, is flunking AP Lit and she is forced to tutor him. He’s the absolute worst and she hates everything about him. Or does she?
➽ Fuller – head jock with an ego so big everyone is surprised it fits through the locker room door. Popularity and basketball is everything to him and thanks to a non-passing grade both could be taken away from him unless he can convince Wren to tutor him and everyone else that it’s something else. Too bad he’s been awful to her for years and she hates him, not to mention what if they’re seen together?
Fuller started off as someone I strongly disliked. He’s this arrogant jock who is mean just to be cool. His inner monologue was all like “dude, the hell are you doing stop” but his word vomit of a**hole just never seemed to stop. He knew he was awful and was just rolling with it. Luckily he kind of starts to check himself and he adores his little brother which redeemed him in my eyes.
Wren is an utter cinnamon roll. She tries so hard to be tough but she is kind, smart and has a hard time standing up for herself which is fair. Her relationship with her grandfather was a sweet and one of my favorite parts of this book. She also has the best friends in the world. As a girl who has almost all guy friends it was nice to see that portrayed here and show that you can be friends with the opposite sex with no romantic feelings. Dae and Brandon always had her back and were there for her when she needed them most.
*SPOILER*
If you haven’t guessed it already, this is most definitely a hate to love story. Wren hates Fuller until she gets to know more about him and Fuller actually starts to gain a backbone and feel bad for how he’s treated Wren over the years. They bond over mutual family hardships which really opens them up to each other. It’s never that easy though and of course Fuller has done something to protect his popularity since he’s spending time with the “class loser.” It was constantly hanging over them and their experiences together. I also think Wren gave in a little too easily. She went from hating him to a session later almost kissing him. Make him beg for it! Have him grovel at your feet! Just kidding but for reals don’t let guys treat you like trash.
The ending was the classic romantic gesture move that I love. Fuller grew so much as a person throughout the story and Wren was amazing from the start but still manages to grow a little as well. The real star of this book though was Fuller’s little brother Hudson! He was stinking adorable and had all the moves for the ladies. I’d so be down for a follow up book of his high school adventures in the future. I definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a cute romantic contemporary that melts your heart.
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