This is the second book of Janette Rallison’s that I’ve read. ‘How to Take the Ex out of Ex-Boyfriend’ was the first. I really enjoyed that one, but I was even more eager to read through this one once I got going on it. I almost couldn’t put it down since I was so anxious to know what would happen next.
Main character Charlotte is written as a nice girl who is stuck in the middle of her best friend Brianna’s relationship with her boyfriend. Charlotte is convinced that Bryant is cheating on Brianna, but when she brings up her suspicions, Bryant always has an explanation that appeases Brianna and makes Charlotte look like she’s scheming to break them up. Even though much of the story does revolve around this storyline, the relationship that evolves from Charlotte’s dilemma of how to deal with Bryant and her suspicions of him is really front and center. Bryant’s best friend is Colton, who is in the National Honor Society with Charlotte. Cute, smart, athletic, and oh – did I mention cute – Charlotte finds herself crushing on him but not having much luck since she’s dead set on outing Bryant to Brianna. Colton isn’t having any of it since he’s best friends with Bryant and so can’t be around Charlotte when she’s focused on revealing the truth – whatever that might be. Colton is insistent that Bryant isn’t cheating and has reasons why he knows this to be so. The truth of the matter is revealed over time, and all the while Charlotte is always in the center of it all, trying to figure out how to not be involved while at the same time having information thrown at her that makes it hard to not be part of the action.
I really enjoyed watching Charlotte and Colton’s relationship grow, then backtrack, then grow again, and how they got to know each other apart from their relationship in NHS and study group while they fought over her accusations of Bryant and eventually gained some common ground. An awesome read, and definitely not my last of Rallison’s novels!
You can find Janette Rallison’s ‘It’s a Mall World After All’ here: http://amzn.to/1zrkV4e