Biggest Flirts (Superlatives #1) by Jennifer Echols

Biggest Flirts (Superlatives #1)
by Jennifer Echols
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: May 20th 2014

Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

Synopsis:

Tia and Will’s lives get flipped upside down when they’re voted Yearbook’s Biggest Flirts in this sassy novel from the author of Endless Summer and The One That I Want.

Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laidback swagger. 

As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn’t interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it’s no big deal…until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardize Will’s new relationship—and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…

I am a big fan of Jennifer Echols' books and I have been dying to start the Superlatives series for a while now. Knowing Jennifer's stories I knew I would love this new series, but the lovely cover really caught my attention.

The main character in Biggest Flirts is not a sad girl or a girl who has no friends, it's the complete opposite and you, as a reader, might end up either loving her or hating her. Tia Cruz is a wild spirit, she doesn't care about school or her grades, she doesn't do relationships or boyfriends because she wants to avoid all the drama, she's well-known around her school and she's one of those girls one seeking a fun night - no strings attached. She loves to make people laugh and even better if the laugh comes from a hot guy. She's not afraid to say things as they are and she has no problem to talk openly about any topic: sex, music...

I think I liked her because of that. It was kind of a fresh air in the main character type department, since I have been reading books where the heroine started as a wounded or defenseless girl. Because of Tia's wild spirit, cracking up some jokes while trying to live up to her stereotype: the irresponsible girl who will always drop everything, was one of the things that made this story so enjoyable. 

I was surprised by Tia's maturity under her "I-don't-care" behavior and also her wisdom about love and relationships as such young age and even more after realizing that she has never allowed herself to suffer the consequences of love.

Another important character in this story is Will, the person who will make Tia's rules crumble. We meet this character at the very first pages along with Tia and he's as lost as her. Although it is more visible that his character is hurt and afraid, they find a way to move along the two of them together and ending up being inseparable.

Will was a true teenager because sometimes I wanted to punch him in the face for some of the things he said to Tia. That's what makes characters real: the not being perfect all the time. Also he had some switch of moods that made my heart ache for Tia and that's always part of being a teenager. So Jennifer Echols did a great job creating her teen characters.

I have wanted a little more involvement from Tia's family, since the decisions her family members did affects her and what they think of her, too. We only get to see her sister Violet come home again and it was nice, but I would have liked to see the whole Cruz' family coming to terms with one another.

The romance was a good one and when things were finally coming to terms, Tia and Will's story ended up so suddenly... I wanted more!

Jennifer Echols not only introduces us to the Superlatives world and what it means to be labeled at high school, but also it makes us wonder about our choices, about being brave enough to risk being hurt by someone else and to decide to move on or get stuck forever doing what's safe. 

I loved the wisdom Jennifer Echols put in this new story and I loved every single page of this book.  I am definitely a Superlative fan and I'm dying to read the following stories about Tia's friends. That's why I highly recommend this story to you and ask you to give Tia a chance, although it might not have your typical heroine's character. 

Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son.