How I Created My Perfect Prom Date Mass Market Paperback – February 19, 2008

I'll admit, I'm way older than the target audience of this book. But, I teach high school and like to have titles on hand to recommend to my students. It's written from two POVs, the boy and the girl, who have been friends/nextdoor neighbors since grade school. The chapters flip between the two and it is nice to have the thought processes of both sides of the relationship. Nicole, the female protagonist is popular and way more invested in popularity and prom than any female has a right to be. She's dealing with her parents separating and apparently prom is her outlet. Chase, the next door neighbor is a slacker who likes to rile up the school admin team. When Nicole's date falls through, she turns to Chase, fixing him up for her potential prom purposes. As I was reading this, I had thoughts of the 80s movie "Can't Buy Me Love" running through my mind. And then, I went to read the entire description on Amazon and saw that it was a movie I'd seen, "Drive Me Crazy" with America's Favorite Witch, Sabrina (I mean Melissa Joan Hart).The author makes a lot of reference to the 80s and the 1st Gulf War, which drove me nuts because the timing was off. There were also quite a few typos. It appears that this was an effort to update the story to make more up to date references and someone didn't edit as well as they should have.

This would have been a pretty good book had there been more to it. I mean, it had the basis of a pretty good plot! I think it sped by way too fast! So, basically, beautiful, popular hottie Nicole is expecting Brad Selden to ask her to the prom and for them to be one of the top 12 and one of the last four couples to walk out in the Grand March. The Grand March is before Prom when all the parents are in the cafeteria watching everyone come in walking on this red carpet. The last 12 people to come into the Grand March are most popular. So she expects Brad to ask her to prom. But instead, he asks, Dulcie Wheaton, a girl who supports a lot of acts like loosening restrictions on morning after pills that can cause miscarriages, to prom claiming they're "in love." So, of course, Nicole is pretty upset and freaking out that her whole prom is ruined and whatnot. So she gets Chase her neighbor and long time friend to take her to prom. She know's he probably a hunk under his long hair and spends the remainder of the time before prom hunkifying him! I didn't really like the ending all that much...It felt incomplete... Overall, I guess the book was okay. Not quite thorough though.

I bought this book (on Kindle) because I've always had a soft spot for the movie based off it... but I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. The weirdest thing (for the Kindle edition at least) was the awkward and haphazard "update" the book has gotten. While clearly a 90s kind of book with 90s kinds of themes (made into a 90s movie), there are now random references to iPads and iPhones, and what was clearly originally discussion about parental behavior during the 60s/70s and Vietnam has been pushed forward 20 years to be about the first Iraq war. It's trying to plug the same themes but they don't make sense anymore in the different context.Aside from the updates, the book itself was really odd. The major plot -- and various subplots -- had almost no tension. They meandered lazily along, with little at stake. Nicole's big issue is going to the prom -- but she herself admits it's not that important, and no one else seems to think it is, so it's hard to care. Nobody at Time Zone high school seems to hate anybody else, they just mildly dislike them, and every infraction is quickly forgiven. It's like faded photograph of a high school -- nothing's as sharp as it should be. Chase's story is even stranger: his biggest issue seems to be finding out whether his dad did drugs when he was younger... even though he knows the answer is probably yes but doesn't particularly care, doesn't do them himself, and doesn't really plan to. The passages between Chase and his dad felt like they were edited in by a Christian group or a parental organization. All the side characters are developed along a single axis, if at all, and it was odd to see some of the interesting people from the movie appear as no more than a name here.It's rare that I think a movie surpasses a book, but I think Drive Me Crazy outdid this novel in every way. It fleshed out characters, added tension and compelling motives, and created far more interesting plots. Although the Nicole and Chase of the book are more innocent, blameless creatures, they're also totally bland.

This kindle book had really bad editing. Lots of mistakes. I saw the movie and really liked that version better. 🤷‍♀️

Though it was what I expected: an easy read, the story was sweet but fell a little flat towards the end. The depth behind the characters was plausible, but while the book is predictable from the beginning the end doesn't quite live up to what you wish would happen with the characters.

I actually liked the movie better...which is really weird for me to say. The book is ok, but I felt like the movie actually gave a little more backstory to the two characters.

Da ich den Film schon gesehen habe, musste ich, als ich erfahren habe das es ein Buch dazu gibt, dieses sofort kaufen und lesen. Ich muss gestehen ich war enttäuscht. Der Film hat, meiner Meinung nach, das Beste aus dem Buch geholt. Das ein Film immer vom Buch abweicht war mir klar (H.P, Lotr usw.), in diesem Fall ist der Film dem Buch vorzuziehen.