If I wouldn’t have known better, I would have thought Get Some Love by Nina Foxx was a young adult novel. After all, I’ve read plenty of books for teens that were more challenging than this one. The good news is, with its short sentences, large font and lack of substance, Get Some Love is a quick read—but certainly not a satisfying one.
The premise of Get Some Love is ridiculous and, frankly, pretty sick. Angelica Chappee is a young woman (not yet twenty-one) whose only family in the world, her grandfather, has just died. When she is called in to hear his will, she is shocked to find out that he was worth over two million dollars. She’s even more shocked to hear what she has to do to inherit the money—lose her virginity within six days (and she needs a doctor’s note to prove it). To fulfill her grandfather’s (icky) wishes, Angelica goes on a stupid and dangerous quest to get it on with the first man she meets.
The other side of the story focuses on Juan Delgado, a young man who is set to run his family’s drycleaning business when his father retires. Unfortunately, Juan would rather be a musician and is very bitter about his designated path in life. When he is sent south to take over an important job for the drycleaners, Juan must do some soul-searching about his future.
Both Angelica and Juan are going through an extremely trying (and did I mention icky?) time in their lives, but their paths seem destined to cross. Unfortunately, the reader is so caught up in the preposterous situation Angelica is in that it’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. The fact that any grandfather would ask his granddaughter to go out and sleep with a stranger -- for any reason -- is pretty disgusting. It’s also completely unbelievable coming from the man who is described as one of the most moral, gentlemanly old guys you could possibly imagine. It’s remotely possible (stress on the "remotely") that a good writer could make this story work, somehow. Nina Foxx is not that writer. Her writing is shallow, uninteresting fluff that would be completely forgettable if the creepy plot didn’t stick in your mind. Any way you look at it, this book is a loser — and one that will probably make you feel like taking a shower after you’ve finished it.