A Thousand Lives Lived: ARC Review: Galgorithm by Aaron Karo // Cheesy and Not Much Point to It

Galgorithm, by Aaron Karo
Publication: May 5, 2015, by Simon Pulse
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Rating:

What if the secrets of dating and love were revealed in one simple formula? That's the tantalizing proposition high school senior Shane Chambliss offers the hopeless and hapless guys who come to him for relationship advice.
After the girl of his dreams breaks his heart, Shane devises a mysterious formula called the Galgorithm and establishes himself as the resident dating guru at Kingsview High School. But his attempts to master the art of romance go outrageously awry.
As Shane tries to navigate the ensuing drama, he must follow his heart, abandon all the rules, and ignore his own advice in a quest for true love. What he discovers, no formula could ever predict...

My Thoughts:

Galgorithm is a book with some petty themes and issues that the characters are basically basing their lives on. It was enjoyable, easy to read and easy to devour quickly, but it lacked a lot of things. And one of these big things are something I like to call realism. This story doesn't sound real at all; it sounds like a mix of mumbo jumbo and awkward phrases that are put together to make a YA novel. Yes, I have read cheesier stories with cheesier romance, but I can't say that this was fabulous or something great to compare it with. For most of the book, I was debating about what I really would've enjoyed about it if the story ended up going in my stubborn way.

This story is based on romance and some unrealistic moments that make me ponder and wonder why I thought that it would be somehow based on math. In case you hadn't ever noticed, I'm a math geek and that is one of the reasons why I picked this book up. I wanted the formulas and the cutesy nerdy things that I sometimes like to read about. Instead of being nerdy in a cute way, this book was outrageous and totally absurd. I cannot even point between what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy about this book. It's kind of confusing because it was promising in a different way.

This is about a weird teenage guy who wants to fall in love by using his ugly imaginary formula that he promises could get a girl for any guy. It's the name of the title of this book, Galgorithm. Once Shane gets dumped/rejected by "the hottest girl ever," he's basically acting like any teenage boy would—he's hungry for romance. And when he makes this formula, he plays around with love, friendship and some revenge, too. And it's freaking predictable.

If someone told me to write a book review on this before I even read it, I would have been able to write another summary from my guesses and get it 70% right. This book is awfully predictable. The ending was a no-brainer, where I totally saw that "thing" with Jak coming around, and it seemed too obvious. Aren't books supposed to make me crinkle and have me so shocked that I won't be able to do anything else that night? What has happened to modern storytelling, I ask?

I feel like I'm starting some kind of angry rant right here but of course there had to be positives about this story or I would never be here. My review would have been a lot shorter if it was just negativity. Galgorithm has an enduring group of characters whose attitudes and sarcasm always kept me giggling. It is a funny story, you know. Shane, Adam, Tristen, Jak, they were all a cool crew, just like how I imagine them like from the 90s awesome sitcoms that we like to rewatch today. *thinks of Friends*

Karo is a good storyteller. If you're pretty naïve with reading contemporary fiction and find it okay if you read about a story that is so cheesy, then you'll seriously be okay. But I do think that I spent enough of my tweenhood and childhood reading about these lame, childish stories. At least it wasn't boring. That is one of the pros that I allow myself to constantly ponder about right now.

Karo delivers a story that is more for entertainment than for actual enjoyment, well at least it is like that for me. Galgorithm is a witty, fun-filled novel that will spare you a laugh or two, but then in the long run, it doesn't make a reading experience too positive for me. I have read better, but I am glad I gave it the time and experience. Just look at the cover and the main slogan, "A guy. A girl. A formula" and think about what it really is about in the end. I bet you'll come up with the plot's events in a jiffy.