Crushing on You

by Sara Breaker

A pragmatic grad student must decide what's real. Her robust and comprehensively analyzed theory on "love." Or what's staring her right in the face.
Driven, competitive, and single-minded Ph.D. candidate Ingrid Harmon can help you get over him.
Using the best scientific methodologies, her latest paper provides a comprehensive analysis to explain how you most likely never even really liked him to begin with.
Who cares if her condescending soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend kicks her off the most important sociology dissertation of her life because he thinks her revolutionary ideas are too fluffy?
She can just return home to do her own study and get all her answers. Nothing can stop her.
Until she needs to test her theories on Connell Matthews, her very first and biggest, stupidest crush ever. It doesn't help that Connell has grown hotter in the last seven years or that maybe he's no longer the immature playboy jock from high school.
But Ingrid is not an insecure sixteen-year-old nerd anymore either. Surely, she would have no problems staying focused to complete her paper, right...?
Will Ingrid's theory fall flat on its face or will her experiment fail...successfully?
It's "Carrie Pilby" meets "Sixteen Candles" with this offbeat, quirky, opposites attract holiday romance.
Crushing on You is Book 1 in Sara Breaker's new Hale Valley Sweet Romance series. Simple, sweet stories and all the happy endings.

Genres: Romance

Unknown Binding

Published March 31, 2023

About the author

Sara Breaker lives in New Zealand with her husband and two kids. She writes offbeat young adult/contemporary sweet romance.

Suburban mum by day and author by night, she loves to live vicariously through her characters. They don’t have to vacuum all day long and are always guaranteed happy endings no matter how melodramatic she writes them. Easy to read, feel-good love stories that break your heart, puts it back together, bam! happy ending—but then still have enough time to wash the dishes after.

Sign up to her mailing list now and get a FREE e-book! Click HERE to get it!

Also writes under S. Breaker

Follow Sara Breaker:
Bookbub: bit.ly/SBreakerBookbub
Facebook: SBreakerWrites
Amazon: amazon.com/author/sbreaker

Reviews

[Alisha Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read! I don't want to spoil anything, but the story has some twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat, but still light and fluffy for a happy reading experience. And a sweet HEA!
Read in one sitting because I couldn't put it down!

[Katja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ingrid used to have a major long distance crush on Connell but she never thought she'd have a chance with him because he was a popular hot guy and the basketball star of her high school and she was more bookish and he wouldn't have known she existed. Now she's rather embarrassed by her youthful infatuation and has made a sociology project out of her desire to get over her juvenile crush. The theory is that most people don't even know the person they're crushing on and might not like them if they did. Now she wants to give Connell as well as some other test subjects a questionnaire that would ideally prove her stereotypes and show that they're dumb jocks and narcissistic users in their love life. She broke up with her boyfriend Stewart because he thought her thesis idea is stupid and she should write her dissertation about something more professional.

Full disclosure: I am team Stewart in this fight. Her sour grapes paper sounds too personal and subjective to be approved by any self-respecting advisor, and overall it sounds more like an essay in a glossy teen magazine than a PhD project. It's just not science when you have decided the results of your research before you've done the work, asked the questions and analyzed any responses. And more than a little offensive if any of her subjects ever read her paper and figure out they were chosen because she thinks they embody some negative stereotype and she wanted to prove they were not worthy of being loved. But Connell threatens to spoil her project as he is surprisingly nice and seems to wish to spend time with her.

I rated this four stars because I was entertained and I liked the general flow of the story and enjoyed the writing style. But apart from her academic advisor's incompetence, there are a couple of glaring problems.

First, the continuity could have used some work. When Ingrid speaks with her friend Felicia she asks for help tracking Connell down, Felicia tells her that Connell's social media shows that he's in town and informs Ingrid where to find him playing basketball. Ingrid goes to see him there. Afterwards she yells angrily at Felicia because Ingrid figures Felicia must have known that Connell Matthews was in town and orchestrated the meeting. Well duh... It sounded like the author had two plans for the first meeting, an "accidental" meeting planned by Felicia without Ingrid's knowledge and the more overt cooperation in which Ingrid takes advantage of Felicia's spying skills, and forgot to edit it all when the plan changed. At one point Connell tells her that his business partners are traveling and returning next week but next week when Ingrid meets this business partner it is implied that they haven't gone traveling yet but are planning to soon. (Who the heck goes on holiday when you have a new business about to launch in a few days?)

The other problem is Ingrid who is less likable than Connell. She is judgmental and prejudiced and completely lacks any tact. She is so astonished any time he does anything halfway nice. She patronizes him enough to assume that he's never heard of cloud storage. She pretty much calls him stupid and narcissistic to his face. She got lucky because Connell likes her too much to fight back, His self esteem is low enough that he thinks calling him a dumb jock is just what he deserves. But one of these days, Ingrid is going to say something rude to the wrong person and live to regret it. I think Connell deserves better.

I got a booksirens copy and this is a voluntary review.

[Sâmella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crushing on You é um exemplo interessante do combo capa fofa e sinopse clichê que me atraiu unicamente por esperar um clima de leveza. Comecei a leitura bem despretensiosa, e ela bem o foi à princípio, mas logo passou a me surpreender.

Primeiro que a narrativa de Sara é uma delícia! Eu normalmente levo mais tempo com leituras que não são no meu idioma materno, mas eis que eu devorei a história de Ingrid e Connell em menos de uma semana! Já tem um mérito aí.

Outra coisa de que gostei foram os personagens em meio ao plot mesmo, e a forma como eles começam parecendo só mais um clichê de garota nerd e o mocinho popular do colégio, só que agora jovens adultos, até se desenrolar em temas bem bacanas como o julgar as aparências, estereótipos bons e ruins, e o quanto, no fim das contas, mesmo que nos encaixamos tanto num certo molde por alguma afinidade, aquilo não nos resume, bem como, também, as pessoas mudam e o que vemos por fora nem sempre é o que realmente acontece.

Admito que, nesse meio tempo, a Ingrid me irritou em alguns momentos justamente por ser ela quem mais se apega à esses padrões no início e julga o Connell com base neles e nos anos passados no colégio, mas também colaborou para que vejamos ela se dando conta, aos poucos, de que não era bem assim e se permitindo pensar um pouco fora da caixa - inclusive sobre si mesma. Isso tudo, aliado à personalidade branda mas insistente do mocinho, temos um romance que surge gradualmente, perfeito para os amantes de slow burn, e ao mesmo tempo sem tantas enrolações por mau entendidos ou afins. Gostei de ver os protagonistas dialogando bem mais do que o esperado sobre eles próprios e realmente tentando encontrar e firmar seu lugar no mundo, principalmente o Connell, que foge da jornada esperada nos esportes e de certa forma, recomeça e dá a volta por cima diante do que muitos esperavam dele.

Resumindo, Crushing on You é uma leitura leve e envolvente, mas não menos firme com um ou outro tópico interessante a ser abordado, ao mesmo tempo em que traz um romance gostosinho e sem hot, amo! De quebra, também temos eventuais momentos para rir em meio à narrativa, com as presenças da irmã e da melhor amiga da Ingrid, Sam e Felicia respectivamente. Recomendo muito a leitura!


I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Sharlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute light hearted read. I enjoyed it. This is an opposites attract story. We have Ingrid, the highly intelligent, overly clinical thinker "nerd" type. And Connell, the pretty boy jock that all the girls flock to, but not much is expected of.

Ingrid has been in love with Connell since high school. She had since carefully explained away every feeling. Categorized her emotions. And rationalized to the point of writing a paper on him. I found the premise amusing and was intrigued. Would it fly in real life? Probably not. But don't we all do what we can to get over a heart break?

When she ends up back in town to finish her dissertation she finds herself in situations where she is questioning the viability of her dissertation. Will Connell prove it right? Or will he prove it wrong? And which outcome can she really live with?!

Overall I like it but I wish there was more depth to the characters. It was hinted at but not really delved into.
There were however a few plot holes. They were minor but took away from the story. I'll mention them below.

Plot: 3 stars
Romance: 5 stars
Character Development: 3.5 stars
Writing Style: 4.5 stars
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Spoiler alerts: Plot holes, first the meet cute at the basketball courts between Ingrid and Connell. Afterwards Ingrid is upset with her friend Fi for sending her there. She acts as if she was set up. However Fi sent her there with the knowledge Connell was there. I'm not sure if the author was going for an accidental meet cute and then changed??

Also there are some inconsistencies in the timeline with Connell's business partners. I got pretty confused with who was in town or out of town etc. Ingrid meets one of them when I think they're supposed to be out of town, not sure? But also I doubt you'd really go out of town and miss your grand opening of your own business.... Just saying.
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Trigger warnings: heart break, kissing (closed door romance).

[Shilo Goodson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable book, which I felt was about how stereotypes are not always true. Along with that, it's about how people aren't one-dimensional. I would also say that that's a big message about how people do grow up and mature. We are not the same people that we were twenty years ago. This book, while lighthearted really did have some deep messages if you're willing to accept them.

I was actually impressed with how this book didn't quite go in the direction that I expected it to go. I thought from almost the first page that I knew exactly how the "misunderstanding" would turn out. While I was somewhat correct, the actual issues between our two main characters were better thought out than I anticipated. I was going to explain that, but I feel like it might be a bit of a spoiler if I elaborated more than that.

There were points throughout the story where the dialogue was a bit choppy. Some parts of the plot felt a bit too farfetched and like the author should have researched the topic a bit more. While I did enjoy the story, it needed a bit more polishing to make it a 5-star book.

There is no violence or graphic sexual content in this book. There's some kissing, but that's as far as it goes. There are a few swear words, mostly the ones that some people might consider more "minor" swear words. As a religious person, the most jarring for me was that the characters fairly regularly take the Lord's name in vain.

I got an ARC through BookSirens, and I am leaving a voluntary review.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste ur time reading!

This review is going to biased, you can disregard it as you wish, but these are my feelings about it. ***couldn't finish the book!
I only got a little over chapter in, and it was soo painful! I wanted to get to the romance part because I'm sure it would have been better but the interactions between the sisters, is just so TOXIC! Her sister is a SPOILED AND ENTITLED BRAT, and I HATE HER. I don’t know if you got the memo or not, but since you moved away for college seven years ago, this became officially—and solely—my room.” Look,” Ingrid began. “Mom was going to nag me to come home for Christmas anyway. I’m just a little bit early.” “And staying longer.” Sam was still making a face before she waved her hand. “Whatever." Then the sister has a bad attitude and sends mixed messages by complaining that her sister is never home! Seems like she doesn't want her sister home to begin with, because she's making a big stink out of spending the time together they already have. "Sure. That makes total sense. Just abandon your family and friends.” Then the sister is so pessimistic too, Where the heck is all the snow anyway?” Felicia was looking around in distaste.“What do you mean? There’s snow right there.” “There’s slush right there... But you get the point. I'm sorry to the author, I'm sure they spent time writing it, but I'm not going to waste my time reading it....

[Sam C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book met my expectations for a light romance that reads quickly. Given the genre and the summary, the plot was predictable; nevertheless, this was store enjoyable to read.

The main character, Ingrid, was hard to relate to because she came off as stuck-up and judgemental. She harbored a deep crush on Connell during high school, and it seemed that she is embarrassed by her teenage obsession and is now projecting onto him. She meets him years later and is hellbent on convincing herself that he is just another dumb jock, except there was never any indication that he was one in high school.

The characters filled their roles as expected. They weren't fleshed out any more than what was needed for the story, which is fine for this lighthearted book, but it comes at the expense of relatability. And this is important to me (and probably other readers as well) because if I can't empathize with any of the characters, it makes the story forgettable.

I am leaving a 3-star review out of 5, because I truly "liked it", but I wouldn't say I "really liked it". It's a good read if one is looking for a safe-for-work romance.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable story about a woman finding love with her high school crush, but with a unique spin on the journey. It was interesting to follow the path of Ingrid’s attempts to prove her theories about high school social status, crushes, and getting over them. Ingrid was an engaging, if guarded, competitive, and stubborn main character. Connell, in spite of his past, his popularity and charisma, and Ingrid’s assumptions, was actually a really nice, cinnamon roll type male lead. Ingrid was pretty dogged in defending her theories but Connell constantly provided contradictory evidence and feelings on both sides grew. Suddenly it wasn’t so easy to keep Connell in the box she had created for him. “‘This is real life, Ing. This is how real relationships work. It’s unpredictable. It’s messy. It’s unexpected. You take your chances and you deal with the consequences. You don’t preempt a thing because you’ve foreseen every single bad thing that could happen along the way. That’s how you miss out on the wonderful parts.’” I liked the story a lot. This is a closed door story with a handful of instances of of harsh language.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time trying to decide what to rate this book, because while it had sweet and romantic parts, just like I would expect from a closed door romance, I found the word choices, very tedious and repetitive. For instance, in the 21 chapter book, the word mirth was used 15 times and the word incredulity/incredulous a total of 20 times. Normal I do not search words in a kindle book after finishing it, but those words seemed to come up so often, I was curious.

Some reviewers thought the MMC was portrayed as too much of a dummy, but I read his character as someone who assumed others saw him as a “dumb jock” even though he knew more than he let on.

This was a fast and light-hearted read. I’m going to land on three stars.

I received an ARC of this book and am leaving the review voluntarily. <3

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really wanted to like this book. I particularly like books about smart, interesting, well educated women. Unfortunately, the main character, Ingrid, was insufferable. She was unlikable, pretentious and her internal dialogue made no sense.

Her love interest, Connell, had moments where he was charming, but he was mostly written to be too stupid to know when he was being insulted, and to not really care when he figured it out.

For a little while, in the middle of the story, I thought the characters might learn, change and grow. There were a few sweet moments. But then they reverted to type and never really got any better.

I’m sure there in an audience for this book, but it’s just not me.

[Dee Mac]

Ingrid crushed on Connell in high school but has decided that college is the time to quash her old feelings and focus on a sociology dissertation based on crushes and their unworthiness.
However, Connell proves that she never really knew him and her assumptions about him were wrong.
Ingrid isn’t nice at first but the further you read and the more she interacts with Connell she grows on you.
Connell, however, is beautiful from the start. Lucky for Ingrid he is such a nice guy.
An overall sweet YA romance with some humour, banter, misconceptions, tension and a lovely HEA.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Joey Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

I have read Breaker’s work before and loved it, so when I saw this one, I had to pick it up. I adored Connell from the first meeting, though it took me a time to warm up to Ingrid. Watching them come together and following the twists and turns had me not wanting to put the book down, to get lost in their romance and how things might work out for them. By the end of the book, I was hooked on the two of them together and adored it. My only issue was Ingrid being a bit abrasive which took me time to get used to, but once I did, I was there for it! Recommended to all who love a good romance!

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ingrid Harmon's treatment of Connell Matthews for the first half of the book is rather mean and unforgiving even though he was not consciously guilty of anything related to her. It was all in her head. All about her unrequited crush. Apparently she still hadn't grown up. Her field of study had done nothing to help her figure that out.

Entertaining. Romantic. Tragic. Twisted. Whimsical. Wonderful characters.

I received a review copy of this book from a third party. This is my honest review.

[Alisha P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok my first thought when reading this it was a cute sweet holiday romance with an element of jock + nerd pairing. It was a good read nothing I hated about the story. However the first page or so confused me to begin with because it wasn’t quite clear who was who and which sister was which sister, and also the timeline of this book was a little unclear as well. Overall, this was a nice book and I would recommend it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute read! Overall this was a pretty light, easy read that was easy to get into and satisfying. The cast of characters has great chemistry together and the second chance romance is really delightful. I generally don't like third person POV but this one was written in a tone that was easy for me to engage with and follow.

___

Thank you to BookSirens for providing an advance review copy to me for free, in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

[Marti · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great rom-com! I loved CRUSHING ON YOU. Ingrid is researching for a sociology Ph.D. and Connell is her case study. She postulates “Once a dumb, arrogant jock, always a dumb, arrogant jock. Real people don’t change.” But Connell is sure doing a good job of pretending to be a sweet, handsome, accomplished businessman with fabulous muscles while Ingrid is way too smart to fall for that act — isn’t she?

[KayCeeReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some 'slice of life' books are so boring and others keep my interest, and I have no idea what it is that differentiates the two. Fortunately this one held my interest. Ingred was a bit irritating with her inner dialogue, however it fit with her character. Connel was great. There wasn't much explanation as to why he liked her but, eh.
I will definitely read other books by this author.

[Divya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely sweet romance that follows Ingrid and Connell in what starts off as Ingrid's research project. The story is a light-hearted clean romantic comedy. I received a free copy of the book and this is my voluntary and honest review.

[E'Who'Reads'a'Thousand'Mysteries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

This is one of those rare precious and heartwarming stories with a good message. And yes, stopping then forgetting a crush is really hard....

[Pascale’s*ARC,Unwind,Read,Review · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn’t get into it at all. Didn’t enjoy it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very cute romance and was a quick read. I'll definitely be reading more from this author in the future!

[JessicaJanko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated 3.5 ⭐️ I really enjoyed the characters and the sweet closed door moments through out. At times the story line and verbiage were confusing but loved the high school crush story line.

I received an ARC via Bookfunnel and my review was voluntarily given.

[Sara Breaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful for those who have told me how they enjoyed my sweet little holiday romance.

“If humor, tension, and banter is what you like, CRUSHING ON YOU has it. One of the best books I’ve read this year.” -Lynn Rush, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author

"About their first kiss: OMG it was perfection. Just wanted to say that." -Jeanmarie Anaya, debut author of "In Between Them"