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The Girl of His Dreams
The rules are simple: Play or get played. And never, ever, catch feelings.
That's
the motto 17-year-old heartthrob Antonio Lopez lives by. Since his
mother walked out, Antonio's father has taught him everything he needs
to know about women: they can't be trusted, and a real man has more than
one. So once Antonio gets what he wants from a girl, he moves on. But
McPherson High's hot new beauty is turning out to be Antonio's first
real challenge.
Miesha Wilson has a motto of her own: The
thrill of the chase is not getting caught. Game knows game, and Miesha
is so not interested. She's dumped her share of playboys and she's
determined to stay clear of the likes of Antonio Lopez--until his crazy
jealous ex aggravates her. But when she decides to play some games of
her own, Miesha and Antonio find themselves wondering if love is real
after all. . ..
""Hot and poppin' with drama and life
lessons. The world of teen lit has never seen anything like this
before!"" --Ni-Ni Simone, author of No Boyz Allowed, on Crazy Love
That's
the motto 17-year-old heartthrob Antonio Lopez lives by. Since his
mother walked out, Antonio's father has taught him everything he needs
to know about women: they can't be trusted, and a real man has more than
one. So once Antonio gets what he wants from a girl, he moves on. But
McPherson High's hot new beauty is turning out to be Antonio's first
real challenge.
Miesha Wilson has a motto of her own: The
thrill of the chase is not getting caught. Game knows game, and Miesha
is so not interested. She's dumped her share of playboys and she's
determined to stay clear of the likes of Antonio Lopez--until his crazy
jealous ex aggravates her. But when she decides to play some games of
her own, Miesha and Antonio find themselves wondering if love is real
after all. . ..
""Hot and poppin' with drama and life
lessons. The world of teen lit has never seen anything like this
before!"" --Ni-Ni Simone, author of No Boyz Allowed, on Crazy Love
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
18 people are currently reading
424 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 7, 2017
Rating: 2 1/2 stars.
I don't mind dialectic vernacular .
But this-
This was an extra heaping helping throughout. And some. Not sure if it was because Antonio Lopez (who is Dominican and Black) and Miesha (Black) are both teenagers who live in Jersey and attend a predominately Black school or what. It got hella old fast, and I am open-mind when it comes to style and writing styles. It took me a moment to get used to how the characters expressed themselves and what the use of the word "beat" meant. Seriously. A dash of dialect here and there would have been cool but "yo" this and "yo" that at the end of every other sentence, then spelling words to match the vernacular was too damn much. This was overkill. I was slain. After a while it became excessive and distracting. All of the characters talked alike. The only distinction was the content of the conversation.
Overall, the story idea about a popular high school jock playboy who meets his match is sheer trope. There's even a psycho crazy OW and loads of drama in the mix streaming from endless girls who want him or have had him.
For most of the book, the two MCs don't cross paths. When they finally do, it is what you expect.
To give the author his due, he kept me on string to find out what happened to Antonio's mother. Why she left him behind. Was his father telling the truth about her absence? The relationship with his father is involved and rattled me. I didn't approve of his dad's parenting or the advice he offered about women. Miesha is amusing for the most part with her bratty sass and bitchy attitude that is over the top. She has her woes at home, and most of her acting out stems from it. So this book is loaded with lots of tropes spilling like an oil slick everywhere. Predictable, slippery, unclear at times, and a writing hazard. I can see the appeal it has to a young (particularly Black) crowd who use this dialect and slang, vibe on all the fashions, music and the setting. It even has discussion questions in the back so there is an intent to have the girls read and talk about it afterwards. Sadly for me, I had no such desire. Just proud I was able to finish reading a book that had such a jumble in the writing, repetitive scenes of comedic drama and nonsense. In some ways, it was awfully stereotypical like a mish-mosh of Love & Hip-Hop versus Black Ink. I guess there is an audience for this because the author has other popular books and even plugs another author he co-writes with by having Miesha reading one of her books.
It's not bad but would I read this again? Nope. It was an experience and something different from what I usually read. I like new experiences, and though it had some sweet moments and interesting truths, I won't be revisiting more of this author's work in the future.
I don't mind dialectic vernacular .
But this-
This was an extra heaping helping throughout. And some. Not sure if it was because Antonio Lopez (who is Dominican and Black) and Miesha (Black) are both teenagers who live in Jersey and attend a predominately Black school or what. It got hella old fast, and I am open-mind when it comes to style and writing styles. It took me a moment to get used to how the characters expressed themselves and what the use of the word "beat" meant. Seriously. A dash of dialect here and there would have been cool but "yo" this and "yo" that at the end of every other sentence, then spelling words to match the vernacular was too damn much. This was overkill. I was slain. After a while it became excessive and distracting. All of the characters talked alike. The only distinction was the content of the conversation.
Overall, the story idea about a popular high school jock playboy who meets his match is sheer trope. There's even a psycho crazy OW and loads of drama in the mix streaming from endless girls who want him or have had him.
For most of the book, the two MCs don't cross paths. When they finally do, it is what you expect.
To give the author his due, he kept me on string to find out what happened to Antonio's mother. Why she left him behind. Was his father telling the truth about her absence? The relationship with his father is involved and rattled me. I didn't approve of his dad's parenting or the advice he offered about women. Miesha is amusing for the most part with her bratty sass and bitchy attitude that is over the top. She has her woes at home, and most of her acting out stems from it. So this book is loaded with lots of tropes spilling like an oil slick everywhere. Predictable, slippery, unclear at times, and a writing hazard. I can see the appeal it has to a young (particularly Black) crowd who use this dialect and slang, vibe on all the fashions, music and the setting. It even has discussion questions in the back so there is an intent to have the girls read and talk about it afterwards. Sadly for me, I had no such desire. Just proud I was able to finish reading a book that had such a jumble in the writing, repetitive scenes of comedic drama and nonsense. In some ways, it was awfully stereotypical like a mish-mosh of Love & Hip-Hop versus Black Ink. I guess there is an audience for this because the author has other popular books and even plugs another author he co-writes with by having Miesha reading one of her books.
It's not bad but would I read this again? Nope. It was an experience and something different from what I usually read. I like new experiences, and though it had some sweet moments and interesting truths, I won't be revisiting more of this author's work in the future.
October 17, 2016
The girl of his dreams by amir abrams. He crafts a beautiful love novel between a player and a bad girl. A new girl from Brooklyn and she is turning heads in her new school in New Jersey. Her mom forced her to move because her father has a bad cheating problem. Meisha struggles to adapt in New Jersey and her main focus is getting back to Brooklyn. Well that changes as she meets the most beautiful man slut Antonino, and she falls in love. The story shows both stories of how they meet and come together as one. She turns a player into a loyal gentlemen. But how does she do it? She got a game of her own. The hardships of Antonio's ex girlfriend makes commotion all through school. More people hate as they get closer. The closer antionio gets, the less of a slut hell be. But can she change the player honestly?
September 24, 2019
In my opinion, this was a very good read. It definitely became a book that was hard to put down which was why It didn't take me very long to finish. There wasn't as much suspense as I had hoped but as I read I found myself continuously guessing about the decisions the character would make next, so it wasn't very predictable like most romance novels. I love how the book was written from different characters point of views. It only made things better as I continued reading to know what the other character was thinking. I think this book could be relate-able to a specific group of people. I think it adds when you can somewhat relate to what you are reading. I think you become more engaged. so overall I loved this book, I only wish it had ended a little differently. The ending left you with a clear understanding of what happen but I still had so many questions and thing I wanted to occur in the book.
June 2, 2025
I had really been looking forward to reading this book. I got a free ARC and the original synopsis looked good.
I like YA, but I have never read a YA book with a predominantly Black/African-American cast of characters. I sincerely hope this book does not represent the the entire sub genre. It was inane, insipid and incredibly ignorant (or ig as the characters often said...more on that in a bit).
Antonio, whom I can only describe as the main male character as he was no man or hero, comes across as vapid and stereotypical. Ditto the female lead Meisha.
They are both so unlikable that when they have their first conversation (nearly half way through the unnecessarily long book) I couldn't believe they would even be drawn to each other. I know they are supposed to be young, but aside from being attractive- and the author beats us over the head with how sexy/fine/big a**ed/pretty eyed/well built the pair of them are- they are never charming or sweet or even kind. All they do is mouth off, threaten, proposition and brag. Why would anyone pay to read about these people?
"Read" being a relative term in this case. I felt like I need a passport and a "what in the actual f?" to English dictionary. I am only in my twenties so it cannot be an age thing and I've long since left my clutching pearls alone while reading YA. Trying to decided what they were talking about between the shortening of words (like ig) and the overuse of slang (some sentences looked like gibberish) was tiring. Female characters were referred to as "ho" and "trick" so often that I would have to go back a bit just to figure out which "trick" was the topic at hand.
I hate to be so harsh, but I disliked this book intensely.
I like YA, but I have never read a YA book with a predominantly Black/African-American cast of characters. I sincerely hope this book does not represent the the entire sub genre. It was inane, insipid and incredibly ignorant (or ig as the characters often said...more on that in a bit).
Antonio, whom I can only describe as the main male character as he was no man or hero, comes across as vapid and stereotypical. Ditto the female lead Meisha.
They are both so unlikable that when they have their first conversation (nearly half way through the unnecessarily long book) I couldn't believe they would even be drawn to each other. I know they are supposed to be young, but aside from being attractive- and the author beats us over the head with how sexy/fine/big a**ed/pretty eyed/well built the pair of them are- they are never charming or sweet or even kind. All they do is mouth off, threaten, proposition and brag. Why would anyone pay to read about these people?
"Read" being a relative term in this case. I felt like I need a passport and a "what in the actual f?" to English dictionary. I am only in my twenties so it cannot be an age thing and I've long since left my clutching pearls alone while reading YA. Trying to decided what they were talking about between the shortening of words (like ig) and the overuse of slang (some sentences looked like gibberish) was tiring. Female characters were referred to as "ho" and "trick" so often that I would have to go back a bit just to figure out which "trick" was the topic at hand.
I hate to be so harsh, but I disliked this book intensely.
August 23, 2024
Did The First Chapter Get You Hooked? Heck Yeah
Would You Recommend This Book? No
Wow! This book was different from what I’m used to reading, that's for sure. The vocabulary was very different. There were times when I was even thrown off by the vocabulary.
Now as for the characters well, let's just say they were a hot mess. We have Antonio, who's a 100% f boy, and Miesha, who's 1000% sassy brat!!!! Honestly, I enjoyed reading Antonio’s POVs more than reading Mieshas. There were times when I just wanted to skip her, but I didn’t. I just felt annoyed because she was so full of herself and she looked down on everyone.
Something that really surprised me was the relationships between the parents and the kids. It’s my thinking only, but they are really horrible parents. It's no wonder their kids are the way they are. Antonio’s dad first encouraged him to be sexually active at a very young age. He's molded his son into seeing women as nothing but sex toys. Miesha's parents are a dysfunctional family. The dad is always cheating on her mum, but her mum has no values, so she always accepts him back with open arms. Her own mum admits to being jealous of the relationship Miesha has with her dad, and she doesn't want to share him with his own daughter.
Antonio meets Miesha (a new transferred student) at school, who is turning heads left and right. He sees his prey, and he wants to catch it. However, Miesha is not going to give in easily. Miesha has other plans in mind. She just wants to play with Antonio, but be careful who you play with. In the end you might be the one getting played into your own game.
Would You Recommend This Book? No
Wow! This book was different from what I’m used to reading, that's for sure. The vocabulary was very different. There were times when I was even thrown off by the vocabulary.
Now as for the characters well, let's just say they were a hot mess. We have Antonio, who's a 100% f boy, and Miesha, who's 1000% sassy brat!!!! Honestly, I enjoyed reading Antonio’s POVs more than reading Mieshas. There were times when I just wanted to skip her, but I didn’t. I just felt annoyed because she was so full of herself and she looked down on everyone.
Something that really surprised me was the relationships between the parents and the kids. It’s my thinking only, but they are really horrible parents. It's no wonder their kids are the way they are. Antonio’s dad first encouraged him to be sexually active at a very young age. He's molded his son into seeing women as nothing but sex toys. Miesha's parents are a dysfunctional family. The dad is always cheating on her mum, but her mum has no values, so she always accepts him back with open arms. Her own mum admits to being jealous of the relationship Miesha has with her dad, and she doesn't want to share him with his own daughter.
Antonio meets Miesha (a new transferred student) at school, who is turning heads left and right. He sees his prey, and he wants to catch it. However, Miesha is not going to give in easily. Miesha has other plans in mind. She just wants to play with Antonio, but be careful who you play with. In the end you might be the one getting played into your own game.
Read
February 17, 2017It’s actually mind blowing how the book The Girl Of His Dreams by Amir Abrams Is so relatable and accurate about what goes on in most teenagers lives.
Colossal drama starts in an urban high school in New Jersey. Antonio Lopez aka “Tone” a six foot light skin puerto rican that is the ultimate player meets his match. The start of senior year and everything is going well with all the girls he can dreams of even the girls he had nightmares about. Antonio was the known player around the school until Miesha “the new girl” comes along. Antonio shows immediate interest in her and didn’t care who knew about it. Miesha was like a new species to the students in the that school so she became a target in double the time Antonio took interest.
All of the girls Antonio were done with was not done with him so there’s a bit of acute obsession. Antonio’s ex girlfriends or “flings, one night stands, friends with benefits etc.” was not having it when Miesha was Antonio’s main focus. The drama does not stop at jealousy things started to grow into fights breaking out between the girls and some major bullying. And all over a guy Miesha hasn’t said a single word to yet.
Miesha does not have time for drama or boys that think the world falls at their feet. Antonio was the last kind of guy Miesha would ever be into. Especially with where she came from and basically being her own parent. Miesha is a well dressed young woman that keeps to herself but still looks like she’s the life of the party but doesn’t play any games. So therefore other girls and some guys label her as being stuck up. Although she is not stuck up being new to the school made her become introverted well also she didn’t like the school.
The tone of this book is laid back but straight for with a transparent filter. Meaning what is said is is either straight forward or discreet and you get the picture. The is marvelous, the book was written with two narrators. Each chapter was written from either Antonio or Miesha’s point of view on what what was going on.
The book The Girl Of His Dreams is definitely a book for people to read when they feel like they are the only person.
Colossal drama starts in an urban high school in New Jersey. Antonio Lopez aka “Tone” a six foot light skin puerto rican that is the ultimate player meets his match. The start of senior year and everything is going well with all the girls he can dreams of even the girls he had nightmares about. Antonio was the known player around the school until Miesha “the new girl” comes along. Antonio shows immediate interest in her and didn’t care who knew about it. Miesha was like a new species to the students in the that school so she became a target in double the time Antonio took interest.
All of the girls Antonio were done with was not done with him so there’s a bit of acute obsession. Antonio’s ex girlfriends or “flings, one night stands, friends with benefits etc.” was not having it when Miesha was Antonio’s main focus. The drama does not stop at jealousy things started to grow into fights breaking out between the girls and some major bullying. And all over a guy Miesha hasn’t said a single word to yet.
Miesha does not have time for drama or boys that think the world falls at their feet. Antonio was the last kind of guy Miesha would ever be into. Especially with where she came from and basically being her own parent. Miesha is a well dressed young woman that keeps to herself but still looks like she’s the life of the party but doesn’t play any games. So therefore other girls and some guys label her as being stuck up. Although she is not stuck up being new to the school made her become introverted well also she didn’t like the school.
The tone of this book is laid back but straight for with a transparent filter. Meaning what is said is is either straight forward or discreet and you get the picture. The is marvelous, the book was written with two narrators. Each chapter was written from either Antonio or Miesha’s point of view on what what was going on.
The book The Girl Of His Dreams is definitely a book for people to read when they feel like they are the only person.
January 24, 2014
I'll make it short, sweet, and simple. This book had all the potential in the world to be great...and it completely missed its mark.
From the excerpt on the back, it seemed like a plot common enough to relate to. The story is told with two character's points of view. You've got the playboy who gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants, because he's oh-so-sexy. You've got the new girl with all the right physical attributes and plenty of attitude who decides that she's not going to become the playboy's next statistic. Yeah, that sounds about right. Stories like these never really get too old to be told.
So, where does the problem lie?
The author never actually tells this story until its too late.
Literally, the meet-cute with these characters does not happen until the 204th page.
Am I serious? Yes, oh yes, I am.
Well, now, you've got to wonder: what are these characters doing for the first 203 pages before they actually have a real interaction?
Absolutely nothing.
The author takes us on this long, redundant trip through Antonio Lopez's antics with girls that it becomes rather boring. I don't mind taking us through a couple of his escapades, but there were so many being discussed that the repetitiveness became annoying. I get it. He gets around a lot. But do I have to suffer every little detail of every different girl he's hooked up with? Dude. You've proved your point by the 70th page. By page 150 I wondered if I would EVER get to the actual story that was SUPPOSED to be told. Even the stalker became extremely unbelievable.
Then we have Miesha. Smart, beautiful, confident, and ghetto as hell. She'd heard about Antonio long before they met. Too damn long, if you ask me. She has so many run-ins with Antonio's stalker BEFORE she even communicates with him that I became annoyed to the point that I was shouting, "kick some ass already"! If she wasn't complaining about the stalker, she was over exaggerating about how bad her life was, hating her mother/sometimes her father, and missing friends that readers like us never really got the chance to know anyway. Then she's hanging out with every guy in the school but the one who the story is supposed to be about.
This little game goes on for literally 203 pages. I know I've said it about 3 times now, but that is how long it took before the plot itself even formed. 203 pages! The book is only 340 something pages, so could someone please explain to me why the author decided to ignore THE ACTUAL STORY altogether for the MAJORITY OF THE STORY????? Colossal mistake.
He squished the most important parts of the story for too short a period of time and then tried to get too emotional too fast and that's what makes this whole thing suck. There was more than enough time to get into the personal backgrounds and the author did not do that.
The conflict for me is this: there was too much overcompensated drama and not nearly enough solutions explained.
This saddened me. Even now, I'm so frustrated by this book that I can't even hit all of the flaws exactly how I need to. I feel as if I'm wasting time even giving this review.
All I can say is every man for himself when it comes to this book. If you think its great, more power to you. If you think its bad, I definitely feel you. But if you want to read this book and have yet to get to it, I urge you to approach with caution. There really is no heartfelt depth to this and I really wish I could take back the free time I spent reading it. Still. I'm glad I did read it.
At least I now know which writer to avoid.
From the excerpt on the back, it seemed like a plot common enough to relate to. The story is told with two character's points of view. You've got the playboy who gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants, because he's oh-so-sexy. You've got the new girl with all the right physical attributes and plenty of attitude who decides that she's not going to become the playboy's next statistic. Yeah, that sounds about right. Stories like these never really get too old to be told.
So, where does the problem lie?
The author never actually tells this story until its too late.
Literally, the meet-cute with these characters does not happen until the 204th page.
Am I serious? Yes, oh yes, I am.
Well, now, you've got to wonder: what are these characters doing for the first 203 pages before they actually have a real interaction?
Absolutely nothing.
The author takes us on this long, redundant trip through Antonio Lopez's antics with girls that it becomes rather boring. I don't mind taking us through a couple of his escapades, but there were so many being discussed that the repetitiveness became annoying. I get it. He gets around a lot. But do I have to suffer every little detail of every different girl he's hooked up with? Dude. You've proved your point by the 70th page. By page 150 I wondered if I would EVER get to the actual story that was SUPPOSED to be told. Even the stalker became extremely unbelievable.
Then we have Miesha. Smart, beautiful, confident, and ghetto as hell. She'd heard about Antonio long before they met. Too damn long, if you ask me. She has so many run-ins with Antonio's stalker BEFORE she even communicates with him that I became annoyed to the point that I was shouting, "kick some ass already"! If she wasn't complaining about the stalker, she was over exaggerating about how bad her life was, hating her mother/sometimes her father, and missing friends that readers like us never really got the chance to know anyway. Then she's hanging out with every guy in the school but the one who the story is supposed to be about.
This little game goes on for literally 203 pages. I know I've said it about 3 times now, but that is how long it took before the plot itself even formed. 203 pages! The book is only 340 something pages, so could someone please explain to me why the author decided to ignore THE ACTUAL STORY altogether for the MAJORITY OF THE STORY????? Colossal mistake.
He squished the most important parts of the story for too short a period of time and then tried to get too emotional too fast and that's what makes this whole thing suck. There was more than enough time to get into the personal backgrounds and the author did not do that.
The conflict for me is this: there was too much overcompensated drama and not nearly enough solutions explained.
This saddened me. Even now, I'm so frustrated by this book that I can't even hit all of the flaws exactly how I need to. I feel as if I'm wasting time even giving this review.
All I can say is every man for himself when it comes to this book. If you think its great, more power to you. If you think its bad, I definitely feel you. But if you want to read this book and have yet to get to it, I urge you to approach with caution. There really is no heartfelt depth to this and I really wish I could take back the free time I spent reading it. Still. I'm glad I did read it.
At least I now know which writer to avoid.
July 11, 2013
I found this book quite interesting. Before this, I had never read anything that focused on young African Americans and how they think and act as this book does. Of course, there are times when both Antonio and Miesha don’t act as if they are anything but self-centered and somewhat vapid, but I have seen this same attitude/action in young people of all backgrounds and experiences act much the same way, so I am not going to hold it against them or the author, as one reviewer did. This book is about young love. Antonio is a user of girls, a “love ’em and leave ’em” guy. But so is Miesha. Of course, when Antonio and Miesha are about to get together, his jealous ex jumps in to try to ruin things, leaving the two main characters to figure out what they and love are all about. I think many teenagers would be able to relate to this story. In particular, I applaud the author for creating a novel in which young African Americans are the main players. There are so few of them like this one, where they are not getting into trouble or jail, around, and it helps to stimulate interest in reading to have a character you can easily relate to. I also like the fact that the reader can use a lot of what they say and do in this situation to help them grow and mature. I received this book from Library Thing to read and review.
August 2, 2013
I have read this author's other work and thought they were really good, but this one missed the mark for me. It was really boring and I found myself skipping the chapters in the end of the book. I also thought this was a teen book, but with the language in the book I would not be giving this book to a teen.
April 29, 2014
Very light read and love the ending. I HAULED THIS BOOK ON MY CHANNEL. CHECK IT OUT!!!!!.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32aKoS... Very good coming of age book. Please check out the links below for my written and video review. http://contemporarylightreads.blogspo...
https://www.youtube.com/user/applehea...
https://www.youtube.com/user/applehea...
September 1, 2013
omg ..miseha is me in another life ..i totally loved this book like for real
October 20, 2013
omg this was a good ass book it had me crying and laughin and stayin all night long to read!! i love all of amir books and nini simone can it with her books!! frfr i love there books!!
December 7, 2013
Great story !!!! with just the right amount of detail I fell in love with the characters I can't wait to see what book this author releases next
January 18, 2014
IT WAS SOOOOO good
this book was apart of me that i could never set down.
this book was apart of me that i could never set down.
March 6, 2014
This book was an ok read for me. I was not really into the book because it wasn't really believable to me.
October 21, 2014
The people in this book are all horn dogs and you'll definitely need an urban dictionary to read this.
January 22, 2016
Omg , I swear this book was everything.. I was sad when I was done reading it .. It had left me like wow , what should I do now?
June 9, 2016
I gave this book for stars because I get tired of one of the main characters same (yo) all through out but aside from that it was a good read
Side note it was my 2nd time reading it
Side note it was my 2nd time reading it
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews