Love Off-Limits

by Whitney Lyles

Breaking up is hard to do!

Natalie should be on top of the world dating Jeremy. He's totally perfect by everyone's standards. But the seemingly flawless couple have been dating since freshman year, and now Natalie fears the spark may be fizzling.

Being such an "expert" in love, Natalie gets coaxed into writing a romance column, and soon she finds spending time with her editor, Matt, to be way worth the work. There's just one catch. Matt is Jeremy's best friend, and dumping your boyfriend for his closest friend is just wrong...right?

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Young Adult Romance, Teen, Contemporary Romance

268 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 4, 2009

About the author

Whitney Lyles was twenty-six when she landed her first book deal for Always the Bridesmaid.

She’s now the proud author of a novella and five novels, including her latest romantic comedy for teens -- Party Games. She lives in San Diego with her husband and daughter. She is currently working on her next book.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main character’s name was Natalie, so that was pretty cool. I haven’t come across many characters with the same name as me.

The story was okay, but I wish there had been more interactions between Natalie and Matt, because her crush on him seemed to come out of nowhere. They did talk a little bit, but she was so self conscious that it didn’t seem that she was really opening up to him.

Jeremy was really immature. Climbing on top of Natalie and passing gas, really? Was he 12? They clearly didn’t have much in common. I wished Natalie had been able to be honest with him that their relationship wasn’t working.

[Stacy G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who doesnt feel like there are any more sparks with her boyfriend. She ends up falling for his best friend. She cant decide whether to dump her boyfriend Jeremy for Matt. But Jeremy's parents just got divorced. She suppresses her feelings. I liked this book, but i have read better.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute and fun YA romance. Very predictable but sometimes we need these types of stories.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: Natalie has been with Jeremy for a while but lately something feels wrong. Why does she feel like that? And why does Jeremy's best friend Matt seem so appealing?

Thoughts: I had so much trouble reading this book; I don't really like the concept (this bodes ill for when I finally get my hands on The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott). I hated reading her anguished feelings-so boring. Basically I did not like Natalie; Matt was not at all cute like some of the other Simon Pulse heroes have been because he had a distinct lack of development. Her parents were sketchily defined as was the rest of her family. Her friends were okay although not to put people in a box but Vincent sounds gay which might not end well.

Notes for people who've read it:
-I mostly loved Dragon Guy-she whines about his answers because they call her on her crappy behavior and she seems to want someone to tell her what to do and wave a magic wand so no one's feelings are hurt.
-"Natalie was not the kind of person who could go for her boyfriend's best friend" (not the exact quote but close enough)-actually you are and you are a boring character and an awful person.
-Of course Jeremy was already interested in Brianna and so it's a mutual breakup so no one's "the bad guy." Of course.
-p. 263-Jeremy and Brianna dress up as a nurse and doctor respectively; because of course only women can be nurses (and of course they'll wear lipstick and have big boobs) and only men are doctors.
-Who eats cheese fries AND ranch dressing? How many flavors do you need in your food? How many calories?

Overall: 2/5 I did not like it and do not recommend unless you are a completist!

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Off-Limits
by Whitney Lyles
pg268


Lost the feelings you had in the relationship your in having second thoughts about the guy you wer in love with for so long.The guy everyone thinks is perfect whats wrong with you but this is the story of a girl who has this exact feeling.natile suppsoed to be the expert in love writing a coulum and yet still has much love troubles of her own even uing a website to relive her self of the thiongs on her mind.romeohelpme website is her only safe haven no one know who anyone else is just comments on the things put out.like what if the fizz is dying in the relationship but the guy seems to need you more then ever what is a girl suppsoed to do?

My favorite part was when she if helping matt at the Dennys working out the quiz and articles talking it pulled me in adn made me think of how they were feeling thinking about what they would do next and when.I couldnt stand the anticipation the whole time i was waiting for them to say something and blurt of that they both were thinking.When they were at dennys it was so exciting becasue you could see sparks of may things ideas,feelings emotions.

I like the authors writing style becasue she wrote as natile but she also showed us what natile wront on roemeohelpme and what others typed to respond. TYhe author also showed the quizes trhewy made and it was the cute and fun quiz.i like personality quizzes so the one in the book was fun, even though i wouldnt used it for prom but i think it was perfect timing becasue i do have prom this year.She wrote the wasy they charaters though about thier heartbeat which was awesome.

[Vani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmmmm....lets see. I really don't know where to start with this book. Love Off-Limits by Whitney Lyles was better than I expected actually. I usually hate these romantinc comedies' book because they're so cliche and the writing sometimes isn't very good. And as I started this book it didn't seem very different from the others but I slowly got absorbed in it as I understood Natalie's dilemna.

Natalie writes a column in her newspaper where people ask advice about love. Now the only people who know she writes this column is her teacher and the editor, Matt, who is consequently her boyfriends best friend. She feels torn because she has to give love advice when her own love life is a disaster. The spark with her long time boyfriend, Jeremy, has long since disappeared and she is starting to fall for Matt. So Natalie turns to the love advice website romeohelpme.com which is made up of different people of offering advice to solve her problems in her love life. Natalie tries understand everything thats happening to her heart and have a happy ending but not hurt people at the same time.

Overall, I thought this book was okay. The writing wasn't great but I loved how the author described the characters especially Jeremy and Matt. I also loved her insight into Natalie's life because she made Natalie seem full of life and not just a whining teenager.

Happy Reading,
TwistedSymphony C>

[Sara ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwwwww! I just finished and it was SOOOOO CUTE!!! The writing was a bit cheesy, but it was a lovely story.

This book is about a girl (Natalie) who's been going out with a guy (Jeremy) for 2 years (they're now Juniors in high school), and the relationship has been cooling off... And just when Natalie is thinking "we should really take a break," Jeremy's parents separate... so he's going through a hard time with his family situation... so they stay together.

But then she starts developing feelings for Jeremy's best friend, Matt.......... who works with her on the school paper..... And it's all about Natalie trying to figure out what to do...

A fun twist is that she's the paper's Dear Abby... and she's having romance issues of her own! So she feels quite hypocritical.

I think with this plot line, it's easy for a book to fall into sleazy, cheating-on-your-boyfriend, etc. stuff... but Whitney Lyles kept it all completely above board. Nat felt guilty about every stray thought she thought and every stray feeling she felt... And Natalie AND Matt were both honest with Jeremy about their feelings, etc. at the end.

Plus, there was a great side-character romance that I quite quite enjoyed! Yay for Jo and Vincent!

[Rokeya begum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love off-limits by Whitney Lyles is about this girl named Natalie that is dating this guy called Jeremy, but she got feelings for his best friend Matt. There is so much drama going on in this romantic comedy. Natalie likes two guys right now and they are all both friends no best firend**.

Natalie finds herself lost in between these two friend, not knowing which one to choose and which one to break heart. She has been with Jeremy for about two years. The first year she felt a lot of Spark but this year she started to notice their diferencs.

But it isnt really helping the fact that Jeremy's parents just got divorced, and he is like of clinging on to her for support. So if Natalie lets him go it will be hard on him.

But in the end she did end up going out with Matt. And Jeremy got his girl, the new girl named, Brianna. I found the ending kind of like a fairytale ending. But like everything was such a chaos in the middle of the book that i never thought that Natalie could;ve gotten herself out of that situation smoothly. But i knew she would because all romantic romedies have fairytale endings. But I'm happy for her so yeah it was a nice book.

I liked it for the most part because i could relate to it.

[Shanyn]

You know, it's hard for me to not love any of these Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy books. Sure, there are some I don't like as much as others (one I read about snowboarding, for instance - I don't know much about it at all and was not intrigued), but if I'm looking for a cute, short, light read? I love them. They are also tiny and can fit in a bag nicely. Oh AND the ebook editions are only 5.99. Which makes them even more awesome.

Love Off-Limits was another Simon Pulse Rom Com hit with a journalist perspective. Natalie works at a newspaper and starts to get close to her editor. The plot isn't much deeper than that, but does have lots of fun moments - plus the whole romance thing. Hence calling them romantic comedies.

Love Off-Limits wasn't my favorite of the Rom Coms, but it's not one that I would not recommend, either (if that makes sense)! If you're headed to the beach or a vacation or a trip on a plane, these are excellent. And if I find a Rom Com that I probably wouldn't recommend, I'll be sure to let you know :)

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Natalie writes for the school newspaper. Among other articles, she's in charge of the anonymous romance advice column. She feels like a hoax, because she's having the biggest romance doubts in her life.

She's been dating Jeremy for two years. Everything about him screams perfection. While she cares about him, she's afraid she's no longer in love with him. It's the worst possible timing, as his parents are going through a divorce. She doesn't want to break up with him during his time of need, but she doesn't want to keep up pretenses of their failing relationship.

The worst part is she's having feelings for someone else - his best friend. How can she give advice to others when she can't even handle her own love life?

LOVE OFF-LIMITS is a quick, entertaining read filled with humor, romance advice, self-doubts, and learning when to take a stand.

[Princess Bookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Thoughts: Love Off-Limits is a cute fast fun read. We meet Natalie who is dating Jeremy. They have been together for a few years. She loves him but feels like their relationship just isn't what it used to be, though she will always be his friend. She realizes that she has feelings for his best friend Matt and he feels the same way about her. They beat around the bush for a while but end up doing "something" with each other. We also meet her friends and I particularly liked them and their "issues." I can't say much more about it without giving away the whole plot. I really liked the characters and from the get go I was voting for Matt!!!!

Overall: This was a cute book. It is predictable on some levels but still enjoyable. I enjoy all the Simon Romantic Comedies!

Cover: I like covers that involve actual humans more but its still a cute cover. All the romantic comedies have these kind of covers so its expected. Cute.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeremy and Natalie are the "it" couple yet Natalie has been noticing lately that somethings missing from their relationship... When she starts having feelings for Jeremy's best friend Matt she turns to an online teen love advice chat board to let her feelings out.

I really enjoy this novel. Natalie is sweet and her reasons for trying to stick it out with Jeremy are commendable. However, it was pretty easy to see that Jeremy and Natalie were at the end of their relationship. The book was pretty easy to figure out. I did giggle often and thought that Matt was adorable. However, I never really felt a spark or a jolt while reading this story when the love interests were together. I think this had to do with the way the perspective of the novel was written, which jarred me out of the story at times.

Overall, I thought this was a fun, easy read.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book, although a little too short and predictable. It solved itself well too quickly.
The story was new and nice. And I liked Matt and Nat. I think they were cute and good for each other.
Jeremy was mostly kind of brainless and gross even for a guy. A good guy, but still... not very charming for my likes. Matt on the other hand, was a nice guy and very much boyfriend material. Sweet and fun.
I also liked Jo and Vincent, although we haven't known them much, especially Vincent. But they were nice, fun and very good friends for Nat. And good for each other too, apparently.
All in all, a nice read, but I feel like my money has gone kind of wasted. It just wasn't really worth it. Call me a cheapskate, but it was too short a story for such a price.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was fine. However, it didn't really catch my interest. I'm more into the love being a good thing in a book. I didn't appreciate that it was considered a bad thing. I agree, it is very troubling when you have to pick between a guy you loved more then anyone, yet the spark has faded. I agree that this was also a time to experiment. I think Jeremy and Nat should have split up far sooner. Throughout the whole story I could tell Nat and Matt were perfect for each other. Their clumbsy and aqweird ways. It just seemed like a good pair. Im glad Vinny and Jo got together in the end. For sure.

[Jossie Posie - Semiliterate Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession: This romantic comedy series is my guiltiest pleasure in a long list of guilty pleasure. I commonly refer to them as my bubble gum break. So guilty in fact that I refuse to share them. I can't help loving these oh-so-innocent forays into first love. In all honesty they can get a bit trying when the characters (mostly teenagers or college students) engage in antics that I myself realized at that age were probably not the best ideas. But their sweet charm is enough to keep me coming back for more. If I had to venture a guess I would say I have read about 12 from the series. Yes, it's shameful but it feels sooooo good.

[♥-ℜachel -♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

so far, this is my favorite of the romantic comedies series

i loved the story line and i found it surprisingly some-what informitive. if your having problems with your love life, this book actually gives good advice =]

the one thing that i didn't like about this book was that everything was really predictable. i knew exactly how it was going to end by the time i got to pg. 150.

other than tht, this book was enjoyable. its no award winning novel, but it's still fun. =]

[Sascha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a totally unremarkable read with an equally unremarkable heroine whose only distinguishing trait may be that she has yet to fathom that when a dog is malodorous, you wash him. The writing is equally bland with far too many phrases like: they have interesting discussions. Really? What about? Give us something more on these characters. None of the characters stands out in any way and because of that the plot is yarn-worthy.

[Kate H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies are always a fun read. These books are not necessarily the best written novels but the stories are always fun and you know you will get a happy ending. I think some adult romances could take a note from these books b/c they are characterized well which is much of the battle in writing any novel since you want your characters, for the most part, to be endearing and relatable.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this today by the pool and it was absolutely perfect for that setting. It wasn't great, but I enjoyed it. i definitely found myself laughing out loud a couple of times. None of the characters had any really exciting personality traits, so sometimes the story dragged a bit. But like it said, it was perfect for just a simple day out by the pool.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

so, i checked out every simon romantic comedy that my library had and... i'm kinda liking them... for the most part... some are pure awfulness, but for the good ones... they are very quick reads (usually one night) and produce a very predictable, very happy ending love story...

[Tiffany Chiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It is written so that it seems like an everyday life novel. I really enjoyed this book. It was really fun for me to read. I don't have a favorite part. I think that this book is good for teenagers. It is really amusing.

[Mirela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book it was written well and I thought the theme was well written. I dont know if its me, I feel like its not realistic but I guess it wasnt supposed to be.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a cute "light read".

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute, fast read. I just like this occasional small read, where it only takes a couple of hours to read and ends up happy.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good. I loved that it was very comical and the ending was great! Overall I liked it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I would actually give this book a 4.5 it's definitely a page turner because you want to know what's going to happen but it's not as good as some of the other books that I've read.

[Cicily · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, its pretty funny :D

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this.... I would reccomend it to teenage girls

[Hpitcher]

so i've realized that whitney lyles is probably my least favorite simon rocom writer. it was good but i guess i didn't love it

[T.M. Carper]

Decent for a teen romance, but the heroine just keeps staying with her boyfriend for all the wrong reasons. Moves pretty quick, even though the heroine's whiny.