BLOG TOUR (10): THE BOYFRIEND APP BY KATIE SISE.

Today is my blog tour stop for The Boyfriend App Philippines Tour hosted by Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture! I am so stoked to finally be able to share what I thought of this geeky and funny novel! Enjoy!

Title: The Boyfriend App
Author: Katie Sise
Edition: Paperback
Published: April 30, 2013
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Pages: 320
Source: ARC provided by Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture
Category: Contemporary, Romance, Chick Lit
Trailer: not applicable.

Synopsis:

In The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, super-smart, somewhat geeky Audrey McCarthy can’t wait to get out of high school. Her father’s death and the transformation of her one-time BFF, Blake Dawkins, into her worst nightmare have her longing for the new start college will bring.

But college takes money. So Audrey decides she has to win the competition for the best app designed by a high schooler—and the $200,000 that comes with it. She develops something she calls the Boyfriend App, and suddenly she’s the talk of the school and getting kissed by the hottest boys around. But can the Boyfriend App bring Audrey true love?

*SOME SPOILERS*

The Boyfriend App is absolutely geeky!

Audrey McCarthy is a programming genius. Her father thought her everything she knows and it pains her everytime she remembers that he's gone. She badly wanted to go out of her hellish high school life because of her evil ex-best friend and start a new at college but she's short of funds. When there's an open competition where they have to come up with a mobile app, she enters hoping she could bag the winning prize of whopping two hundred thousand dollars. But little did she know, another hellish life awaits her.

When I ventured in the IT Industry and the blogging world, my heart longed to be a programmer. I wanted to be able to make be good at whatever job I am doing and I basically just wanted to be able to make layouts for my blog. When I read The Boyfriend App, I can't help but feel a little jealous of the character and how technically savvy she is. I loved how it all goes well together in the novel - school, love life and work and how well balanced it was written.

Audrey is very techy. At a very young age, her dad thought her stuff adults are expected to be good at. And she's good at it. She could hack a website, knows how to hide her IP address, can create an application and so on and so fort. I've never encountered a character like her and I enjoyed how smart she is. And I just simply love Aiden!

The only thing I can't really agree on is the part where a sound can manipulate a person's feelings. I am not sure if there are studies about it but I just can't picture it out. Everything about The Boyfriend App is thoroughly likable except for that part. Well, at least for me. No matter what stimuli or hormones a particular sound can activate or deactivate, I just don't believe that a phone app can make someone as crazily in love as what the book tells.

The Boyfriend App is quirky, funny and light contemporary read I can recommend to everyone. It shows how being humiliated everyday by your evil ex-best friend can make you work you arse off to get out and have a peaceful life. It shows courage, talent and patience and sometimes, you just really have to be witty and manipulative to get what you want or deserve. Oh and justice prevails.

VERDICT:

Quote to follow.

About the Author:

Katharine “Katie” Sise is a New York City based author, jewelry designer and television host. Years ago, at age twenty-four— after dropping a rare and very expensive bottle of champagne on her way to deliver it to Robert De Niro’s table—she realized she needed a way to fund her acting and writing career that didn’t involve balancing a tray full of cocktails. That fall, she taught herself to make jewelry and launched Katharine Sise Jewelry. Within a few months, Lucky Magazine called her a “Designer to Watch” and her company appeared in every major fashion magazine—including Vogue, W, Elle, Self, Lucky, InStyle, Bazaar, Allure, Us Weekly, People, In Touch, Page Six Magazine, Real Simple, FN, Life and Style, Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Women’s Wear Daily, Marie Claire and Glamour. Before she knew it, her celebrity clientele included Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Kelly Ripa, Ellen Pompeo, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Beyonce Knowles, Anne Hathaway and Drew Barrymore.
Katharine has been profiled on dozens of online fashion and lifestyle outlets including Forbes.com, Elle.com, InStyle.com, People.com, Sweet, The Huffington Post and The New York Post. Her jewelry has appeared on television shows such as The View, Live with Regis and Kelly, E! News, Good Day New York, Full Frontal Fashion, Movie and a Makeover, The O.C., Brothers and Sisters and Gossip Girl. While Katharine was chatting with the ladies from The View, one of her necklaces broke on air and fell from her neck to her lap because she didn’t spend enough time getting the clasp right. That moment is preserved, forever, on a DVD at her parents’ house.
Katharine has designed jewelry for national campaigns like Vera Wang, Gap and Keds. In 2009, Target launched Katharine Sise for Target.

Katharine has worked as a fashion and lifestyle consultant, appearing on-air for networks like HSN, Oxygen, Discovery Channel, CNBC and ABC’s Good Morning America. For eighteen months, Katharine co-hosted a live monthly television show for The Home Shopping Network. She also appeared as The Daily Special’s resident style expert.
Katharine’s first book, Creative Girl: The Ultimate Guide for Turning Talent and Creativity into a Real Career (Perseus/Running Press) hit shelves in September of 2010. Creative Girl is written for every woman who wants to make her living in the creative world, whether in an office job or at the helm of her own business. The book is an encouraging and practical take on how to make a living doing what you love.
Katharine’s first novel, The Boyfriend App, will be published by HarperCollins Balzer + Bray on April 30, 2013. The Boyfriend App tells the story of a girl who, in order to win a scholarship offered by a secretly-evil global computing corporation, invents an app that makes any boy fall madly in love with her, with chaotic results.
Katharine has a BA in Film, Television and Theater from The University of Notre Dame. She lives in New York City with her family.

We are also giving away copies of The Boyfriend App ARCs! (PH Only though!)

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GOOD LUCK!