Review Detail

UNNECESSARY DRAMA by Nina Kenwood is a YA/NA Contemporary Rom-Com and is so much fun. Brooke has just gone off to her first year of college, where she’s going to totally reinvent herself into a perfect human, but her plans get derailed when her high school foe, Jesse, moves in as one of her roommates. It’s impossible for her to leave the past behind when he’s there in front of her all the time, and despite her best efforts to ignore him… he’s not quite as bad as she remembers. In fact, he’s trying to make amends, which to Brooke, may be worse. There was a time when the two of them truly cared for one another, but after Brooke got hurt, she’s determined to not allow that to happen again.

This novel has voice with a capital V! Brooke has a lot to say, or better put, think about, ad nauseam, and from every angle. In other words, she is extremely relatable for us socially anxious, type-A folks. Despite the fact that she can’t get out of her own way, she is full of quirk and charm, like most of the characters in this book. Brooke’s family is especially hilarious — I love her mom and grandma’s quips — and Lauren, her sister, despite being the polar opposite of Brooke, grounds her. All of the people Brooke meets, or re-meets, at college, bring a unique element to the story as well. I enjoyed getting to know this entire cast of characters.

While the end of this book is obvious from the first couple of chapters, getting there is an enjoyable journey. Sometimes I really just wanted to shake Brooke and Jesse into talking, but I could understand why both of them were hesitant to be fully open with one another. Friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers will forever be my favorite tropes, and this book does both of them justice, and then some! I also like the dimension Kenwood adds with the different family dynamics, so we can get a sense of why Brooke needs so much control, and why Jesse feels so compelled to fit in.

Overall, UNNECESSARY DRAMA is not only a sweet read, but it’s hilarious in its situational comedy and dialogue, heart-warming as the characters come of age, and butterfly-inducing as the romance unfolds. It’s the perfect read for the last days of September or any time you want a nice pick-me-up.