Review ~ Girls Love Travis Walker by Anne Pfeffer

Title: Girls Love Travis Walker

Author: Anne Pfeffer

Genre: Mature YA Contemporary Romance

Published: March 15th 2013

To nineteen-year-old high school dropout Travis Walker, women are like snowflakes--each one different, but beautiful in her own way.

He can charm any girl he meets, and yet down deep he fears he'll always be a loser like his jailbird father. As the landlady threatens to evict him and his sick mother, Travis takes a job he hates and spends his evenings picking up girls at a nearby night spot.

When he enlists in a teen program at the local fire station, he finds out he’s amazing at it. Then he meets the smoking hot Kat Summers, enlists Kat’s friend Zoey to help him woo her, and falls in love for the first time ever.

But he keeps the details of his life secret. His girl will never love him back if she knows the truth about him….

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When I began reading this book, I thought that Travis was a bit of a jerk, giving the school counsellor the run around, and going out and using girls. It soon becomes apparent that he’s like that to hide what is truly bothering him; his home life. This story is more about a guy, down on his luck, struggling with day to day life, who wants to make a better life for himself.

It was interesting to see the complications that Travis has had to deal with. His father is gone, his mother’s not well and it’s up to Travis to get the money for rent. He works as much as he can, to try and avoid being evicted. Even at lunch times he volunteers at the community center so that he can bring meals home for his mother and himself. He gets into the Discoverers program at the local firestation and has finally found a passion that he wants to pursue.

Along the way there are obstacles that Travis has to deal with and it seems to become a losing battle. I was smiling at the good times, but I often shed a tear when things were looking bad for him and his mother. It seems unreal to know that people go through these types of things and are left with nothing. But Travis never lost hope and his will and determination got him through. He really is a fantastic guy and I was hoping things would turn out ok for him.

Of course there is a romantic relationship thrown in that turned the player into an honourable guy; a girl from the community center. She was able to give Travis more purpose, but being a guy in trouble, he didn’t open up to her and tell her his troubles. I liked seeing their relationship building slowly; it was sweet and didn’t begin immediately.

I enjoyed Anne Pfeffer’s writing style, as we breezed through some times of Travis’ life, and I really enjoyed the male POV. It was amusing to see him unravel his thoughts and see what he was thinking. He is really a good guy hidden by his looks and charm. The details of fire fighting life – the drills and training that they go though – were interesting too. But the thing that I loved about this story was the ups and downs and how emotionally connected I felt to Travis that he brought tears to my eyes. I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely scope out more from this author in the future!

I just wanted to thank Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction for this book! I won it in her Blogoversary giveaway!