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Sixteen-year-old Jaxon is being committed to video game rehab…ten minutes after he met a girl. A living, breathing girl named Serena, who not only laughed at his jokes but actually kinda sorta seemed excited when she agreed to go out with him.
Jaxon’s first date. Ever.
In rehab, he can’t blast his way through galaxies to reach her. He can’t slash through armies to kiss her sweet lips. Instead, he has just four days to earn one million points by learning real-life skills. And he’ll do whatever it takes—lie, cheat, steal, even learn how to cross-stitch—in order to make it to his date.
If all else fails, Jaxon will have to bare his soul to the other teens in treatment, confront his mother’s absence, and maybe admit that it’s more than video games that stand in the way of a real connection.
Prepare to be cured.

Eh, this book. I guess I liked it, but why is there so much wrong? (someone remind me of the last time I actually liked a book).

I’ve heard this isn’t exactly an unpopular opinion, but I really didn’t like Jaxon, our MC. At first he just seemed like a nerd, but in the end he was rude, insanely self-centred and basically a jerk. I know we don’t always need to necessarily like a MC, but in this story it would have been really good to actually want to root for Jaxon. He had a lot he wanted to achieve and I really wanted to cheer him on, but in reality he treated everyone so badly who was trying to help him, that all I could do was dislike him.

“Just because something goes wrong in your life”

I didn’t dislike reading this book, in fact it was really entertaining in parts. Video game rehab is something original in YA that I haven’t read before and a lot of it was fast-paced and fun. It was incredibly fast-paced and I got through it incredibly quickly. It was definitely a page-turner. The unfortunate thing about the plot, however, was that Jaxon didn’t really get anywhere. Video game rehab is meant to help people with being addicted to games, which I understand in the modern world is something that could be really serious, and I’m glad this book discussed it. But instead of using his time in rehab to actually learn, he seemed to be pretty much back in square one towards the end of the book.

“doesn’t mean you get to become the wrong in everyone else’s.”

For some reason, the end of the book just seemed to go in a complete different direction. Instead of healing, Jaxon improved a bit socially and that seemed to be…it? I just wish the plot had been planned out better. But while reading the book, I enjoyed it and found in entertaining. It might not have been the best, but I did enjoy it somewhat.

★★★
3 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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