The Boyfriend App
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For fans of smart romantic comedies, this is a clever Cinderella story with a tech twist.
When Public Corporation, a giant tech company, announces a contest for the best app developed by a high school student—with $200,000 in prize money—computer whiz Audrey McCarthy is all in. Audrey's been searching for her one ticket out of town ever since her dad died and her best friend, perfect and popular Blake Dawkins, turned into her worst nightmare—and this scholarship may be it.
Audrey comes up with an idea so simple, yet so brilliant, she can't believe it hasn't been done before: the Boyfriend App. With a simple touch of the screen, romance blooms among the unlikeliest couples at school—and people start to take notice. But it's not quite enough.
To beat out the competition, Audrey will have to dig deeper—right into a scandal that would rock Public to its core. Launched into unexpected fame and passionately kissed by the hottest guys in school, Audrey finds that her invention has thrown her life into complete chaos . . . but can it bring her true love?
Ex-Best-Friends-to-Enemies: Audrey’s former best friend Blake is now her biggest rival, both in the tech contest and for social survival. This one’s personal.High School Romance: Between dodging her nemesis and debugging her app, Audrey gets kissed by the most popular guys in school. But is any of it real if an algorithm is making the match?Coding for Girls: A brilliant teen programmer enters a life-changing competition to code her way out of her small town and into her dream college.Cinderella with a Tech Twist: Armed with a laptop instead of a glass slipper, Audrey builds an app that could change her life—or crash and burn, taking all her secrets with it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Audrey McCarthy and her best friend Blake were popular as freshmen, but by senior year, Blake has turned mean, and Audrey's only friends are the computer geeks that Blake and her posse call trogs, short for troglodytes. But it's the trogs' turn to shine when the Public Company (think Apple plus Facebook) announces an app contest, with a $200,000 prize. A talented coder and hacker, Audrey is determined to win. Her first app, a boyfriend finder, starts strong, but fizzles when the couples it's brought together start breaking up. Then comes version 2.0, which builds on the underhanded way Public keeps teens connected to its products. Debut author Sise makes app design fun and approachable, while adding a pinch of caprice into the storyline. Audrey's relationship with adorable fellow-trog Aidan evolves at a slow pace, especially compared to the speed with which the mayhem and scandal result from Audrey's app and what she discovers about Public. But Sise creates a clever, independent-minded heroine, while exploring the drawbacks of modern technology, and offering painful insight into friendships gone sour. Ages 13 up.
