Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
Do you ever read a story and it feels packed from the first to last page with story? When you enter Meghan Quinn’s Earn Your Extra Credit, you have no idea what journey her characters, Stella and Brock “Romeo” Romero, will take. I was excited about this romance because Stella and Romeo circle each other in Arlo and Greer’s See Me After Class. It was clear in that story that one of these two was pining for the other without making any progress towards a relationship. Not to mention, that book wasn’t the space for their story. However, their chemistry was clear, as well as Stella’s misconception of Romeo.
Now, the other reason that Earn Your Extra Credit feels like a delicious extra credit assignment is Quinn’s Brock Romero. We’ve met him in her Brentwood Boys tales. While he didn’t get up to too much manwhoring and revelry, he fit in nicely with those guys, the ones who we have fallen for in their own books. For Romeo to finally get his story, one that is complicated in many ways, means that we get small peeks of Gentry, Carson, and of course, Gunner. This speaks of nostalgia over some of Quinn’s best stories, and the grand gesture that Stella throws down to win Romeo back will make you tear up. Seriously.
In this book, the gang is all here, and they are all protective covering for Stella and Romeo’s story. Gunner and Lindsay, Keiko and Kelvin, Arlo and Greer, and Cora all play an important part in imparting wisdom and a smack upside the head when necessary. Gunner and Keiko also offer some of the humor of this story to balance out the overwhelming stress of Stella and Romeo’s coupling. Because I have to be honest, Stella is a tough nut in this story. For all of her whimsy in See Me After Class, she is stubbornly frustrating in her own story. Romeo and Stella are a four-alarm fire physically, but Stella’s inability to see Romeo’s true feelings coupled with Romeo’s frustrating unwillingness to lay out his feelings for her will make you want to throw your Kindle at the wall. For much of the story, this is a good thing. It means you’re attuned to Stella and Romeo’s plight, but there are moments when I wanted to yell at Stella “enough is enough.”
There is so much to explore in Earn Your Extra Credit. From feelings of unresolved dreams to believing the worst about yourself to needing to reconcile with a family member, Meghan Quinn has proffered up another story that creates a multiplicity of emotions in her readers in equal measure. As I mentioned earlier in my review, this book feels heavy with story, and it is worth every penny.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 