Originally posted at Small Review 
 4.5 stars 
 Ok, here's the deal: The story isn't all that original (except for the part where Natalie--as Nat--gets set up on a date...with a girl. Too funny!) and it does require about a beach-full of grains of salt to believe that a girl like Natalie could actually pull something like this off...but so what? Really, none of that matters because you don't read a book like this for an original and believable story. You read a book like this because you want to laugh and swoon and just have fun. On that front, mission totally accomplished! 
 I loved Natalie. In the beginning of the book she's so completely clueless about guys and relationships, but she thinks she knows it all. I was shaking my head at her throughout this whole part, but you're supposed to be thinking that. Her mistakes, as embarrassingly bad as they are, are also pretty understandable. This whole part set Natalie up to be a character I could relate to. She only got better as the book progressed and she began to look at herself more honestly. 
 I said that you read a book like this because it'll be funny, but I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to laugh. I don't think I've ever laughed this much from a book. Full on, out loud laughter. There's this one scene (and for those of you who have read the book already all I'll say is "Basketball") that had me practically in tears. Not just a chuckle or even a bark of laughter, but side-splitting, tears falling, gasping for breath laughter. I was still losing it pages later at the memory of that scene. And that's not the only scene that made me laugh like this. 
 Even with all that humor, there's a serious side here that I wasn't expecting at all. Like in Allison van Diepen's Oracle of Dating series, Jody Gehrman actually includes a lot of good advice. I liked the observations Natalie made about how girls can make guys feel and why guys behave the way they do. I also appreciated how Natalie still embraced her girly side. I almost grabbed a little notebook to jot down all of Natalie's lessons learned. I wish I could travel back in time and send my younger self a copy of Babe in Boyland. 
 The only thing I wasn't really feeling was the romance. That's why this isn't a 5-star Special Shelf book for me. I didn't find the guy she ends up with particularly attractive (or unattractive), and their scenes weren't especially swoon-inducing for me. He wasn't bad or a turn off, but he just didn't have that spark. Even with this little disappointment, I loved the book so much that I will be purchasing my own copy and getting a copy for my library. 
 Originally posted at Small Review