Anything You Want Review

You gotta love a pregnant teenage baby mama drama.  Secret Life of the American Teenager was quite addicting when I was younger; I would sneak it when my parents were in bed since I wasn't allowed to watch it.
Anything You Want isn't like The American Teenager.
Centered around the guy's point of view, Taco (Yes, he actually goes by that) falls mad over heels with Maggie Corrigan.  So hard, that he gets her pregnant.  But with his failing family, the death of his mother, and his positive, upbeat, attitude, he is thrilled to have a family of his own. But every rose has it's thorn and Taco will have to learn what it actually means to be a father, deal with Maggie's parents, and juggle school and other responsibilities.

It took me a while to get past his name... Taco. Honestly, I still can't get past it.  Why, why, why name a character after greasy, mexican, food, that you can buy at a food truck? Maybe it's just my pretentious self talking but I like real, classic names.  Don't get me wrong, unique names are one of the best things about books, but... Taco? Over the line just a little bit.

Another thing about Taco that bugs the living crap out of me: His stupidity.  He and Maggie literally were having sex like two horses in a dark barn and through all of that, he didn't think once, "Hmm.. Maybe I should listen to what health class taught me and wrap it before I tap it."  He may be smart in the books but his common sense is out the window on a ski trip.  I provided two quotes to show as examples:

[Taken place after he (wrongly) calculates when he and Maggie conceived their child and gets the results that it was before they even had sex]: "Our love made Maggie pregnant when we were both still virgins. That's a miracle. That's destiny. Our child would be destiny's child." 

“You do it. You and Maggie Corrigan do it all the time. Again and again and again,” he said.
“Right. We like to celebrate out love.” I said.
“Jesus Christ, Taco. Is she on birth control?” he asked.
“No.” I laughed. “Why would she be?” As I tend to be delusional but not totally stupid, I began to think.
“Oh shit. Are you using condoms?” he asked.
“No. We’re not serious about it, okay? We’re just having fun.”

And he was being completely serious.

Despite being a complete idiot, Taco has heart, I'll admit.  Most guys would run away and leave the kid with the mother to deal with, or suggest abortion or something horrific.  Taco is actually excited, and takes up a job to help Maggie.  He truly loves her and his kid with a full heart. Sometimes I wonder how can he be positive ALL the darn time.  Seriously, it was annoying to read. It gave me some faith though in humanity, maybe if everyone could be like Taco, the world would be a happier place.

I liked what the story taught about teenage pregnancy and the sacrifices you have to make when taking up such a huge responsibility.  Sometimes, you have to put others first, even if you don't want to, for the greater good.

This story started out to be one of those, that a while through I didn't really want to read, but I was curious to know the ending. So I pushed through and actually found myself content with the ending.  Wasn't the best, but I had a warm, little feeling inside my chest at those last words. It was a sweet, cute, and many times weird, tale to experience, but I was glad I finished it.

RATING: 3/5

I'll leave you all with some quotes I found to be enchanting and share-worthy from the book:

"So things were crap, and I began to lose the pep in my cucumber."

"I had to share a bed with Brad Schwartz, but it was a king-size (which was huge), so we didn't accidently wake up spooning with our hands on our muffins."