50 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah AdamsThe Cheat Sheet
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Breenkets
“Breenkets” are the trinkets that Bree gives to those that she deeply cares about and loves in her life. Whenever she sees something that reminds her of someone, she purchases it for them. Nathan has two shelves of Breenkets that include a Magic 8 Ball, a number 8 shot glass, and a number 8 birthday candle. Bree’s sister, Lily, has three shelves of Breenkets, and her collection beats out Nathan’s by seven trinkets. Nathan has kept every trinket that Bree ever gave him, along with the other mementos of their relationship that he keeps in a box in his closet. Bree even brings Lily another trinket when she announces her determination to actually date Nathan (a miniature doll in a pink bathrobe, a reference to an inside joke). These trinkets are symbolic of Bree’s love and knowledge of the people she gives them to. She knows Lily the best, as their sisterhood bond is strong, and they’ve known each other all their lives. She also knows Nathan well, as they are best friends. Those two have received the most Breenkets, while other people in Bree’s life, like Jamal, for example, have received less. Jamal has a ceramic cat and a handheld mirror from Bree, two things that connect to his fear of cats and his lighthearted vanity. Bree and Jamal are friends, but their relationship is not as deep or strong as her bonds with Lily and Nathan, hence his smaller collection of Breenkets.
Bree’s Scrunchie/Hair
Bree’s scrunchie and hair are symbolic of Nathan’s love for her. Her curly hair is something that he notices frequently about her. When he thinks about her appearance, the first thing he describes is her “long, wildly curly hair” and her “Julia Roberts smile” (19). He loves the way her hair looks and the way it always smells like the coconut shampoo she uses. Bree is insecure about her hair, especially compared to her sister Lily’s smooth, straight hair. She also thinks that her hair is “wild,” but this wild hair symbolizes Bree’s authentic character, something Nathan recognizes and responds to. When Dylan styles Bree’s hair for their Tide shoot, he rejects her idea of “taming” her curls, asking, “Why would anyone want to subdue these gorgeous curls?” (148). If Bree’s hair represents Nathan’s love, Dylan identifies it as real immediately, even though Bree and Nathan are still fake dating during the shoot and have not yet confessed their true feelings. Dylan does not want to tame Bree’s hair, and Nathan does not want to tame the wildness of his love for Bree. At Derek’s party, to flirt with her and help her stop giggling during their kiss, Nathan says, “Pretend I was the one who washed your hair with this coconut shampoo before we came here tonight” (220). He connects his attraction and his desire for Bree, physically and emotionally, to the image of her hair and scent of her shampoo, again showing the symbolic connection of her hair to his love. Bree’s scrunchie also carries this symbolic significance. In Nathan’s memento box is the scrunchie Bree was wearing on the night she drunkenly confessed to having feelings for him. He kept it in the box, as it still smells like her shampoo. Even after they confess their feelings, the scrunchie is still important to him. Bree watches as “he finally comes near [her] and plucks the scrunchie [she’s] clutching like it’s a million-dollar bill out of [her] hands” (264). A singular scrunchie is worth more than money to Nathan because it reminds him of Bree and his affection for her.
Bree’s Cookies/Lasagna
Another symbol of Bree’s love for those important to her are the various foods that she cooks for them. For her students at her studio, she bakes cookies that she gives them at the end of each practice, along with an inspirational message. Although she imagines that the girls want to “pluck their ears off” from hearing her kind words so often (36), she doesn’t let up because she cares about building up her students’ confidence and making sure they know that they are loved and supported. After the debacle with the bathroom video, Bree makes Nathan her veggie lasagna, a dish she knows he loves. She offers to do it as an apology, but her desire to apologize stems from her love for Nathan and her concern that her actions have made his life more difficult or complicated their friendship. Bree’s cooking for others shows that she cares for them, especially as Nathan notes that she does not even enjoy cooking after spending her teen years working in a diner to afford her car and school expenses.
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By Sarah Adams
