Hey all, Dani here.
Well, it’s the day after Valentine’s Day, so I might as well review a romance novel today. Plus, this is a recent read that I ended up really really enjoying, so I want to talk about it more. Whether you’re in a committed relationship, dating to find that special someone, or either comfortable or uncomfortable with your single-ness, I hope you are having a lovely day/weekend. Oh, and it’s the day after Valentine’s Day, so go stock up on that discount V-Day candy.
Anyway, for today I’m talking about a book I’ve already gushed about a little bit; it was my pick for this month’s Calendar Girls theme, but I had always planned to get a review written up so I could gush a lot more fully about this meet-cute rom-com story. So, let’s go ahead and jump into the review.
Book Details
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: December 3, 2019
ISBN: 0525542310 (ISBN13: 9780525542315)
Summary
In this charming, feel-good debut novel, a cynical assistant at a screenwriting agency must reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedy movies in order to help her #1 client get his scriptwriting mojo back–but can a real-life meet-cute be in store for someone who doesn’t believe in happily ever after?
After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she’s been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency’s biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy.
The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer’s block–and he’ll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts.
But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she’ll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love. In a novel as hilarious as it is heartwarming, debut author Rachel Winters proves that sometimes real life is better than the movies–and that the best kind of meet-cutes happen when you least expect them.
My Thoughts
Rating: 5 stars
I so loved reading this book. It was overall just really endearing and cute. I will just go ahead and say right now that one of the big plot twist/big reveal moments, I figured out fairly early on, BUT it was still a well-executed revelation moment. Honestly it’s just that this is a meet-cute romance story inspired by so many other meet-cute romance stories, and so you will find a lot of similar plot structure and other elements, so there is a bit of predictability in that…but honestly I was hoping for a feel-good romance story that did follow expected romance generalizations.
Oh man, having Evie push herself to try all of these hilarious and ridiculous meet-cute scenarios and then writing up reports to send to annoying screenwriter Ezra, made for such an entertaining story.
Evie’s friend group was great about supporting her in this somewhat crazy endeavor, and they even helped come up with some of the meet-cute ideas. Though, because she was so wrapped up in this big work plot, Evie herself did drop the ball a lot on kind of important friend events. Which, honestly, was just something I think we can easily relate to. I mean, Evie had been working towards and asking about a promotion for years, and her opportunity finally came, so she had to take it. So while so focused on this hopeful future for her career, Evie did sort of have tunnel vision and forget some other things.
What’s really great is that while she’s focused on trying all of these meet-cutes, it’s like she didn’t realize that she had already had an endearing and awkward encounter that became her own actual romance story meet-cute.
This was just a fun, shenanigan filled, and heart-warming story about taking chances and finding love in endearing yet humiliating situations that are not exactly like the movies, but might still have that movie romance ending.
I loved reading this book, and I read it so quickly, so I definitely recommend it.
Where to Get a Copy
You can grab your own copy of this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore through IndieBound.
You can also check with your local library.
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