ARC, 275 pages
Release Date: July 22, 2014Published by: BloomsburyStand-aloneSource: Around the World ARC ToursFor fans of: Chick-lit, Contemporary, Romance,Pretty, popular Marijke Monti and over-achieving nerd-girl Lily Spencer have little in common—except that neither feels successful when it comes to love. Marijke can’t get her boyfriend to say “I love you” and Lily can’t get a boyfriend at all. When the girls end up at a late night showing of Titanic, sniffling along with the sinking ship, they realize that their love lives could—and should—be better. Which sparks an idea: Why can’t life be like a movie? Why can’t they create perfect romantic situations? Now they have a budding friendship and a plan—to act out grand gestures and get the guys of their dreams. It seems like fun at first, but reality turns out to be much more complicated, and they didn’t take into account that finding true love usually requires finding yourself first.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first heard about this book, I was super excited about it because I really liked the concept and I read Fiore’s last book. Although it wasn’t stellar to me, I still enjoyed it.
“‘Haven’t you ever wished you could fall in love like they do on screen?“
pg. 3
The synopsis is what got me. Every girl has had that one wish where one day her love life is like what she sees in the movies. (Or maybe in our case, what we read about in books.) This is why Marijke and Lily become friends. They take on the task of making their non-stellar love lives into what they believed to be true love. I can honestly say I’ve never read a book with this kind of concept. But even still with all the creativeness this had, it still wasn’t executed just right.
“‘He could sell a bottle of ketchup to a lady in white gloves.“
pg. 51
I read the other book by Fiore, Taste Test and I thought it was just ok, but the concept in that one jumped out to me in that one too. And basically that’s what happened with this one. It was just ok. I was expecting to enjoy this more because it was her sophomore novel, but it still wasn’t all that great.
“‘Think Footloose,’ I whisper in her ear. ‘Falling in love while fighting for a cause.’“
pg. 137
I also didn’t like the characters. Marijke was putting her entire life to the back burner because she was so caught up in her relationship. Since I was once a teen girl in high school, I completely understand how easy it is to get swept up in a high school boy’s eyes, but this was a little over the top. I mean putting off her choosing a college because she didn’t know what he was doing? Yeah, if that was my daughter we would’ve had some problems. Even in the end when he finally got it together I wasn’t that much a of a fan of him. After seeing all that he did, that one gesture just wasn’t enough for me. I felt like he was terrible to her, he deserved the hurt and the same thing he did to her. I was thinking of karma clearly.
“‘I mean, even fairy takes have their ups and down. Happily ever after just gets sidetracked sometimes.“
pg. 183
In short, this book was very much like tie first. A very cute concept, an ok execution of it, and a fluffy romance. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but I’m sure fiction lovers of all types can and will fall for this one.
Overall, I give this
Will you read this? What movie is your love life most like? I love discussions!