Page Count: 320
Published On: June 11, 2019
Published By: Berkley
Genre(s): Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult
Source: e-book via NetGalley
Where To Find It: Amazon // Book Depository
My Rating: 3.25 stars
Goodread synopsis:
Can a romcom-obssessed romantic finally experience the meet-cute she always dreamed of or will reality never compare to fiction, in this charming debut adult novel from Kerry Winfrey.
Annie is twenty-seven years old, single, and obsessed with romantic comedies (she and her mother watched them religiously before her mom died). Her dating life is limited by the expectations she’s formed from these movies. She is not as open to new experiences as she might be, because she’s waiting for her Tom Hanks–i.e., a guy she’ll find in the perfect, meet-cute romantic comedy way. When Annie does finally meet her perfect match, it’s not quite in the way she expected, and she’s forced to reckon with the walls she’s built around herself over the years.
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My request on NetGalley was graciously accepted by Penguin/Berkley. Thank you Penguin/Berkley for allowing me to access this book. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
This romantic-comedy-esque novel follows 27-year-old Annie. Annie is absolutely obsessed with romantic comedies. She especially looks up to the characters that Tom Hanks plays. Because of the oodles of romantic comedies that she has watched over her life, her expectations are unreasonably high when it comes to getting into dating. When a Hollywood movie crew comes to her town to shoot a romantic comedy, Annie is coerced by her caring uncle to find a job among the crewmen. Thankfully, her uncle knows the director and gets her a job being his assistant. Through her job, she meets A-list celebrities, including the leading man.
This was such a fun idea for a rom-com novel, however, I really didn't enjoy the constant and repetitive references to Tom Hank's movies. It would be really cute if there had been less, but it was just a bit water-logged with references. It got old quickly.
Overall, I really liked the side characters, rather than the main character. Up until the end of the book, I just disliked her...However, that's pretty typical in any rom-com. This was fun, but I wish I had liked Annie better. (I actually know a fantastic Annie that loves movies. Check out her YouTube!) She eventually redeemed herself, but my feelings for her were really rough at the beginning.
This book was also pretty predictable but in the best rom-com way. It reminded me of the fun rom-coms from the 90s. I won't spoil anything about the actual happenings of the story because that defeats the point. You go into a rom-com with vague ideas of whether it's good in a good way or bad in a good way. The cheesiness is the point.
This was a nice testament to the rom-com genre. I honestly haven't watched any of Tom Hanks' romantic comedies, but after reading this, I'll have to.
This fun book comes out June 11! Pre-order your copy now before it's too late!
Here's a super fun excerpt from the book!
Happy reading!
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Exclusive Excerpt from the Novel:
I blink a few times, staring straight into Drew Danforth’s
face. It’s like when you’re a kid and there’s a solar eclipse, and all the
teachers are like, “Don’t look directly into the sun! You’ll destroy your
retinas!” but there’s always that one kid (Johnny Berger, in our class) who
can’t stop staring.
In this situation,
I’m Johnny Berger. And I guess Drew Danforth is the sun.
“Are you okay?” he
asks again, enunciating his words even more as if me understanding him is the
problem. His brown eyes, I notice, are flecked with tiny bits of gold, which is
something you can’t see when you watch him on TV. His hair is just as
voluminous as it seems in pictures, but in person, I have the almost
overwhelming urge to touch it, to reach out and pull on that one lock of hair
that hangs over his forehead.
“She’s not
responding.” He turns to Chloe. “Is something wrong?”
“She’s French,” Chloe says without missing a
beat. “She only speaks French.”
“I’m
not French,” I say, breaking my silence. Chloe and Drew’s heads swivel to look
at me.
“I’m
sorry about your coat,” I whisper, then I run toward Nick’s.
Chloe
bursts in the door behind me, the bell jingling in her wake. “I’m not French?”
she screeches. “Those are the first words you spoke to Drew Danforth? Really?”
“Well
then, why did you tell him I was French?” I shout, ignoring the curious stares
of everyone working on their laptops and the calming melody of whatever Nick
put on to replace the Doobies.
“I
don’t know!” She throws her hands in the air. “You weren’t talking, so I thought
I’d give you an interesting backstory!”
I
put my hands over my face. “This is ridiculous.”
“No,”
Chloe says, grabbing me by the shoulders. “This is your meet-cute, and now you
need to go back out there and find him and say something that isn’t a negation
of your Frenchness or an apology for destroying his probably very expensive
coat.”
“Meet
what?”
Nick
stares at us from behind the counter, a dishtowel in his hand.
“A
meet-cute,” Chloe stands up straight, shoulders back, as if she’s delivering a
Romantic Comedy 101 lecture to Nick and his patrons, “is the quirky, adorable, cute
way the hero and heroine of a romantic comedy meet.”
Everyone
stares at her blankly.
“Or
hero and hero. Or heroine and heroine. Not to be heteronormative,” she
clarifies.
“Like
how me and Martha met at her wedding,” Gary says.
Chloe
thinks about it. “I don’t know that I would necessarily call that one a meet-cute,
but sure, Gary.”
“Did
you just make that up?” Nick asks, arms crossed.
I
shake my head. “No. It’s a thing.”
“Watch
a romantic comedy, dude,” Tobin says.
Nick
rolls his eyes.
“Anyway,”
Chloe continues, “Annie straight up ran into Drew Danforth and spilled a cup of
coffee all over his coat, which is, like, the cutest of meets.”
“That
doesn’t sound very cute,” Nick says skeptically, rubbing the scruff on his
chin. “Was it still hot?”
“Scalding,”
I say, sinking into my chair and resting my head on the table.
“Sounds
like a meet painful,” says Gary, and a few people laugh.
“Thanks,”
I mutter. “I’m so glad you all find my embarrassment entertaining.”
“Annie!”
Chloe sits down across from me as a customer walks in and the rest of the shop
stops paying attention to us. “This isn’t embarrassing. This is merely a story
I’ll tell in my toast at your wedding to Drew.”
I
lift my head to look at her. “I hate to break this to you, but I don’t think
he’s my Tom Hanks. I think he’s just a famous guy with a possible third-degree
burn on his chest. And now my first day on set is going to be super awkward
because I accidentally assaulted the lead actor with a beverage.”
Chloe’s
about to say something, but then a song starts and she closes her mouth,
looking up toward the speakers. “I swear to God, I told Nick not to play any
more Bon Iver. It makes people look up their exes on Instagram, not buy coffee.
I’m gonna go put on some Hall and Oates.”
As
she walks away, I rest my head on the table again. As if it wasn’t embarrassing
enough to have my uncle get me a job on set, now I have to deal with this.
