Would like to meet, and gullible heroines

Disclaimer: If you have an aversion to gullible main characters, you will not get on with this book.

Might as well start with that then, shall we. Brace yourselves, we're diving straight for the spoilers.

---

Evie is one of the most oblivious heroines I've read about in the past few years, and that says a lot, considering I read a lot of Young Adult fiction. Not even a third of the way into the book it's blatantly obvious that Knob (pretentious screenwriter our protagonist and her friends have lovingly nicknamed that) is using her meet-cute write-ups for his script.

Like, not in an inspiration kind of way. Very much in a plagiarism kind of way. It quickly becomes painful to watch as Evie carries on with her mission without picking up on the signs that Ezra is passing off her ideas as his own. Can't see the script yet? AH, fine, nothing shady about that. He keeps prompting her to include more dialogue? Pff, sure thing. He flat out refuses to 'write' until she sends him more pages? Writer's block is a bitch.

I mean, COME ON EVIE! Wanting to give her the benefit of doubt, I even paused and considered whether it's only obvious to me because the audience knows stuff she doesn't. That's not the case folks. The book is written in first person, with a singular point of view, so what we know, she knows. UGH.

And while I'm ranting about Evie being completely oblivious to everything, can we talk for a moment about how ridiculous she is in her read on Ben (actual, super nice, decent human being and potential love interest). Lady, of course he's grouchy about the meet-cutes. He fancies you, can you blame him for not wanting to be just another story for your write-ups? We've got the hints that this is the case scattered all throughout the book as well. Not going to list these, otherwise this will quickly become a rant blog (it might have become that already, whoops).

---

Okay okay, let's move on to the redeeming qualities:

The concept of the story is unusual, which always draws me in when it comes to chicklit. This one is charmingly self aware and meta - I mean, besides the fact that it's literally a rom-com about rom-coms, the story is written in semi script form and we later find out that it's literally the narrative they're writing for the movie. There's even a clever wink to the audience about that in the end, where they repeat the same scene from earlier, only to reveal the characters are on set during filming.

It was also quite charming to have shout outs to big romantic comedy names of my teenage years, rather than just the 'classic' 20th century romances. Stumbling across mentions of familiar titles like The Holiday and 27 Dresses makes the story feel a lot more down-to-earth and compelling, because we can associate with the characters and their pop culture capital.

The heart to heart Evie has with her friends on the hen do is another high point in the book for me. During that episode characters who are little more than caricatures for most of the book briefly become real humans, showing us the complexity of being an adult and doing your best to have a functioning life. It's perhaps the most relatable any of them are, including Evie, and that says a lot considering I am an aspiring writer myself.

In a slightly less realistic but a lot more amusing vein, the scene where they stick it up to Evie's ex is comedy gold. I desperately wanted to dislike Ezra from beginning to end, but in this one episode he comes through, and uses his celebrity powers for good. Few things get me riled up quite as much as toxic masculinity and men putting women down, especially ones they've been romantically involved with. So seeing that douche-face get his comeuppance was incredibly satisfying, even if it meant I had to bring my hatred for Ezra down to 90%.

Annette is an absolute gem as well, bringing in wholesome-ness and comic relief to the story. (And ultimately bringing the main characters together). She's a very well-written kid character, with just the right amounts of childishness and naivety to be endearing without grating on you. Plus, she knows what's up way better than Evie does at any point in the book, and I have so much respect for that. Rock on, kiddo!

There's also a dog, which brings up my enjoyment of the book, and (grudgingly) brings down my dislike for Ezra another notch. Every book needs a dog - a healthy, happy one who adds humour and lives a long and content life filled with snacks and mischief. More dogs in fiction please!

3/5 stars