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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This is What Happy Looks Like
Jennifer Smith
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2013
Source: borrowed from school library
Rating: 3/ 5 stars
This is What Happy Looks Like is a sweet romance. After an accidental email turns into penpals, Ellie and Graham talk for months without having met. Then one day Graham shows up in Ellie’s town. Don’t worry, it doesn’t go weird internet stalker on us. Graham is a big time teen actor, and although it sounds creepy, he’s gotten his newest movie set in Ellie’s small town. After a little mix up in identity (neither of them ever shared their real name through emails) Ellie is overwhelmed with the news that the person she’s been emailing is Graham Larkin. She wants to let him into her life, but she has secrets to keep and the cameras and gossip that follow Graham around won’t make that easy.
LIke I said, this is sweet and innocent, making it perfect for middle school students who enjoy reading romances. It’s exactly the kind of book I would have devoured as a middle school student.
As an adult, I would have enjoyed a little more development of Ellie’s relationship with her mom or with her best friend instead of always being focused on Graham, but then it wouldn’t be a romance, would it? At the same time, I would have also liked Graham to be more than just this piece of eye candy, Prince Charming character. I think there was an attempt to make him more, but it was never fully brought out. What about his drawing? Or possibly more about the books he’s read. Each of these were alluded to her and developed slightly, but not much. Not only would this fill out his character and flesh out ideas from the beginning of the novel, but it would help to solidify his relationship with Ellie more. Their relationship would be grounded in something a little more solid as they have some kind of solid ground.
Overall, I probably won’t read another Jennifer Smith novel--it's just not my type of book. I will, however, recommend her books to some of my students who are into romance stories. I think they would love it.
Check out my other reviews at livingalifeinbooks.blogspot.com.
Jennifer Smith
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2013
Source: borrowed from school library
Rating: 3/ 5 stars
This is What Happy Looks Like is a sweet romance. After an accidental email turns into penpals, Ellie and Graham talk for months without having met. Then one day Graham shows up in Ellie’s town. Don’t worry, it doesn’t go weird internet stalker on us. Graham is a big time teen actor, and although it sounds creepy, he’s gotten his newest movie set in Ellie’s small town. After a little mix up in identity (neither of them ever shared their real name through emails) Ellie is overwhelmed with the news that the person she’s been emailing is Graham Larkin. She wants to let him into her life, but she has secrets to keep and the cameras and gossip that follow Graham around won’t make that easy.
LIke I said, this is sweet and innocent, making it perfect for middle school students who enjoy reading romances. It’s exactly the kind of book I would have devoured as a middle school student.
As an adult, I would have enjoyed a little more development of Ellie’s relationship with her mom or with her best friend instead of always being focused on Graham, but then it wouldn’t be a romance, would it? At the same time, I would have also liked Graham to be more than just this piece of eye candy, Prince Charming character. I think there was an attempt to make him more, but it was never fully brought out. What about his drawing? Or possibly more about the books he’s read. Each of these were alluded to her and developed slightly, but not much. Not only would this fill out his character and flesh out ideas from the beginning of the novel, but it would help to solidify his relationship with Ellie more. Their relationship would be grounded in something a little more solid as they have some kind of solid ground.
Overall, I probably won’t read another Jennifer Smith novel--it's just not my type of book. I will, however, recommend her books to some of my students who are into romance stories. I think they would love it.
Check out my other reviews at livingalifeinbooks.blogspot.com.
This book was cute, as Jennifer Smith's books usually are. It was a little long for it to be just a cute book- there are too many great books out there for me to spend more than a couple hours on a book that's just cute. But I finished it, so there's that. And honestly, no one can live in Maine, or even in New England, his or her whole life and never hear of whoopie pies. That was ridiculous.
So the thing with Jennifer Smith's stories is... It's not unique but it's... Amazing.
I don't know she does it, but somehow, it's almost like she takes cliches... and makes them new and refreshing, and remind us of WHY they became a cliche in the first place. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight used the cliche of love at first sight, and this one of falling in love with a celebrity.
And OMG. I loved it. It was absolutely adorable.
I did wish the mystery of who Graham was withheld a little longer, but it's fine.
This book is about twice the length of TSPLFS (Too lazy to type it all :3) but it never felt long. Like TSPLFS never feeling too short, this one never felt long. These stories are each at their perfect length.
I loved both characters- they were genuine, and kind of heartbreaking... Oh jeez.
A great GREAT chick-lit for those days when you just need a smile... :)
*********
MMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAY!!!!!
This. Sounds. So. Perfect.
And since I loved The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, I will probably love this one. :) AND THE COVER FITS IN PERFECTLY :D
I don't know she does it, but somehow, it's almost like she takes cliches... and makes them new and refreshing, and remind us of WHY they became a cliche in the first place. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight used the cliche of love at first sight, and this one of falling in love with a celebrity.
And OMG. I loved it. It was absolutely adorable.
I did wish the mystery of who Graham was withheld a little longer, but it's fine.
This book is about twice the length of TSPLFS (Too lazy to type it all :3) but it never felt long. Like TSPLFS never feeling too short, this one never felt long. These stories are each at their perfect length.
I loved both characters- they were genuine, and kind of heartbreaking... Oh jeez.
A great GREAT chick-lit for those days when you just need a smile... :)
*********
MMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAY!!!!!
This. Sounds. So. Perfect.
And since I loved The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, I will probably love this one. :) AND THE COVER FITS IN PERFECTLY :D
1.5 stars
Fair warning: I really hated this book and there is going to be nothing positive in this review.
I read The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight (my review) last year and thought it was good, a solid 3 stars in my opinion. But This Is What Happy Looks Like? I'm having a very hard time not giving it 1 star.
This book is written in the third person, which isn't my favorite, but most of the time it doesn't bother me (at first I thought maybe I don't normally read books in the third person so I've paid attention to what I've read since I read this and I've read a bunch of third person stories that didn't bother me). But in this book it drove me crazy. Not only is it third person, but it's two-third-person perspectives which made it much worse. And it's not third person omniscient it's a very close third-person focusing on each main character in alternating chapters. I feel like the names "Ellie" and "Graham" were used 10,000 times in this book. Not only was this written in the third person, it was also very lyrically written, which is a style that just isn't for me.
I realize a lot of people probably like this aspect, but this book was just too earnest for me. The characters are all good kids, there's no rebelling, they're polite and nice, there's no cursing, there's no sex, and there's barely even kissing. I'm not saying a book has to have any of that for me to find it appealing, but here it just came off as completely contrived.
Also, nothing happens in the book. There's no real problem to solve or thing to get over. It's like there could have been, but nothing was every taken far enough or fleshed out enough to be life changing.
The entire time I was reading this I just kept thinking how this was just a rip-off of Tammara Webber's Between the Lines series, most specifically the third book, Good For You. There are differences, Good For You is a heck of a lot less earnest, but the similarities were just too great for me to ignore. Graham is even the name of one of the main characters in the Between the Lines series.
What it comes down to is that I had zero desire to keep reading this book. I honestly don't know why I finished. I could have stopped 100 pages in, I could have stopped 300 pages in, or I could have stopped 10 pages before the end. That's how little I cared about the story or the characters.
Bottom Line: Most of the time when I don't like a book I can say it just wasn't for me, but people who like X, Y, and Z might enjoy it. In this case I just don't know who this is for. If you like books that are written in extremely awkward third person perspective and books where nothing happens, then I suggest you check this out. If that doesn't appeal to you I highly recommend checking out the Between the Lines series if you want a story about teenager actors and normal teens.
Fair warning: I really hated this book and there is going to be nothing positive in this review.
I read The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight (my review) last year and thought it was good, a solid 3 stars in my opinion. But This Is What Happy Looks Like? I'm having a very hard time not giving it 1 star.
This book is written in the third person, which isn't my favorite, but most of the time it doesn't bother me (at first I thought maybe I don't normally read books in the third person so I've paid attention to what I've read since I read this and I've read a bunch of third person stories that didn't bother me). But in this book it drove me crazy. Not only is it third person, but it's two-third-person perspectives which made it much worse. And it's not third person omniscient it's a very close third-person focusing on each main character in alternating chapters. I feel like the names "Ellie" and "Graham" were used 10,000 times in this book. Not only was this written in the third person, it was also very lyrically written, which is a style that just isn't for me.
I realize a lot of people probably like this aspect, but this book was just too earnest for me. The characters are all good kids, there's no rebelling, they're polite and nice, there's no cursing, there's no sex, and there's barely even kissing. I'm not saying a book has to have any of that for me to find it appealing, but here it just came off as completely contrived.
Also, nothing happens in the book. There's no real problem to solve or thing to get over. It's like there could have been, but nothing was every taken far enough or fleshed out enough to be life changing.
The entire time I was reading this I just kept thinking how this was just a rip-off of Tammara Webber's Between the Lines series, most specifically the third book, Good For You. There are differences, Good For You is a heck of a lot less earnest, but the similarities were just too great for me to ignore. Graham is even the name of one of the main characters in the Between the Lines series.
What it comes down to is that I had zero desire to keep reading this book. I honestly don't know why I finished. I could have stopped 100 pages in, I could have stopped 300 pages in, or I could have stopped 10 pages before the end. That's how little I cared about the story or the characters.
Bottom Line: Most of the time when I don't like a book I can say it just wasn't for me, but people who like X, Y, and Z might enjoy it. In this case I just don't know who this is for. If you like books that are written in extremely awkward third person perspective and books where nothing happens, then I suggest you check this out. If that doesn't appeal to you I highly recommend checking out the Between the Lines series if you want a story about teenager actors and normal teens.
This book was really cute and I enjoyed listening to it.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I wanted to like this book, and I kept trying throughout the entire thing. However, I didn't feel anything for either character. Graham and Ellie, former E-pals meet in real life but nothing is special about them meeting. It is presumed maybe that something is happening between them, there are a few adjectives that maybe are supposed to make me think there's chemistry between the two lovebirds but I felt nothing. Sure, I wanted them to be together and to be happy (after all, I was supposed to know what happy looked like by the end of the book) but it might as well have been two strangers that I wasn't taking a journey with that I cared about. I of course want everyone to be happy and in love and that's really the only reason I wanted them to be together and happy. I guess they are together in the end... still not sure. Either way, I read the whole thing, just like I would watch a whole unbelievable, corny romantic comedy with highly paid actors -- it was fun, I like love still, but I am a bit empty.
yeah, okay okay, it was cute, albeit in a totally unrealistic way. i kind of read this book the same way i'd read fanfiction: kind of distanced from the characters and with a constant tone of disbelief ringing in my head. i couldn't help it! the whole superstar-loving-regular-girl thing sounds like something straight out of disney channel.
but yes, the romance was adorable. and yes, the characters lovable. enough to gush about? not really. just pretty darn cute.
but yes, the romance was adorable. and yes, the characters lovable. enough to gush about? not really. just pretty darn cute.