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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This Is What Happy Looks Like is everything I love about YA romance. It's sweet and a little goofy, the kind of book that makes you laugh and swoon. Henley makes for the perfect setting for a seaside romance, with just enough quirky characters/places/traditions to bring it to life, and the addition of a movie crew filming there gives it an added dimension. Plus, it employs one of my all time favorite tropes, where characters meet accidentally over the internet and strike up a friendship.
Graham is the perfect YA romance hero, the famous movie star with a soft center. He's soft and goofy and sweet and there's an openness to him that's really interesting to see in a YA lead. His individual arc about loneliness--about losing himself to this movie star version of him--is compelling and fits nicely into the overall tapestry of the story.
Ellie is similarly great, the small town girl with big dreams. I love that she has some level of awareness of the tropes she's playing with (something the book as a whole is really good about) and that her "lead-girl reservedness" has a legitimate reasoning behind it.
It's a very sweet book with just enough depth to keep it from becoming saccharine and enough interesting side threads to make it linger in the back of your mind without ever losing sight of the fact that it's a romance first and foremost. And it's absolutely the kind of story that you can keep getting lost in over and over, letting the waves of Henley draw you in.
4/5
Graham is the perfect YA romance hero, the famous movie star with a soft center. He's soft and goofy and sweet and there's an openness to him that's really interesting to see in a YA lead. His individual arc about loneliness--about losing himself to this movie star version of him--is compelling and fits nicely into the overall tapestry of the story.
Ellie is similarly great, the small town girl with big dreams. I love that she has some level of awareness of the tropes she's playing with (something the book as a whole is really good about) and that her "lead-girl reservedness" has a legitimate reasoning behind it.
It's a very sweet book with just enough depth to keep it from becoming saccharine and enough interesting side threads to make it linger in the back of your mind without ever losing sight of the fact that it's a romance first and foremost. And it's absolutely the kind of story that you can keep getting lost in over and over, letting the waves of Henley draw you in.
4/5
2 1/2 stars. Good book to get out of a reading slump.
This ended up being a bit different than I thought it was so it didn't fit in as well with the readathon as I thought it would but a decent book overall
3,5 stars⭐️
i read this book in less than 2 days, it was light and easy to read! it wasnt the best book ever but it surely is relaxing and a good teen romance.
i read this book in less than 2 days, it was light and easy to read! it wasnt the best book ever but it surely is relaxing and a good teen romance.
If I envision Armie Hammer as Oliver in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, I see Andrew Garfield as Graham Larkin in this book. Am I weird? :D
This book is incredibly adorable. It starts with a typical rom com way and the two main characters have a "meet cute" meaning that they meet accidentally by email. The complication is Graham is a movie star.
I liked this because it reminded me of a lot of other chick lit books which I am very fond of. The book was appropriate for middle school but I would only really recommend it to girls.
I liked this because it reminded me of a lot of other chick lit books which I am very fond of. The book was appropriate for middle school but I would only really recommend it to girls.
A sweet story. Ellie seems like she has it all together, except for not being able to afford her summer program at Harvard, and the fact that she's been living under an assumed name since she was 4 because her dad is a politician with another family. Graham seems to have it made, a rising teen star rolling in money and fame, except no one really knows him anymore, and there is this big void between him and his parents now. And then, they happen to start emailing back and forth. And then they meet in person and fall in love. It doesn't make everything easy, but it does make some things better.
The issue of privacy came up repeatedly in this book - Ellie and her mother were basically run out of DC by the press, and she doesn't see her dad for 12 years because they are living in hiding. Graham is watched every second of every day, and when he tries to protect Ellie from photographers willing to assault her to get a photo, he ends up being trashed for it. Those paparazzi are ridiculous, but sadly I think that is how they are in real life. Luckily Graham has a great agent and publicist who can spin their way out of trouble.
I feel bad for Ellie basically having no relationship with her dad. I know her mom asked him to stay away, but shouldn't that be Ellie's decision at this point, not either of her parents'? When she sees her dad (after that epic "road" trip to get to him), and he doesn't recognize her, I wanted her to tell him who she was, but maybe it just wasn't the right time for that.
This was a quick read - I read it in a night - and enjoyable, but I can't say that it's ultimately going to be very memorable. One day later, I had to open the book again to remind myself of the characters' names. That's never a good sign.
The issue of privacy came up repeatedly in this book - Ellie and her mother were basically run out of DC by the press, and she doesn't see her dad for 12 years because they are living in hiding. Graham is watched every second of every day, and when he tries to protect Ellie from photographers willing to assault her to get a photo, he ends up being trashed for it. Those paparazzi are ridiculous, but sadly I think that is how they are in real life. Luckily Graham has a great agent and publicist who can spin their way out of trouble.
I feel bad for Ellie basically having no relationship with her dad. I know her mom asked him to stay away, but shouldn't that be Ellie's decision at this point, not either of her parents'? When she sees her dad (after that epic "road" trip to get to him), and he doesn't recognize her, I wanted her to tell him who she was, but maybe it just wasn't the right time for that.
This was a quick read - I read it in a night - and enjoyable, but I can't say that it's ultimately going to be very memorable. One day later, I had to open the book again to remind myself of the characters' names. That's never a good sign.
This book makes me feel like I have split personality disorder. One of my personalities, Fair Angela, found This Is What Happy Looks Like to be a cute, generally likeable book. Critical Angela, on the other hand, argues that Smith’s work is just too light and fluffy.
As a result, I’ll compromise and say that although This Is What Happy Looks Like isn’t really the book for me, there are plenty of people who might like it very much. It’s a sweet, sunny story that is a good choice for anyone looking for some lighter reading material.
Part of what makes this book so pleasant is that you don’t have to put up with petty arguments, unnecessary drama, or easily avoidable yet frustratingly-drawn-out misunderstandings. Ellie and Graham are reasonable and levelheaded. They actually have conversations with one another rather than making assumptions that lead to silly conflicts, and when either one of them has to make a decision, they stop and consider the potential consequences for themselves and others. Their maturity is impressive.
The downside to this is that the characters are so mature and reasonable that the story comes across as slightly bland at times. The so-called conflicts are mild and easily solved, and the obstacles standing in the way of Ellie and Graham’s relationship seem trivial. For example, the main problem the characters face is that Graham, who is a famous movie star, is perpetually in the spotlight. This is an issue for Ellie, who, as the blurb states, has some skeletons in her family’s closet. She fears that becoming romantically involved with Graham will draw the media’s attention to her and cause them to dig up the dirt on her family.
This would be a valid concern if it weren’t for one thing: Ellie’s secret isn’t really that interesting. It’s true that the paparazzi would probably report on it anyway – they thrive on exposing even the barest hints of a scandal – but I feel like no one else would really care about it much. As a result, the barriers to Ellie and Graham’s relationship come across as grossly overblown, which is part of the reason why I haven’t given this book a higher rating.
As I already mentioned, Graham is a celebrity, but a very tame one. Rather than trashing hotel rooms, getting drunk at Hollywood parties, or acting like a playboy, Graham is a down-to-earth guy who acknowledges his fame but doesn’t let it go to his head. He’d much rather hole up in his bedroom with a book and his pet pig, or go fishing with his dad, than smile for the cameras or charm the ladies. I both liked and disliked this. On the one hand, it was nice that Graham isn’t an arrogant skeezeball. On the other, he comes across a little too squeaky clean at times, adding to the slight blandness of the story.
Moving on to Ellie’s character, I find that I don’t have much to say about her. She’s likable but doesn’t really stand out among the dozens of other female protagonists I’ve read about over the years. Still, she and Graham combined make a cute couple. The romance in this book isn’t passionate, but it is sweet, and that may be enough for some readers.
Bottom line, This Is What Happy Looks Like is a little too mellow for me but could be a great choice for those looking for a light read featuring an adorable love story.
This review can also be found on my blog, Angela's Library.
As a result, I’ll compromise and say that although This Is What Happy Looks Like isn’t really the book for me, there are plenty of people who might like it very much. It’s a sweet, sunny story that is a good choice for anyone looking for some lighter reading material.
Part of what makes this book so pleasant is that you don’t have to put up with petty arguments, unnecessary drama, or easily avoidable yet frustratingly-drawn-out misunderstandings. Ellie and Graham are reasonable and levelheaded. They actually have conversations with one another rather than making assumptions that lead to silly conflicts, and when either one of them has to make a decision, they stop and consider the potential consequences for themselves and others. Their maturity is impressive.
The downside to this is that the characters are so mature and reasonable that the story comes across as slightly bland at times. The so-called conflicts are mild and easily solved, and the obstacles standing in the way of Ellie and Graham’s relationship seem trivial. For example, the main problem the characters face is that Graham, who is a famous movie star, is perpetually in the spotlight. This is an issue for Ellie, who, as the blurb states, has some skeletons in her family’s closet. She fears that becoming romantically involved with Graham will draw the media’s attention to her and cause them to dig up the dirt on her family.
This would be a valid concern if it weren’t for one thing: Ellie’s secret isn’t really that interesting. It’s true that the paparazzi would probably report on it anyway – they thrive on exposing even the barest hints of a scandal – but I feel like no one else would really care about it much. As a result, the barriers to Ellie and Graham’s relationship come across as grossly overblown, which is part of the reason why I haven’t given this book a higher rating.
As I already mentioned, Graham is a celebrity, but a very tame one. Rather than trashing hotel rooms, getting drunk at Hollywood parties, or acting like a playboy, Graham is a down-to-earth guy who acknowledges his fame but doesn’t let it go to his head. He’d much rather hole up in his bedroom with a book and his pet pig, or go fishing with his dad, than smile for the cameras or charm the ladies. I both liked and disliked this. On the one hand, it was nice that Graham isn’t an arrogant skeezeball. On the other, he comes across a little too squeaky clean at times, adding to the slight blandness of the story.
Moving on to Ellie’s character, I find that I don’t have much to say about her. She’s likable but doesn’t really stand out among the dozens of other female protagonists I’ve read about over the years. Still, she and Graham combined make a cute couple. The romance in this book isn’t passionate, but it is sweet, and that may be enough for some readers.
Bottom line, This Is What Happy Looks Like is a little too mellow for me but could be a great choice for those looking for a light read featuring an adorable love story.
This review can also be found on my blog, Angela's Library.
