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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
lighthearted
I found this book really interesting the first few pages, not having known the plot or summary at all. A hundred pages in, however, I just simply found it mildly dull and uninteresting. It lost its spark. It was really cliche in my opinion, really.
A small town girl falls in love with a movie star, and guess what? He loves her back. Ellie herself is a very cliche character: trying to be unique in a way that's been done dozens of times before. She's tall, has tons of freckles sprawled out on her face and has red hair. How much more cliche can she get?
Don't even get me started on Graham, the movie star she falls in love with between emails. Of course the production crew couldn't use the first place they had chosen for shooting. Wow, Graham is just in luck! Then he goes and convinces them to shoot in that exact small town Ellie lives in that is absolutely perfect for the movie to be placed in.
Everything is just perfect. Too perfect. Then it becomes boring, where's the spark? I don't even really see how the two fell in love with each other. Love at first sight, I guess. I don't even know how I managed to finish the book at all. It was really draggy and I didn't even really want to read it anymore, but my determination won over me.
Oh, and the title by the way is just very misleading. No, this is not what happy looks like. This is what cliche looks like. The only time you even see the title mentioned as a line in the book is probably in their first email conversation. No. Don't.
This book disappointed me even though I barely even had any expectations. The whole time I was reading the second half of the book, I was just like, "Nope, nope, nope, nope." And what's even worse is that when I was reading the book and just disagreeing with it, it made me dislike the book even more, I think. I didn't get to enjoy the book anymore and that just saddens me.
I opened a book that caught my interest.
And I closed the same book with disgust and force.
A small town girl falls in love with a movie star, and guess what? He loves her back. Ellie herself is a very cliche character: trying to be unique in a way that's been done dozens of times before. She's tall, has tons of freckles sprawled out on her face and has red hair. How much more cliche can she get?
Don't even get me started on Graham, the movie star she falls in love with between emails. Of course the production crew couldn't use the first place they had chosen for shooting. Wow, Graham is just in luck! Then he goes and convinces them to shoot in that exact small town Ellie lives in that is absolutely perfect for the movie to be placed in.
Everything is just perfect. Too perfect. Then it becomes boring, where's the spark? I don't even really see how the two fell in love with each other. Love at first sight, I guess. I don't even know how I managed to finish the book at all. It was really draggy and I didn't even really want to read it anymore, but my determination won over me.
Oh, and the title by the way is just very misleading. No, this is not what happy looks like. This is what cliche looks like. The only time you even see the title mentioned as a line in the book is probably in their first email conversation. No. Don't.
This book disappointed me even though I barely even had any expectations. The whole time I was reading the second half of the book, I was just like, "Nope, nope, nope, nope." And what's even worse is that when I was reading the book and just disagreeing with it, it made me dislike the book even more, I think. I didn't get to enjoy the book anymore and that just saddens me.
I opened a book that caught my interest.
And I closed the same book with disgust and force.
I've read over a few of the other reviews from the book and I agree entirely, this is what boring looks like.
For a book that advertises itself as spanning a whole summer, it spans a month at most and it's really only over 3 days that the two main characters actually speak to each other. And the title isn't exactly seen when they avoid each other for 3 weeks, over Ellie's anxiety. Talk about false advertising.
I didn't particularly agree with the Ellie's actions either, both with Graham and Quinn. Ellie and Quinn didn't really feel like best friends with how they treated each other after one secret gets out - communication didn't seem particularly important apparently.
Overall I just didn't really see much in the story at all? There's very little character development (aside from Graham's sudden re-connection with his parents for no particular reason) and from what I can tell from the next book's summary - these 3 days didn't really help their relationship in the slightest.
For a book that advertises itself as spanning a whole summer, it spans a month at most and it's really only over 3 days that the two main characters actually speak to each other. And the title isn't exactly seen when they avoid each other for 3 weeks, over Ellie's anxiety. Talk about false advertising.
I didn't particularly agree with the Ellie's actions either, both with Graham and Quinn. Ellie and Quinn didn't really feel like best friends with how they treated each other after one secret gets out - communication didn't seem particularly important apparently.
Overall I just didn't really see much in the story at all? There's very little character development (aside from Graham's sudden re-connection with his parents for no particular reason) and from what I can tell from the next book's summary - these 3 days didn't really help their relationship in the slightest.
For full review, check out my blog
http://beautyandherbook.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-this-is-what-happy-looks-like-by.html
"Nothing's all that scary if you can see it coming."
This review will be a little spoilery. I thought this book was super cute! When I read the synopsis I was immediately sold. I thought Graham was such a great character. He became a movie star when he made his big break in a movie when he was sixteen years old and he didn't really feel like he connected with anyone. Even his parents weren't the same for him anymore. He felt alone until he met Ellie. Ellie was an outlet for him. He was able to share his deepest thoughts and could be himself without worrying about the fame. (It was very reminiscent of A Cinderella Story to me.) I loved reading his scenes because he just had so much going on in his life, but he desperately wanted to get to know Ellie because he truly cared about her. I mean come on, he made it possible to shoot his MOVIE IN HER TOWN! How romantic is that?! I was actually shocked how fast he wanted to get to Ellie. He sees her best friend Quinn wearing Ellie's shirt and thinks it's her so he asks her out just like that! However, when he finds out that she is not Ellie he immediately goes to meet Ellie at her house! I was thinking "Oh. Wow we are doing this already?! Awesome!" I was excited! The only thing that kind of made me sad (and it's completely irrelevant) is that I wanted to see more of Wilbur! We only talked about him, but we didn't actually get to see him! How cute is it that Graham has a pet pig?!
"He hadn't realized how much it could mean, having someone to talk to like that; he hadn't realized that it could be a kind of lifeline, and that without it, there would be nobody to save you if you started to drown."
Now Ellie's story was interesting to read as well. I sort of picked it up early on that her dad must have been a politician and that's why they were trying to lie low in the media, WHOA! If I were Ellie I would have totally made him pay for my tuition. It's the least he could do. I was a little disappointed when she decided not to tell her father who she was once she saw him, but I get it. He didn't even recognize her so why bother? Still I was anticipating that meeting and wondering how it would go. We spend chapters on a boat going to the town he's staying in to meet him and then we don't? Darn. But I admire how hard she worked to get what she wanted. She couldn't ask her mom to pay $2000 for that summer poetry program so she took two jobs to try to make that money herself. Even when time was running out, she never gave up hope trying to get the money. She even refused to accept Graham's help. I think it shows just how independent and strong she actually is. She wanted to take care of herself. She went after her dreams and would stop at nothing to make them possible. But who could argue with losing a whoopie pie bet?
As for secondary characters? I didn't like Quinn. I think the fact that she was so upset that Ellie didn't tell her about her e-mails to Graham was a little far-fetched. Hello! She didn't know it was him and why would she tell her something that Ellie wasn't even sure meant anything? I get she was tired of Ellie's secrets but she could have at least let her explain instead of pretty much spending the entire book ignoring her and making Ellie beg for her forgiveness.
As for Ellie's mom, well meh. I understood why she was so protective of her daughter but at times you just wanted her to cut Ellie a break!
The ending: Now I see the difficulties in trying to build and maintain a relationship based off their schedules and where they are in life, but come on! I want that cute happily ever after for them! Or at the very least "Let's give this a shot!" They were just so cute and perfect together! But I loved the ending! I loved that Graham ended up paying for her summer program tuition (end of discussion) and he had agreed to go see her whenever he was in town. It was a great ending and I look forward to reading more of Jennifer E. Smith's novels. For not being an avid contemporary reader, I am starting to see the benefits. (:
http://beautyandherbook.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-this-is-what-happy-looks-like-by.html
"Nothing's all that scary if you can see it coming."
This review will be a little spoilery. I thought this book was super cute! When I read the synopsis I was immediately sold. I thought Graham was such a great character. He became a movie star when he made his big break in a movie when he was sixteen years old and he didn't really feel like he connected with anyone. Even his parents weren't the same for him anymore. He felt alone until he met Ellie. Ellie was an outlet for him. He was able to share his deepest thoughts and could be himself without worrying about the fame. (It was very reminiscent of A Cinderella Story to me.) I loved reading his scenes because he just had so much going on in his life, but he desperately wanted to get to know Ellie because he truly cared about her. I mean come on, he made it possible to shoot his MOVIE IN HER TOWN! How romantic is that?! I was actually shocked how fast he wanted to get to Ellie. He sees her best friend Quinn wearing Ellie's shirt and thinks it's her so he asks her out just like that! However, when he finds out that she is not Ellie he immediately goes to meet Ellie at her house! I was thinking "Oh. Wow we are doing this already?! Awesome!" I was excited! The only thing that kind of made me sad (and it's completely irrelevant) is that I wanted to see more of Wilbur! We only talked about him, but we didn't actually get to see him! How cute is it that Graham has a pet pig?!
"He hadn't realized how much it could mean, having someone to talk to like that; he hadn't realized that it could be a kind of lifeline, and that without it, there would be nobody to save you if you started to drown."
Now Ellie's story was interesting to read as well. I sort of picked it up early on that her dad must have been a politician and that's why they were trying to lie low in the media,
Spoiler
but being an illegitimate daughter,As for secondary characters? I didn't like Quinn. I think the fact that she was so upset that Ellie didn't tell her about her e-mails to Graham was a little far-fetched. Hello! She didn't know it was him and why would she tell her something that Ellie wasn't even sure meant anything? I get she was tired of Ellie's secrets but she could have at least let her explain instead of pretty much spending the entire book ignoring her and making Ellie beg for her forgiveness.
As for Ellie's mom, well meh. I understood why she was so protective of her daughter but at times you just wanted her to cut Ellie a break!
The ending: Now I see the difficulties in trying to build and maintain a relationship based off their schedules and where they are in life, but come on! I want that cute happily ever after for them! Or at the very least "Let's give this a shot!" They were just so cute and perfect together! But I loved the ending! I loved that Graham ended up paying for her summer program tuition (end of discussion) and he had agreed to go see her whenever he was in town. It was a great ending and I look forward to reading more of Jennifer E. Smith's novels. For not being an avid contemporary reader, I am starting to see the benefits. (:
Disappointing. Not that I should necessarily expect a perfect bow on the end of what I knew would be a pretty fluffy read, but the ending felt incredibly unsatisfactory. Nothing and no one has really changed, and neither of them seems particularly happy. Also, I was really thrown off by the geography of the book. The town of Henley, ME is allegedly one hour south of Kennebunkport. I'm sorry, but Massachusetts is an hour south of Kennebunkport, as in far enough away that you also drive through New Hampshire. And the ongoing conceit that nobody in Maine actually knows what a whoopie pie is is ludicrous. Every bakery and grocery store in New England stocks whoopie pies.
GOD, IT WAS SO BORING.
Honestly, I would have given this book only one star but the only good thing that came out of this book was Graham. I think he was a fairly sweet and adorable character with his own problems.
Otherwise, I don't think this book was for me. I know I'm a contemporary fan but this book was just so bad.
I really tried to like this book but I don't think Jennifer's books are for me, because I didn't enjoy her other book; 'The statistical probability of love at first sight' either, and I know I'm not going to read more of her work.
Sadly, I think I wasted my time reading this book.
Honestly, I would have given this book only one star but the only good thing that came out of this book was Graham. I think he was a fairly sweet and adorable character with his own problems.
Otherwise, I don't think this book was for me. I know I'm a contemporary fan but this book was just so bad.
I really tried to like this book but I don't think Jennifer's books are for me, because I didn't enjoy her other book; 'The statistical probability of love at first sight' either, and I know I'm not going to read more of her work.
Sadly, I think I wasted my time reading this book.
I think I maybe would have been more invested if this book had featured more of them falling in love and less drama. It seemed like it was 90% unnecessary bullshit and 10% meh. The extra star is just for the emails in the prologue.