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mcstressy 's review for:

Let's Make a Scene by Laura Wood
4.75
funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
LOVED:

  • This book just heckin’ worked. It was such a fun premise, such great characters and side characters, such great tension an romance, and such great character arcs for the MCs. Just loved it. Jack and Cynthie are so great. 
  • The growth and maturity differences between the characters in the present and their 13-year-younger counterparts was really well done. You could definitely see that these were still the main characters but also how they had grown and what lessons they had learned, etc. It was especially great to see Jack more grown up since he was such a brash young 20-something that you just wanted to shake some sense into. Cynthie obviously was young and dumb, too, but their was more of a naivety to her. 
  • I am not the biggest fan of dual POVs in general (I think a lot of the time it takes away from one character’s story more than it adds to the other) and while I love first-person POVs, dual first POVs are my least favorite of the lot. But this one just nailed it all around. Just 10s across the board. So good. 
  • The fact that they are filming an Austenian inspired period romance is just fabulous. You can see the inspirations, and knowing that the author is a scholar on the era subject makes total sense. 
  • I loved that we see a shared journey of panic attacks and anxiety between the two leads. It helps us understand younger Jack through the lens of older Jack better (genius) and then it added a layer to Cynthie’s renewed confidence and inner turmoil that grounds her a lot. It also helps connects them in their relationship (or ultimate relationship rather) that I really appreciated. 
  • The awards show scene?? The a w a r d s show scene.

LAMENTED:

  • The pacing between the flashbacks and the present were a bit abrupt or shortly spaced towards the beginning of the book which did make it a bit hard to invest in the present timeline version of the characters. This did get remedied a bit with the flashbacks more or less wrapping up around the 50-60% mark, but I think I would have liked the flashbacks to not have been as frontloaded.
  • I found myself taking awhile to get through this one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because I greatly enjoyed the time I spent with it so it was was mostly a not wanting it to end sort of feeling, but with how fast I read, that does end up feeling a bit discouraging sometimes. 
  • We didn’t get a lot of time with their first fake dating scenario. Which was disappointing. I would have liked to see that. 
  • While I don’t hate this cover by any means, it’s just very meh. I love the colors and the references to the gala scene, but it’s just meh. The title is also nothing to write home about but that’s neither here nor there. 

LONGED FOR:

  • More time with the characters in their initial fake dating set up
  • A few less quick jumps between past and present (or more consistency at least)
  • This book to never end omg if not for the pacing issue I mentioned this would be 5 stars easily 


Will I read the next one? : 100% absolutely and I hope it’s Jack’s sister and friend. Also I have not read Under Your Spell but I am hands down going to. 

*Thank you to Atria & NetGalley for providing this ARC!

 
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