Book Review: This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: This is What Happy Looks Like
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit
Publisher: Headline Fiction
Publication Date: April 2012
Pages: 416
Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis (goodreads):
When 17-year-old Graham Larkin sends an email to a friend about his pet pig, Wilbur, the last thing he expects is a response from the other side of the country, from one Ellie O’Neill. As their online friendship blossoms, they begin to reveal more about themselves but crucially leave out the truth about Ellie’s past and Graham’s career as a Hollywood heartthrob. And when a new location needs to be found for Graham’s next film, he jumps at the chance to visit Ellie’s hometown, Henley, Maine. But, now that they’re together, it’s impossible to keep their secrets for long and there’s a lot to overcome if love is to blossom…

My Review:

When an email from Graham Larkin to a pig walker gets mistakenly sent to sixteen year old Ellie O’Neill, an unlikely friendship blossoms between a teen heart-throb and a small town girl. But when their relationship goes from online to off-screen, things get complicated. The guy that every girl wants falls for a girl who wants nothing to do with the limelight or the paparazzi following that comes with it. Can the easy camaraderie Ellie and Graham once had stand up to the pressures that real life brings?

I have to admit I love the famous guy falling for the small town girl storyline. Mix it with elements of mistaken online identity in a “You’ve Got Mail” twist and you have one of my all time plot lines. I’ve watched movies based on this. I’ve read stories basted on this – I’ve even written my own novella like this. I’m delighted to say that This is What Happy Looks Like is such a worthy addition to the other works in this genre.

Ellie and Graham are flawlessly flawed. They are characters who both had to grow up fast due to their circumstances and as a result they both act much older than their years. Seeing them in this summer romance was delightful to see them behave like the teenagers they are. Both have their baggage but neither of them dwell on their situation. Graham wants something to like him for him and not the fame or privileges that go along with the “Graham Larkin Experience”. Ellie enjoys the quiet life and doesn’t appreciate the media circus that the film crew has brought to her peaceful Maine cottage.

I was a little disappointed with the supporting cast of characters – the friends were of the fair-weather variety and the authority figures were somewhat fleeting – but they didn’t detract from the romance between Graham and Ellie.

This is a very sweet story. Plot wise – there’s not too many surprises this is definitely one of those books you read for the journey and not the destination. It loses steam about two-thirds of the way in but manages to pick up the pace for a delightful ending.

Overall I’d recommend this book for anyone who likes a light contemporary story about a summer romance where no matter who you are, sometimes the simplest things in life are the ones that make you the happiest.

Favourite Quotes:

“Theirs was a partnership of details rather than facts. And the details were the best part.”

“He’d cast his e-mail out into the world in search of a trout and what he’d found instead was a salmon.”

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon / Book Depository 

Book Review: Adorkable by Sarra Manning

Title: Adorkable
Author: Sarra Manning
Genre: Contemporary, Chick Lit
Publisher: Atom 
Publication Date: May 2012
Pages: 387
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Jeane Smith is seventeen and has turned her self-styled dorkiness into an art form, a lifestyle choice and a profitable website and consultancy business. She writes a style column for a Japanese teen magazine and came number seven in The Guardian’s 30 People Under 30 Who Are Changing The World. And yet, in spite of the accolades, hundreds of Internet friendships and a cool boyfriend, she feels inexplicably lonely, a situation made infinitely worse when Michael Lee, the most mass-market, popular and predictably all-rounded boy at school tells Jeane of his suspicion that Jeane’s boyfriend is secretly seeing his girlfriend. Michael and Jeane have NOTHING in common – she is cool and individual; he is the golden boy in an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt. So why can’t she stop talking to him?

My Review:

I secretly love portmanteaux. From spork to staycation, liger to Brangelina – I love them all. So I was eagerly awaiting the day to get my hands on Adorkable. But it wasn’t exactly the dorky yet adorable read I was expecting from the title.

Jeane Smith is a seventeen year old entrepreneur. She has her own company, half a million twitter followers, writes articles for national newspapers and has people flying her half way around the world to hear her speak. As an emancipated minor with no one but the couple next door to make sure she’s eating well and cleaning up after herself, her flat looks like a bomb has hit it and her diet consists of sweets and take out.

Then there’s Michael Lee – ladies man, man’s man, man about town, sports star, and on the student council. Top it off, parents LOVE him.

Each is the centre of their own universe but their worlds seem to have nothing in common. Until Michael Lee brings to Jeane’s attention that her boyfriend and his girlfriend are making eyes at each other…

There were a few things that I really enjoyed about this novel. It’s quirky and at times rather fun. I did find myself laughing out loud at times (which my cat did not appreciate). But it’s been a long time since I read a book where I disliked the two main characters with a passion.

Jeane is pretentious, elitist, conceited, judgemental and just plain rude. Michael Lee isn’t much better. They’re both snarky – which I liked – and they both seem to think that they’re better than everyone else – which I didn’t like quite so much. They weren’t all bad… just mostly. I did like Jeane’s refreshingly blasé views towards sex. But for the most part her attitude towards every other person in the novel (with the exception of her sister, Bethan) started to get a little irritating. I do wonder if the reader was even supposed to like Michael Lee… especially after he described Jeane as having a pot-belly… super attractive, am I right?

By the end of the novel I could see that Jeane was evolving and changing – although it seemed to happen at a pace that was non-existent for most of the time and then a little rushed at the end – but Michael Lee remained the same as he appeared at the beginning. I was a little disappointed. I’d have liked to have seen some character growth from him. I have to admit that I don’t quite understand the Adorkable brand as Jeane intended it. I read the manifesto (and I liked it) but I felt like what she was presenting at the conference…whilst it didn’t contradict her message, it seemed like every single person who was there and (anyone who wasn’t) would have been rather insulted.

I loved how the author used social media throughout the novel – especially twitter. Jeane’s tweets were kind of perfect even when she and Michael started quoting Sartre at each other… although that shows just how pretentious the two of them are.

At time times they played the roles of teenagers perfectly but for the most part it felt like I was reading an adult chick lit story as they didn’t feel like they were only 17 and 18 years old but rather almost a decade older than that. I wonder how well this book will go down with YA readers because as a young adult novel, I’m not sure I entirely got it. But as a novel with a non-specified audience, I quite enjoyed how everything played out.

By the time I finished this book I did enjoy the story but I felt like it took a little too long to get to the end. Whilst I didn’t like the characters I did enjoy reading their interactions and adventures. And I think I’d definitely be a reader of Jeane’s blog if she was more than a fictional character – I just wouldn’t be a friend of hers.

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon / Book Depository

Book Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit
Publisher: Headline Fiction
Publication Date: January 2012
Pages: 240
Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Imagine if she hadn’t forgotten the book. Or if there hadn’t been traffic on the expressway. Or if she hadn’t fumbled the coins for the toll. What if she’d run just that little bit faster and caught the flight she was supposed to be on. Would it have been something else – the weather over the Atlantic or a fault with the plane?

Hadley isn’t sure if she believes in destiny or fate but, on what is potentially the worst day of each of their lives, it’s the quirks of timing and chance events that mean Hadley meets Oliver…

Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.

My Review:

This novel is a sweet and realistic little window in Hadley’s life. After missing her flight to London to attend a wedding she doesn’t want to go to, Hadley is faced with a four-hour wait in the airport. She strikes up a conversation with 18-year-old Oliver, a student formerly from England who is now studying at Yale. They bond instantly and together they help each other during a difficult period in their lives.

I loved the realism of Hadley’s situation – a young woman who feels betrayed by her father when he moves overseas, divorces her mother and is now marrying “the other woman” who Hadley has never even met. Hadley doesn’t sugar-coat her feelings towards her dad. She’s hurt and she doesn’t care who knows it.

Oliver is a great travelling companion. He’s interesting, caring and the sort of boy any seventeen year old would fall for at first sight. He’s quirky enough to entertain the reader and I loved how the author made him have some flaws. He’s perfect for Hadley in his imperfection.

This is a lovely novel that I recommend for anyone who likes their teen romances short and sweet but with a lot of feeling.

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon / Book Depository 

Book Review: The Goddess Hunt by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Hunt by Aimee Carter (Goddess Test #1.5)

Format: ebook

First Published: March 1, 2012

Genre: Young Adult, Mythology, teen romance

Synopsis (from Goodreads): A vacation in Greece sounds like the perfect way for Kate Winters to spend her first sabbatical away from the Underworld…until she gets caught up in an immortal feud going back millennia. Castor and Pollux have been on the run from Zeus and Hades’s wrath for centuries, hiding from the gods who hunt them. The last person they trust is Kate, the new Queen of the Underworld. Nevertheless, she is determined to help their cause. But when it comes to dealing with immortals, Kate still has a lot to learn….

Review: 

Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins who are now going by the names Casey and Lux, have been fleeing from the wrath of Zeus and Hades for thousands of years. Whilst still on the run, they come across James and Kate who are spending six months holidaying in Greece. When they find out that Kate is the new wife of their biggest enemy, they’re unhappy and with due cause. The Gods have now found them…

This short story served one real purpose. To show that Kate has no idea just how archaic and strict the Gods (including Henry) are. She has a lot to learn before she takes her place on the throne of the Underworld.

I’m not generally a fan of novellas for books in a series. Especially if they are centred around the main characters that a series follow. Why? Because normally they come in an anthology with multiple other stories for series I’m not interested it. Also, they’re often not long enough for me to really get involved with the story and the characters. Whilst this was a single story (and only $0.99!), it was a little too short for me to really get back into Kate and Henry’s world. I did enjoy the pseudo-love triangle that’s developing with James, Kate and Henry but in the end, consider Kate is married to Henry, I don’t see that little flirtation between Kate and James going anywhere.

I think that you could skip this story and not miss out anything important from the series.

Rating: 

2 out of 5

Purchase book at:

Amazon (kindle version)

For my review of Aimee Carter’s The Goddess Test (Goddess Test #1), please click here

Book Review: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Title: The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (Goddess Test #1)

Format: paperback

First Published: April 19th, 2011

Genre: Young Adult, Mythology, teen romance

Synopsis (from Goodreads): It’s always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won’t live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.

Kate is sure he’s crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride, and a goddess.

Review: 

I was excited to read this book – I love stories with their basis in mythology and young adult fiction is a guilty pleasure of mine. However this is not the story of Hades and his bride as I’ve ever read it before. Aimee Carter has taken the classic story and cleaned it up a bit – sanitized it for today’s audiences. The gods and goddesses that appear in this novel are far from the raping, incestuous and scandalous beings I’m familiar with. But that’s not altogether a bad thing. Yes, there are so many differences that these characters barely even resymbol their other selves, but I found that I was drawn so far into this story that it didn’t matter to me that it wasn’t what I was expecting.

In many ways this book reminded me of a cross between Lauren Kate’s Fallen series and the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. Girl moves to a new town where she seems to have a legacy she doesn’t quite know the truth behind. And then she sacrifices her freedom for someone she cares about to live in a mansion with a dark and mysterious captor. I had to stop myself from comparing the staff at Henry’s house with the magical enchanted household items that kept the Beast’s castle running in Beauty and the Beast. Despite the similarities, The Goddess Test managed to entertain me and surprise me. There were times when I couldn’t understand Kate’s actions and decisions but I liked her perseverance.

I liked time span of the novel. The romance was not rushed and whirlwind – it progressed at a pace that felt natural and right but at the same time I didn’t feel like anything was dragged out. The only problem I had was with Ava and James being Kate’s best friends after only two weeks… A little rushed but considering Kate’s been a full time carer for the past four years, I’ll forgive her the rushing their friendship.

I’m most interested in the sequel. This novel does stand alone rather well. There are hints at where the series might decide to go but I have to admit I liked how this instalment finished.

Rating: 

3.5 out of 5

Purchase book at:

Book Depository / Amazon / FishPond