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Come from Behind: An Age Gap Gay Romance (Suite Dreams)

Ariella Zoelle

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Is it possible that Tavish’s fender-bender on a snowy day will lead to him getting romantically...

Cut the Rope 2: Om Nom's Quest

Games and Entertainment

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App

Second part of the legendary Cut the Rope logic puzzles series. Get it now for free! Cut the Rope 2...

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Too Good To Be Real: A Novel in Books

Jul 22, 2021

Too Good To Be Real: A Novel

Melonie Johnson | 2021 | Contemporary, Humor & Comedy, Romance

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A very meta romantic comedy

Julia is a writer desperate to save her job. She's tired of posting nothing but quizzes and lists. So she pitches an article to her boss in an attempt to save her job: a new resort that's letting its guests live out their romantic comedy dreams via role playing. Julia doesn't believe in love, of course, but she'll play along if it means keeping her job. But when she and her two best friends show up, she meets a handsome man by the lake via the quintessential meet-cute: a humorous seagull incident. She thinks Luke is taking part in the rom-com experience, but he's actually one of the event planners, along with his best friend and sister. Luke decides to take part in the experience in order to impress a reviewer arriving. Sparks fly between the two, but can their love be real when no one is being honest about who they are?

"I'm as likely to find the wardrobe to Narnia as I am to find my own Mark Darcy. Life isn't like a romantic comedy."

This was a perfectly cute romantic comedy and it's important to remember that 3-stars is in no way a negative rating. Did this book wow me or sweep me off my feet? No. But it had its funny moments.

The concept is an interesting and original one: a rom-com resort, where guests are assigned a character, a role to play, select activities, and then the games begin. The characters get funny names associated with famous romantic comedies (think Sally, a la Harry Met Sally) and there are a ton of references to all sorts of rom-com favorites. If you're a romantic comedy fan, you'll love all the little inside jokes.

"For the chance to achieve his dreams, Luke had to do one thing. Make the fantasy real."

I liked Julia's character and enjoyed Luke, although I must admit the guy was a bit of a clueless idiot. The seagulls were easily the best characters in the book and some of their scenes made me laugh out loud. I'm never a fan of "lying by omission" plots, so it was a little hard to stomach that the story that was based off of falsehoods. Julia and Luke did have chemistry but also suffered a bit from instalove--maybe it was the seagulls?

Overall, this is a fun, fairly quick read, peppered with rom-com references. It's definitely silly and a bit cheesy, but sweet too. 3 stars.

I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

Kudos

Agent - Video Calls & Chat

Social Networking and Utilities

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Agent for iOS is the fastest, most secure chat app that is packed with features! Meet up in a video...

RussianBrides - Date&Chat App

Social Networking and Lifestyle

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Meet & live chat with sexy Russian singles on the popular RussianBrides casual dating app. Discover...

A Jazzy Day - Music Education

Education, Music and Stickers

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Does your child know what a tenor saxophone looks like or what a big band sounds like? This top...

Dana (24 KP) rated The Rose and the Dagger in Books

Mar 23, 2018

I thought this series was going to be longer. Why did it have to end when I just started it?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought I was going to be in a major reading slump for a while after reading ACOMAF, but this book proves that I'm not! Yay!

I liked how the characters developed in this book. (If you can't tell, that is one of the main things I judge on whether I enjoyed the book or not.) Shazi and Khalid are so adorable and will go to the ends of the earth for each other, but not in an overbearing or controlling way. As it says in the book they don't belong to anyone. They belong together. I feel like that is a good way to look at them. They care so deeply for each other, but they are still independent and are able to function without the other (for the most part).

I wanted to see more of Despina in this book. The parts we did get to see her in, though, were awesome! Girl power!

I loved getting to know Irsa, Shazi's sister, because she showcased another side of Shazi that wasn't shown much in the first book. We get to see her interacting with the family she loves so much, and I really appreciate that.

The plot was also super fun. I won't post any spoilers, but it moved along very nicely and it wasn't predictable to me!

I was lucky enough to get to meet Renee Ahdieh at YA'llWest this year, and she is so sweet! She honestly cares about her readers and her writing!!

The only thing I'm bummed about is that my picture I took with her disappeared from my phone, so that's a bummer!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book series, including the cute short stories, to just about anyone. They have the fairy tale-esque vibe to them while still being very independent and powerful! I am so glad I was convinced to pick up this series!