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eightshot 's review for:
If We Were a Movie
by Zakiya N. Jamal
a sweet ya romance that's breezy and light.
this book follows rochelle, a locked-in rising senior who decides to get a job as a way to strengthen her college application portfolio, only to realize that she's working with her nemesis, amira rodriguez. as rochelle settles into her job, she starts getting attached not only to her workplace, but her enemy as well. the plot is light and quick, with a few subplots that wind into the romance of amira and rochelle. while the third-act conflict is a bit strange #tome, it's also realistic and i appreciate the fact that it's wrapped up quickly. one minor complaint i had was the use of references. ik it's a contemporary ya book but if you have references in a book you date the book immediately. and the fact that this book is being published in 2025 and referenced among us...no please.
the characters were probably my favorite part of this book. rochelle's friendship with taylor and kerry was nice; their gc conversations seemed realistic, which is no small feat. i also liked the crew at horizon; jenny, lisa (is this a blackpink reference), danny, brigit, shawn, and glory. i liked how jamal interwove both groups. rochelle and amira had a cute build-up, going from rivals to amicable coworkers to lovers.
now what felt a bit unrealistic about this book was the college application process. as a former victim of the college apps process (i'm a senior so i did my college apps less than a year ago), there were a bunch of crazy statements.
this book follows rochelle, a locked-in rising senior who decides to get a job as a way to strengthen her college application portfolio, only to realize that she's working with her nemesis, amira rodriguez. as rochelle settles into her job, she starts getting attached not only to her workplace, but her enemy as well. the plot is light and quick, with a few subplots that wind into the romance of amira and rochelle. while the third-act conflict is a bit strange #tome, it's also realistic and i appreciate the fact that it's wrapped up quickly. one minor complaint i had was the use of references. ik it's a contemporary ya book but if you have references in a book you date the book immediately. and the fact that this book is being published in 2025 and referenced among us...no please.
the characters were probably my favorite part of this book. rochelle's friendship with taylor and kerry was nice; their gc conversations seemed realistic, which is no small feat. i also liked the crew at horizon; jenny, lisa (is this a blackpink reference), danny, brigit, shawn, and glory. i liked how jamal interwove both groups. rochelle and amira had a cute build-up, going from rivals to amicable coworkers to lovers.
now what felt a bit unrealistic about this book was the college application process. as a former victim of the college apps process (i'm a senior so i did my college apps less than a year ago), there were a bunch of crazy statements.
- you don't need a job for college apps. colleges look for well-rounded students, which doesn't necessarily mean you need a job. there are plenty of people ik who didn't have jobs and got into college just fine. i literally got into college with only working a job for 3 months in 10th grade.
- sat. now taking the sat in your senior year is really risky, especially since you would be doing college apps at the same time. you can do it; i know people who have, but it's usually a last-ditch effort to get like a 1500 and above. also, rochelle taking both the act and sat is unrealistic. there's no reason why she needs to take both, you literally just need one.
- rochelle talking about how she has nothing to do in the summer before senior year. usually the summer before senior year is when you start working on your college apps, so the fact that she wasn't is a tad bit unrealistic #tome, especially since rochelle seems very locked-in.
disregarding all that, this is a sweet and low-stakes ya romance novel with an likable group of characters to root for. i would recommend it for my ya readers.