Take a photo of a barcode or cover

the_cover_contessa 's review for:
Book Boyfriend
by Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Doesn't ever girl want to live inside her most favorite fantasy books? I know I do. Given the chance to experience this with a character, I jumped right on it. I really enjoyed The Breakup Tour so my expectations for this book were pretty high.
Jennifer Worth lives her life without taking risks. She works in publishing, but doesn't pursue her dream of writing. She lives for fantasy book boyfriends, but is too afraid to put herself out there to find love. When she gets the chance to spend a week immersed in her favorite fantasy story, she's surprised to find her rival, Scott Daniels, is also attending the same event.
This book had so much potential to draw me in and make me feel all the feels of what living in a fantasy story is like. The plot has a fun vibe: let's immerse ourselves in a fantasy based experience and live like our favorite characters. It had a renaissance fair flare to it. Unfortunately, it did not live up to that hype. While the story itself is cute, enemies to lovers and all that, it completely missed the mark. I wanted to fall in love with Jennifer and her nemesis Scott. I wanted to watch their sparks fly despite their "hatred" of each other hoping it would ignite their chemistry. But I didn't see any of it. What I got was a slow paced story with a lot of references to a fake fantasy that I felt zero connection with and a couple who have no chemistry to speak of. Jennifer is grumpy, then she's happy, then she's sad, then she's anxious. And, while one can certainly experience all those things, none of those characteristics helped me understand her or see her develop into something more. As for Scott, he's obviously into Jennifer but deigns to act as if he's at the experience for other reasons. Without his point of view, it was hard to get a read on him. I didn't like him or dislike him, I just had no connection with him and didn't feel like I needed to root for him to end up with Jennifer. His character was flat and barely developed beyond what we see in the first few chapters of the book.
Overall, I just wanted more from this book. Given my love of the previous book read by these authors, I was also expecting it. The premise was something I thought for sure I'd love, and it was, but the execution was not what I needed it to be. It just didn't quite pull together in the way I would have liked. If you're looking for a cute story with not much substance to the romance, this may appeal to you.
Doesn't ever girl want to live inside her most favorite fantasy books? I know I do. Given the chance to experience this with a character, I jumped right on it. I really enjoyed The Breakup Tour so my expectations for this book were pretty high.
Jennifer Worth lives her life without taking risks. She works in publishing, but doesn't pursue her dream of writing. She lives for fantasy book boyfriends, but is too afraid to put herself out there to find love. When she gets the chance to spend a week immersed in her favorite fantasy story, she's surprised to find her rival, Scott Daniels, is also attending the same event.
This book had so much potential to draw me in and make me feel all the feels of what living in a fantasy story is like. The plot has a fun vibe: let's immerse ourselves in a fantasy based experience and live like our favorite characters. It had a renaissance fair flare to it. Unfortunately, it did not live up to that hype. While the story itself is cute, enemies to lovers and all that, it completely missed the mark. I wanted to fall in love with Jennifer and her nemesis Scott. I wanted to watch their sparks fly despite their "hatred" of each other hoping it would ignite their chemistry. But I didn't see any of it. What I got was a slow paced story with a lot of references to a fake fantasy that I felt zero connection with and a couple who have no chemistry to speak of. Jennifer is grumpy, then she's happy, then she's sad, then she's anxious. And, while one can certainly experience all those things, none of those characteristics helped me understand her or see her develop into something more. As for Scott, he's obviously into Jennifer but deigns to act as if he's at the experience for other reasons. Without his point of view, it was hard to get a read on him. I didn't like him or dislike him, I just had no connection with him and didn't feel like I needed to root for him to end up with Jennifer. His character was flat and barely developed beyond what we see in the first few chapters of the book.
Overall, I just wanted more from this book. Given my love of the previous book read by these authors, I was also expecting it. The premise was something I thought for sure I'd love, and it was, but the execution was not what I needed it to be. It just didn't quite pull together in the way I would have liked. If you're looking for a cute story with not much substance to the romance, this may appeal to you.