After drunkenly sending out his drafted emails of almost-kiss confessions, Wren Roland finds himself in a complex situation when the most painful of the recipients replies to his email. Now he has to add that emotional pain to his struggles with keeping a drive-in movie theater afloat, as well as the difficulties of figuring out his identity and what lies in wait in the future for him. Thus, when he gets a chance to possible get the reclusive director's permission to premier a movie that never did get to be seen, he jumps at the opportunity.

A real mixed bag! Or maybe an experience? You'll see as I explain.

First off: for some reason I thought this was going to be YA? Maybe because of the vaguely Laura Jean-esque plot description and also "summer job". It is not! Pleasantly so, in fact.

Wren. Wren, Wren, Wren. I feel like he would interrupt me every other sentence. A very, very emotion driven character for someone who thinks he is stone cold rational and logical. Very passionate and *ahem* "plucky" (that is how he is described by others, accurately). Now I'm going to do something I deem a bit unfair in order to describe him: imaging you put Simon (Simon Vs The Homosapien's Agenda) and Elliot (In Other Lands) and put them in a blender.. What I'm trying to say is that he nearly killed me with second hand embarrassment at times and made me exasperated at some unnecessarily mean moments. Wren's character journey was actually a major redeeming factor for the book -- the more he delved into who he really was, the more I liked him. By the end, I was fully rooting for him. Let me tell you, it was a real rollercoaster, following him as the main character.

Derick and Wren's romance was a major sliver lining the entire book -- they had a great rapport and you could see that they had that...warmth? affection? I can't quite explain it but it was very believable and sweet in a non-sickening way. I enjoyed Derick's consistency of character and the fact that he was willing to give Wren space when he needed it, I think that element was flawlessly executed.

Now, the writing and plot...it's a bit more complicated here.

First of all, the writing was killing me at first, It's got current slang and such, which I'm sure will endear some readers to the book but I am Not A Fan of pop culture blending into books, I think it will make the book difficult to read in the future. As with Wren, once I got used to it, it was fine. If you held me at gun point and made me read a book full of slang and references in the text, I would probably read this book. That's a good thing.

Second of all, the plot. Imagine a Casey McQuiston book (that is very high praise, by the way) but just...slightly off balance. The character development, romance and plot did not mix together completely which made for a mildly lumpy porridge -- delicious but you're going to choke a bit. Here, I would say that the first two elements were well blended and developed, but the plot lagged a bit. However, I cannot complain about it, it was definitely entertaining.

Overall, despite what it may seem like from the review, I thoroughly enjoyed this! The second 50% fully makes up for any annoyance I felt in the first half, all is forgiven. Wren's journey of self discovery is certainly worth any grievances, in my opinion.
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Pre-review: it grows on you.