Above everything else, It Only Happens in the Movies is a no-holds-barred honest social commentary, which sheds light on the “taboo” and defiantly challenges society’s ideal perceptions on love, romance, and relationships. Not only does Bourne debunk the clichés and stereotypes of romance films (and indirectly questions the societal standards of romance), but also, through Audrey’s voice and narrative, criticizes the portrayal of women both in films and literature.

The constant question in It Only Happens in the Movies is this: “Where is the rest?” And this is an important question that, more often than not, we forget to ask ourselves as we swoon over the heroine and love interest in any story told in any medium. Sometimes, we forget that stories in films and books don’t necessarily capture the entire picture. Instead, what we see are fragments of a reality or of a universe we are only briefly introduced to, and more often than not, these fragments are “the good parts” of the story – the parts that are charming, that we repeatedly swoon over, that we find desirable, and that lead the audience to the inevitable happy ending.

Note: I received a finished copy of It Only Happens in the Movies as part of my participation in a blog tour hosted by The Nocturnal Fey. This neither affects my opinion nor the content of my review. Many thanks to Erika @ The Nocturnal Fey as well as the publisher for the opportunity!

The premise of the story was intriguing, albeit the idea of an entire magical world existing outside the borders of a completely isolated community isn’t really new. Still, I enjoyed learning about the other cities and their respective cultures. I particularly liked the lifelong bonds formed between the people in Tarynne and their elephant companions as well as the ceremonies they conducted in order to nurture these bonds. The world the author created was immensely fascinating. The life in all four cities sustained by a fire gem, which was eventually split into multiple pieces after Mahg attempted to possess its power – consider my interest effectively piqued.

The characters of Fire Lines were likable, and for the most part, well-developed. It was not particularly hard to invest in them and in their smaller narratives. However, admittedly, reading about them – Emi in particular – became extremely frustrating on more than one occasion. I guess this was mainly because every now and then, I could not fully fathom the rationale behind their actions. Seriously, sometimes I had to stop reading and ask myself, “Are they deliberately being idiots and making thoughtless, impulsive decisions just to move the plot forward?”

Mini rant on aforementioned character idiocy:

Spoiler

Okay, we have a heroine with no substantial control over her powers as well as three companions who, despite having a semblance of training, are still on the cusp of becoming full-fledged Watchers. Plus, some brooding elephant rider who eventually becomes said heroine's love interest in the most cringe-worthy (and arguably laughable) of developments. This is the gang of "unlikely heroes" we have to work with.

For some unfathomable reason, this group charges into the fire without thinking about the repercussions. They're given specific instructions by the higher authorities of the Watchers,
but nope, who cares. As I am too tired to list down all the stupid things they've done, I'll just mention the most frustrating tidbit:

Eventually, Emi and her friends realize that Mahg set up a trap for them. In fact, their entire journey has been a wild goose chase for her twin sister, who turns out to be working with Mahg. Anyway, so Mahg has her twin sister, and he's hoping to lure Emi into saving her because he needs the two of them physically present in the location of the 'fire lines' in order to tap into the fire stone's power.

In the beginning of the book, it was explicitly stated that the stone was broken into multiple pieces because all pieces are needed to wield the power. ALL OF THEM. Four pieces were distributed among the four cities, and for Mahg to have an even more difficult time to gather the pieces together, the last two pieces were transformed into two girls.

For some reason, despite being fully aware of Mahg's plan to use her to gain power, Emi decides to charge right in anyway because she's worried that Mahg might be able to acquire power even without her physically present. SERIOUSLY. Like, "Oh, hey, he's luring me because he needs me for his plan to work, but hey, what if he succeeds even without me there, so clearly, I need to be there."

Stupid.

If that isn't stupid enough, she decides to take her amateur Watcher friends and brooding love interest with her, even though the higher Watcher authorities could have been immediately contacted and consulted!!! I mean, god, they're right there, Emi. Why don't you formulate a strategy with them instead of blindly going after your sister (whom you don't even like!!! and has zero value as a character!!!)? Why don't you, at the very least, ask for backup?

Stupid.

Now if that isn't stupid enough, once they're actually on enemy territory, guess what?
EMI AND HER FRIENDS DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE A LEGITIMATE PLAN OF ACTION! Nope,
they're there, crouched behind boulders and asking themselves, "Okay, what now?" To which Emi is all, "Um, I don't know. But I guess we should try looking for my sister and getting her out."
I mean, they don't even consider the possibility that said sister wouldn't even want to leave the camp with them, simply because she's knowingly working with and for Mahg!

So they sneak around enemy territory, blindly searching for her sister. Upon finding her, they don't even have a plan on how to convince her to leave. In the end, said sister turns them in. What a surprise.

Stupidest thing I've ever read.

My main problem with Fire Lines lies in its plot delivery, and by that, I don’t mean to say that the plot itself was awful and contained too many holes. The plot itself was fairly okay, in my opinion. However, it lacked, for the lack of a better term, oomph. To put it simply, I found the story in Fire Lines neither enthralling nor compelling. In the first part of the book, I was impressed by the authentic portrayal of abuse of power perpetrated by socioeconomic inequalities. In fact, the manner in which the author wrote about poverty and class-related injustice was very much close to home.

Overall, Fire Lines was a fairly decent read. I’d say that I enjoyed the first half a whole lot more than the latter half of the story. Definitely far from the perfect novel, but I do genuinely believe that it’s still worth looking into.

Short disclaimer: I received a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) of Fire Lines as part of my participation in a blog tour hosted by A Daydreamer’s Thoughts. This, however, neither affects my opinion nor the content of my review in any way.