My Review:In this delightfully charming teen spin on You’ve Got Mail, the one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.
Classic movie buff Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she’s starting to feel for Porter.
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.
I love You've Got Mail so I was pretty excited for this one, and I did enjoy it, but I also felt that his was too similar to other contemporary YA. Nothing about it felt unique and that isn't necessarily a bad thing but I guess I wanted something just a bit . . . more. Don't get me wrong, Bailey was an interesting character. I liked her style and I understood her reluctance to open up. But Porter? I didn't get him - he had this double standard with forcing Bailey to open up and then also not telling her the truth when he knew it. It just left a bad taste in my mouth when the conflict erupted in this one (which we all saw coming). This book felt one dimensional to me but it was a fun and fast read when you want a straight up YA contemporary novel.
Alex, Approximately comes out next week on April 4, 2017, and you can purchase HERE.
He could be any one of these people.
After all, I don't know what Alex looks like. I don't even know his real name. I mean, we've been talking online for months now, so I know things that matter. He's smart and sweet and funny, and we've both just finished our junior year. We share the same obsession--old movies. We both like being alone.
This one sounds rather meh. I don't think I'd pick it up. But then again you never know... :)
ReplyDeleteI am ridiculously excited for this one. YA contemporary is a genre close to my heart and the synopsis grabbed me. It's a little troubling to hear about Potter's double-standards for openness and honesty but I'm still really looking forward to diving into this one.
ReplyDeleteI loved her last YA book so I am excited for this. I am disappointed to hear that about Porter and that it felt one dimensional. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI read this and feel really conflicted. Part of me thinks the reason I didn't love it is because I'm not that into romance anymore-- and part of me thinks that maybe I shouldn't totally blame myself because it wasn't AMAZING. I mean, yeah in You've Got Mail we knew that Tom Hanks was the dude Meg Ryan was talking to, but for some reason it felt weird in this book that is was so obvious who Alex was. I knew when there was that driving scene with Davy pounding on the car.
ReplyDeleteAlso-- It got old when she kept saying she was the Artful Dodger and she really was anything but. 400+ pages was A LOT for what this book ultimately was. I think if it was like 250, I could have liked it better.
I do love those You've Got Mail retellings, this sounds like a quick and easy read, too bad it wasn't what you wanted though.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you weren't able to enjoy this one Eva, the reviews have been really great for this book so far, so its nice to get a differing opinion too. Thank you for the honest review!
ReplyDeleteAw boo, this is sad, I was hoping this would be better! I am not really a fan of just straight-up "typical" contemporary, so now I am not really sure how well this would work for me. Maybe if I really need something quick and easy to consume, I guess haha. Great review!
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