Rating: 2.5 stars
Let me preface this review by saying - I thought I genuinely enjoyed this book, but it was only after an honest reflection that I realised I was poorly mistaken. Bookishly Ever After tells the story of a book-crazy girl, Phoebe, and her plight to secure her Prince Charming, Dev. She does this by studying her favourite fictional heroines from her beloved books. This is where my first disagreement with this book begins. I was excited by the prospect of Phoebe using book heroines to catch a boy’s heart – but I made one wrong assumption - the characters were from books not known to us, they are ones the author created. That was really a letdown for me because I thought I would be seeing the likes of Lizzy Bennet and Rose Hathaway interwoven into the story. Instead, the author introduces her own characters and integrates their stories in some of the chapters. I just couldn’t seem to connect with them and it fell flat for me. I was more invested in Phoebe and Dev than the characters from the stories.
As expected, this book is riddled with clichés and stereotypes. Everything is predictable. Shy girl thinks she is not worthy of a boy’s attention, she thinks she should change the way she looks and is guided along by her pushy friends. Then, even though it is obvious the boy shares the same feelings, the girl misinterprets the boy’s relationship with another girl and believes he is not interested. But alas I hear you saying: aren’t these how all romance novels are? Yes and no. When they are, they make up for it by great characters and an interesting plot that is nicely paced. This book is paced so slowly that I was turning the page waiting and hoping that they would finally admit their feelings for each other, but that came much later on. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good slow burn, but this was as slow as the sloths in Zootopia:
Overlooking these grave shortcomings, there are a few things I liked. The side characters were fleshed out well, but even then I did not feel connected to them. The writing was also easy to read and Phoebe’s bookish quirks were very relatable. Phoebe and Dev had some cute moments and I did find myself laughing, and suffering from second-hand book embarrassment at Phoebe’s attempts at flirting. I would recommend this book for those who want a typical, uber-slow romance read with no real surprises that set it apart from others in the genre.
Most Memorable Quote
“Just one more page."
(the lie all us book-lovers are guilty of saying)
Love,
