Chloe has no time-or interest-in getting swept up in some dazzling romance. Not like her best friend Annie, who literally wrote a rom-com that's about to premiere in theaters across America and happens to be inspired by Chloe and Nick Velez, Chloe's cute but no-nonsense boss. As the buzz for the movie grows, Chloe isn't so sure her own story will end in a Happily Ever After.
... charming ... Chloe Sanderson is an optimistic, klutzy, hopeful ball of positivity, and reading from her perspective is the perfect nightcap to a long, arduous day ... Winfrey has built in all of the charming things that make rom-coms addictive: richly developed characters, a deep pool of supportive friends, awkward situations, goofy reactions, missed opportunities, big misunderstandings and grand gestures. This romance is slow building, but the journey is a delight.
The sparkling dialog and hilarious banter in this second in Winfrey’s series will dazzle readers craving a self-aware rom-com. Perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Nora Ephron.
... a RomCom set against the backdrop of a lot of pain and grief and insecurity, and I found it fairly depressing to read, perhaps because aspects of Chloe’s personality hit a little too close to home ... I really can’t stress enough how stressful and exhausting it was to be inside Chloe’s head ... By contrast, we don’t get to see the inside of Nick’s head at all ... Don’t get me wrong; I do think the relationship they reach in the end is a very sweet one, and good for both of them, but the process of getting there is fairly painful. It was so clear that Chloe was hurting Nick deeply and not noticing, and at the same time, Chloe was so full of hurt and stress herself that it was absolutely wonderful when Nick kept being there for her time after time – and devastating when he reached his limit and said he couldn’t keep doing this ... I also liked the various minor characters in the book...And the banter between Chloe and Nick was really first class. It’s not everyone who will happily play straight man to your one-woman comedy routine ... The fact that Chloe is casually and openly bisexual, is friends with her ex, and also has sexual relationships with people who aren’t the hero was a nice change from the norm ... I loved the food porn because I always love the food porn and the banter and humour were delightful. Tracey was fantastic, Nick was great, and even Annie came good in the end. I loved the bi representation too. And Chloe…I had so much sympathy for Chloe that this book hurt to read. I don’t know what to do with that. It’s a really sweet story, and Chloe does get the happy after she deserved, but I got so depressed along the way, because the stress and the need to do everything for everyone felt very real and very familiar and I seriously considered having a mid-life crisis on the spot. So for me, it wasn’t an enjoyable reading experience, because it was tailor-made to target some of my very best neuroses, but for a different reader, I think it could be really affirming and lovely ... It’s very, very hard to be objective about this book, but I do think it needed a bit more time spent in the happy ever after given how bleak things got for Chloe in the last quarter of the story. I like to finish a romance novel with a smile on my face, not with a vicarious stress hangover.
